The Silence of Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
Turkey
Background of the Author
Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul in 1952 and grew up in a large family similar to those which he describes in his novels Cevdet Bey and His Sons and The Black Book, in the wealthy westernised district of Nisantasi. As he writes in his autobiographical book Istanbul,
from his childhood until the age of 22 he devoted himself largely to
painting and dreamed of becoming an artist. After graduating from the
secular American Robert College in Istanbul, he studied architecture at
Istanbul Technical University for three years, but abandoned the course
when he gave up his ambition to become an architect and artist. He went
on to graduate in journalism from Istanbul University, but never worked
as a journalist. At the age of 23 Pamuk decided to become a novelist,
and giving up everything else retreated into his flat and began to
write.
Summary of The Silence of Snow
Snow by Orhan Pamuk is a love story set in the
volatility of today's Turkey with its clashes between tradition and
change and religion and modern atheists—all set in the beautiful, but
sometimes treacherous beauty of a border city in the midst of a winter
snowstorm.
Ka is an exiled poet, who has returned to Turkey upon the death of
his mother. After attending her funeral in Istanbul, Ka travels to the
northern city of Kars to visit someone he knew in college and admired
from afar, learning that she is recently divorced from her husband. Ka
uses the excuse of being a journalist sent to the city to write about
the recent suicides of young girls and the upcoming mayoral election.
When Ka sees Ipek again, he is overcome by her beauty, which is far
greater than he had remembered. Ka is overwhelmed with his feelings that
Ipek is the answer to his dreams, and so Ka pursues her relentlessly
during his brief stay in Kars. Staying at the same hotel that is owned
by Ipek's father and where they reside, makes it easy for Ka to see her
often. He is invited nightly for dinner with the family and so gets to
love her the more he sees her.
Ka is immediately caught up in the events of the town as he
interviews people for his ostensible story: the mayoral candidate, who
is Ipek's ex-husband Muhtar and sometime acquaintance of Ka's; the
families of the suicide victims; the assistant police chief; even the
leader of the theatrical troupe, Sunay Zaim, who Ka knew slightly from
years ago and is in town for a performance at the National Theater.
Ka also meets some of the religious high school students, who are
interested in him because he is talking to the girls who didn't want to
bare their heads. Ka is introduced to some of their leaders, Necip and
Fazil, who happen to be ardent admirers of Ipek's sister Radife, who is
madly in love with and the mistress of a renowned Islamic terrorist
named Blue.
During his brief stay in Kars, Ka manages to fall in love with Ipek
and have his love reciprocated, both verbally and physically, resulting
in the most happiness that he has ever known. His happiness is
overshadowed by doubts that assail him every step of the way. A profound
effect of this happiness is his ability to write the best poetry he has
ever written - nineteen poems in a few short days that seem to come
from another being.
Another manifestation of his stay is his struggle with his belief in
God. He has at times thought of himself as an atheist, but during his
stay, he visits the local sheik and declares his love for God. The local
Islamists question the validity of his claims and tell him he is a
poseur just trying to ingratiate himself.
Finally, there is a coup led by Sunay Zaim with help from a man, who
was colonel during his military days. Against bloodshed, religious
fanatics, theatrical farces and love triangles and betrayals, a blizzard
keeps all the participants in the city watching the events unfolding to
a surprising end. A friend of Ka's, Orhan Bey, is a recorder of these
events after the death of Ka. In the end, Ka turns out not to be the
person that Orhan or anyone else thought he was, except Blue.
Appreciation of the story
My appreciation in this story is that don't expect too much in your life. You should be contented in what you have now in your life and most especially give importance your love once for you to not blame yourself soon that you wasted your times in your love once .And also don't be so ambitious in things.
Appreciation of the story
My appreciation in this story is that don't expect too much in your life. You should be contented in what you have now in your life and most especially give importance your love once for you to not blame yourself soon that you wasted your times in your love once .And also don't be so ambitious in things.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Afghanistan
Background of the Author
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then their homeland had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet Army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980 moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. The following year he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Afghanistan
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then their homeland had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet Army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980 moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. The following year he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.
Summary of A Thousand Splendid Suns
The novel centers around two women, Mariam and Laila, how their lives
become intertwined after a series of drastic events, and their
subsequent friendship and support for each other in the backdrop of
Kabul in the 20th and 21st century. It is split into four parts that
focus on individual stories: Part one is about Mariam, part two is on
Laila, part three is on the relationship between the two women, and
Laila's life with Tariq is in part four. The last section also happens
to be the only part written in the present tense.
Mariam lives in a kolba on the outskirts of Herat
with her embittered mother. Jalil, her father, is a wealthy businessman
who owns a cinema and lives in the town with three wives and nine
children. Mariam is his illegitimate daughter,and she is prohibited to
live with them, but Jalil visits her every Thursday. On her fifteenth
birthday, Mariam wants her father to take her to see Pinocchio
at his movie theater, against the pleas of her mother. When he does not
show up, she hikes into town and goes to his house. He refuses to see
her, and she ends up sleeping on the street. In the morning, Mariam
returns home to find that her mother has committed suicide out of fear
that her daughter had deserted her. Mariam is then taken to live in her
father's house. Jalil arranges for her to be married to Rasheed, a
shoemaker from Kabul
who is thirty-years her senior. In Kabul, Mariam becomes pregnant seven
successive times, but is never able to carry a child to term. This is a
sad, disquieting reality for both Rasheed and Mariam. Ultimately
Rasheed grows more and more despondent over his wife's inability to have
a child and particularly a son. As their marriage wears on Rasheed
gradually becomes more and more abusive.
Part Two introduces Laila. She is a girl growing up in Kabul who is
close friends with Tariq, a boy living in her neighborhood. They
eventually develop a romantic relationship despite being aware of the
social boundaries between men and women in Afghan society. War comes to
Afghanistan, and Kabul is bombarded by rocket attacks. Tariq's family
decides to leave the city, and the emotional farewell between Laila and
Tariq culminates with them making love. Laila's family also decides to
leave Kabul, but as they are packing a rocket destroys the house,
killing her parents and severely injuring Laila. Laila is subsequently
taken in by Rasheed and Mariam.
After recovering from her injuries, Laila discovers that she is
pregnant with Tariq's child. After being informed by Abdul Sharif that
Tariq has died, she agrees to marry Rasheed, a man eager to have a young
and attractive second wife in hopes of having a son with her. When
Laila gives birth to a daughter, Aziza, Rasheed is displeased and
suspicious. This results in him becoming abusive towards Laila. Mariam
and Laila eventually become confidants and best friends. They plan to
run away from Rasheed and leave Kabul but are caught at the bus station.
Rasheed beats them and deprives them of water for several days, almost
killing Aziza.
A few years later, Laila gives birth to Zalmai, Rasheed's son. The Taliban
has risen to power and imposed harsh rules on the Afghan population,
prohibiting women from appearing in public without a male relative.
There is a drought, and living conditions in Kabul become poor.
Rasheed's workshop burns down, and he is forced to take jobs for which
he is ill-suited. He sends Aziza to an orphanage. Laila endures a number
of beatings from the Taliban when caught alone on the streets in
attempts to visit her daughter.
Then one day Tariq appears outside the house, and he and Laila are
reunited. Laila realizes that Rasheed had hired Abdul Sharif to inform
her about Tariq's fake deathso that he could marry her. When Rasheed returns home from work,
Zalmai tells his father about the visitor. Rasheed starts to savagely
beat Laila. He nearly strangles her, but Mariam intervenes and kills
Rasheed with a shovel. Afterwards, Mariam confesses to killing Rasheed
in order to draw attention away from Laila and Tariq. Mariam is pAfter the fall of the Taliban, Laila and Tariq return to Afghanistan. They stop in the village where Mariam was raised, and discover a package that Mariam's father left behind for her: a videotape of Pinocchio, a small sack of money, and a letter. Laila reads the letter and discovers that Jalil had regretted sending Mariam away. Laila and Tariq return to Kabul and use the money to fix up the orphanage, where Laila starts working as a teacher. Laila is pregnant with her third child, and if it is a girl, Laila has already named her Mariam.ublicly
executed, allowing Laila and Tariq to leave for Pakistan with Aziza and
Zalmai. They spend their days working at a guest house in Murree, a
summer retreat.
Appreciation of the story
You should not be an ignorant person especially in so many things like in your surroundings or society's happenings so that you always have a kind of person that being an observant in your community for you to not be an ignorant person . And you need to where a burqa because it is part of your tradition especially muslims.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
USA
Background of the Author
Michael Chabon is an acclaimed, bestselling author who's won the
Pulitzer Prize. He's known for several books, including The Mysteries of
Pittsburgh, and for his work as a screenwriter on Spider-Man 2 and John
Carter.
Born on May 24, 1963 in
Washington, D.C., Michael Chabon spent part of his childhood growing up
in Columbia, Maryland, a planned community meant to promote
socio-economic integration and religious diversity. His parents divorced
in 1975, and with his father moving to Pittsburgh, Chabon was raised
primarily by his mother afterwards. During his youth he became an avid
reader of comic books and "genre" fiction while also following major
league baseball, particularly admiring Roberto Clemente.
Chabon
attended Carnegie Mellon before transferring to the University of
Pittsburgh, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English
literature in 1984. He went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in
writing from the University of California, Irvine. His debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, originally his master's thesis, was released in 1988 and became a New York Times bestseller.
Summary of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Joe Kavalier, a young
Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque
escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed
in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a
partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit
America - the comic book. Drawing on their own fears and dreams,
Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth,
inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful
ties to both men. With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon
tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility.
Appreciation of the story
There are times that I missed my family so much when I'm longer with them and also I feel homesickness and I can't stop thinking about them if they are doing and if they are okay.
Appreciation of the story
There are times that I missed my family so much when I'm longer with them and also I feel homesickness and I can't stop thinking about them if they are doing and if they are okay.
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
England
Background of the Author
Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire, UK, and now lives in the United
States near Minneapolis. As a child he discovered his love of books,
reading, and stories, devouring the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien,
James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K.
LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-described "feral child
who was raised in libraries," Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a
life-long love of reading: "I wouldn't be who I am without libraries. I
was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a boy
were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on
their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that
librarians actually want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary
loans."
Summary of Coraline
Our story starts
out when a young lady named Coraline Jones moves into an apartment in an
old house with her parents. Her neighbors include two elderly retired
actresses and a strange man who lives upstairs and trains mice for a
circus act. Despite this weirdness, Coraline is very bored. Her parents
work a lot and they tend to just ignore her.
One day, Coraline
discovers a door with a brick wall behind it. Seems kind of strange,
right? But get this: when she opens the door later, there's a hallway
back there. Now that's strange. When Coraline goes through the
door, she ends up in an entirely different world: it's kind of like her
own, but something's a little off. In the other world, Coraline has an
other mother (the beldam), an other father, and other neighbors. And
bonus, cats can talk.
Coraline decides this other world is weird
(we agree) and so she heads back home. But when she arrives, her parents
are missing: the beldam has kidnapped them, and Coraline will have to
go back into the creepy other world to rescue them. Fast forward a bit:
and, spoiler alert, she succeeds! She gets her parents back and, in the
meantime, also rescues the trapped souls of three kidnapped children who
have been stuck in the other world for a long time. Coraline beats the
evil beldam, saves the day, and returns home.
But wait: it's not quite over. It turns out the other mother's hand has followed Coraline home (it's like Thing on the Addams Family!).
Coraline plays one last trick to trap the other mother's hand in a deep
well. Phew, finally the scariness is over. After all this excitement,
Coraline is ready to start the school year; and boy, is school going to
seem really tame by comparison.
Appreciation of the story
You must be contented in what you have most of all your family. Because they are your guardians and they care for you and eventhough they are busy in their bussiness but they are still care for you and love.Because without them you are not here in this world.
The Folded Earth
by Anuradha Roy
India
Background of the Author
Summary of The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Once upon a time, a fenced-in village existed in the middle of a Forest infested by the Unconsecrated (i.e. flesh-gobbling zombies). Enter Mary. She's minding her own business, washing her clothes in the stream, when her childhood pal Harry pays her a visit. And pops the question—yup, thatquestion.
Before Mary can answer, the village sirens start a-wailing, which is code for… zombies in the house. Save yourselves, people. Mary hightails it for the village, knowing full well as she hustles along that this siren went off because she dilly-dallied at the stream. See, her mom really wants to find her newly zombified hubby, and Mary knows that because she stayed away too long her mom probably got too close to the fence while looking for him and is now infected herself. Bummer.
After Mary's mom joins the ranks of the moany-groanies, Mary's brother Jed kicks her out of their house (as a Guardian, he's not keen on having to chop off his mom's head if he sees her in the Forest). So Mary joins the Sisterhood, led by the power-hungry Sister Tabitha. Sister T can see that Mary isn't super happy about becoming a God-fearing nun for life, so she threatens to sic the Forest of zombies on her if she refuses to toe the line and act like she likes it.
While cooped up in the Cathedral, Mary finds out her other childhood pal, Travis, has a ridiculously bad leg injury and the Sisters are taking care of him. Mary visits him every day and "prays" with him… which means she actually just tells him stories about the ocean. Dreaming of the beach together means true love for Mary and the Travster, which is too bad since he's Harry's brother and engaged to Mary's bestie, Cass. Drama.
Harry asks for Mary's hand again, and she says yes. Insofar as this means she can escape the Sisterhood, this is a pretty awesome development; but insofar as she's in love with Harry's brother, it's pretty lame.
In the meantime, Mary notices that a girl in a bright red vest entered the village from Outside and is locked in a room in the Cathedral. She finds out her name is Gabrielle and is eager to learn more about her and where she's from.
Mary and Travis run into each other at the Hill and have a nice make-out session. Mary asks Travis to come for her and whisk her away from Harry, but before he can answer, they catch a glimpse of Gabrielle, who is now a super-zombie and totally freaky. So much for getting to know her.
Fast forward to the morning of the wedding (PS: Travis never came for Mary). Instead of waking up to church bells, the village wakes up to the screaming of the sirens. Turns out super-zombie Gabby and the zombie horde are attacking the village.
Harry and Mary escape by the skin of their teeth onto one of the fenced paths into the Forest. They're joined by Travis and Cass, Jed and Beth, a little boy named Jacob, and Mary's new pooch, Argos. See ya, village, wouldn't wanna be ya.
The gang wanders down the path for a while before stumbling upon another village. Mary knows it was Gabrielle's village, though it's also been overrun by zombies. While the rest of the gang escapes into the tree house part of the village (zombies aside, Shmoop wants to go there), Mary and Travis end up stuck in a big ol' house together. Alone. Ah, shucks.
At first it feels like heaven on earth, but then Mary stumbles onto some old photos and dresses and becomes super obsessed with escaping the village. Luckily for her, some zombies finally break down the house door, forcing her and the Travster to get outta there. Thanks to Argos and his furry jaws of death, Mary shoves Travis into the attic and swims through a sea of zombies unscathed.
The tireless threesome crosses the divide into the tree house village with a sheet-rope, a barrel, and some serious climbing skillz from the Travster (who still almost gets chomped to death by the zombie horde).
Mary and Travis have a heart-to-heart, and Mary realizes that she needs more than the Travster to be happy. She just can't quit thinking about her ocean. The others agree to head back to the forest paths once the weather cools down.
You know that phrase about how the best laid plans are meant to be broken? Jacob accidentally starts a fire and burns down the village, so it's go time—so much for waiting for the weather to cool down. Travis saves the day by running the rope through Zombieville to the gates, though he also gets himself bitten in the process. Mary slides down the rope to help him, but he's already on his way to becoming a zombie. Before Mary slices off his head, he tells her that he'd already been bitten back at the big house, so he was a dead man either way.
The gang is back to wandering through the Forest, and by this point everyone's depressed and starving. They come to the end of the path, and Beth about has a hissy-fit.
Mary leaves everyone in the dust and scoots into the Forest to find the ocean. The Unconsecrated dogpile her, and she'd be dead, except that Jed saves her life. Yep—he decided to help her follow her dream. Unfortunately for him though, he slips off a cliff and dies.
Mary tries to find his body in a raging river, but falls in and ends up gasping for air on a beach. Turns out the ocean is at the end of the river (funny how that works). A man comes along and almost cuts off her head, but she proves she's alive and they end up walking hand-in-hand back to his lighthouse.
Appreciation of the story
You should always bear it to your mind that your mother will always at by your side in all your problems in your life that was the mother ability to comfort you ,giving advice and moral lessons that you need to think if there's a difficult decision that you need to overcome.
You should always bear it to your mind that your mother will always at by your side in all your problems in your life that was the mother ability to comfort you ,giving advice and moral lessons that you need to think if there's a difficult decision that you need to overcome.
The Boy Named Crow
by Haruki Murakami
Japan
Background of the Author
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese novelist and translator. An important asset to the Japanese literature of the 20th century, Haruki has received several noted awards for his fiction and non-fiction works. He was also referred to as one of the world’s greatest living novelists by The Guardian.
Hear the Wind Sing, Haruki’s first novel was published in 1979 which was a part of The Trilogy of the Rat. The book received the Gunzou Shinjin Sho (Gunzo New Writer Award). His next publication also a part of The Trilogy of the Rat, Pinball, 1973 was published in 1980. In 1981, Murakami decided to make writing his ultimate profession and therefore, sold the bar he ran with his wife. The third part of the same trilogy named A Wild Sheep Chase was published in 1982. Haruki won the Noma Bungei Shinjin Sho (Noma Literary Award for New Writers) for this book in the same year.
Summary The Boy Named Crow
Is Crow the fifteen-year-old's alter-ego? Is Crow's viewpoint parental or wise? It's certainly prompting the boy narrator to think ahead, not to run away heedlessly: "Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions..."
The Crow prologue summarizes the narrator's story to come.
"On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.
"On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.
Just as he's said, he stuffs the backpack, selecting essential items, mentions his superior school grades and his withdrawn personality, and his motherless home--justifications to leave. He's nevertheless plagued by the specter of omens,
"A dark, omnipresent pool of water" and DNA "A mechanism buried inside of you." And then, he turns fifteen, heading to the island of Shikoku. This government begins a series of q&a sessions. The first interviews the teacher Setsuko Okamochi about a poison gas incident on November 7, 1944. She and sixteen children went to pick mushrooms and to spend the day out in the hills. All the children suddenly collapsed unconscious, and she ran to get the assistance of the school. The second interviewee is the doctor Juichi Nakazawa of internal medicine, who was part of the children's rescue. The adults decided that the plausible explanation was poison gas from a B-29 airplane. Most of the children awoke without remembering anything untoward except for Satoru Nakata, who remained unconscious.In the alternating chapters of this novel, the runaway Kafka travels the night of his fifteenth birthday on a bus to Takamatsu. During a rest stop, he meets a girl, who could very well be his lost sister and who carries a small, heavy suitcase. Kafka (=his new, made-up name) and Satoko reach Takamatsu by bus, along the way having talked about K's belief in "karma",
"A dark, omnipresent pool of water" and DNA "A mechanism buried inside of you." And then, he turns fifteen, heading to the island of Shikoku. This government begins a series of q&a sessions. The first interviews the teacher Setsuko Okamochi about a poison gas incident on November 7, 1944. She and sixteen children went to pick mushrooms and to spend the day out in the hills. All the children suddenly collapsed unconscious, and she ran to get the assistance of the school. The second interviewee is the doctor Juichi Nakazawa of internal medicine, who was part of the children's rescue. The adults decided that the plausible explanation was poison gas from a B-29 airplane. Most of the children awoke without remembering anything untoward except for Satoru Nakata, who remained unconscious.In the alternating chapters of this novel, the runaway Kafka travels the night of his fifteenth birthday on a bus to Takamatsu. During a rest stop, he meets a girl, who could very well be his lost sister and who carries a small, heavy suitcase. Kafka (=his new, made-up name) and Satoko reach Takamatsu by bus, along the way having talked about K's belief in "karma",
He enjoys the day reading and exploring in an elegant, open-to-the-public, private library, and meeting the library assistant Oshima and the head librarian Miss Saeki before buying dinner and finding lodging. Being alone at his age requires a low profile, so what is the extent of his freedom?
He calls his father's house phone, which rings twice.
The next chapter returns to Nakata's predicament. An old man, he is on a governmental "sub city", on account of a mind-draining childhood accident which made his memory on a par with felines. One of them recognizes Nakata's weak shadow, a faintness of which Nakata is also aware.
Perhaps, Nakata will seek to find the other half of his shadow. Asma wrote: "Is Crow the fifteen-year-old's alter-ego? Is Crow's viewpoint parental or wise? It's certainly prompting the boy narrator to think ahead, not to run away heedlessly: "Sometimes fate is like a small..."
In the intro chapter, I first thought that Crow was a real person but it looks like you are right. The purpose of Crow seems to me to give him courage.
I am enjoying this book quite a bit so far! I like the mysteriousness of it: Why did he run away? Why doesn't he know his sister? What's with the talking cat? And of course the Rice Bowl Hill incident. It will be interesting to see how these things all play out.
Julie wrote: "I am enjoying this book quite a bit so far!... It will be interesting to see how these things all play out. ..."
It's hard to tell what is real in Murakami especially at the beginning. The reviews sometimes give a little help. The character of Crow reminds me of an American Indian tale, as if the underage boy goes out into the wilderness to ready himself for his future actions of manhood. That's only an impression and might have absolutely nothing to do with Murakami's purpose or Kafka's character.
I, too, like the story. I find myself eagerly picking up the book even late at night. I like it because of its airiness. Real life sometimes seems so bound by routine and by solid forms. This story loosens up some of that gravity. Dare I say 'escapist'? I really think that Nakata is an endearing character and am wondering what happens to him in particular. Not much logic in the story at times, but it's fun to follow along with the suspenseful happenings.
Asma wrote: "The character of Crow reminds me of an American Indian tale, as if the underage boy goes out into the wilderness to ready himself for his future actions of manhood. That's only an impression and might have absolutely nothing to do with Murakami's purpose or Kafka's character. ..."
Interesting idea. I can definately see how you'd get that impression.
This is my first Murakami.
It certainly is a good introduction to Murakami.
I read some of Murakami's earlier works of which A Wild Sheep Chase was entertaining. That one also had some metaphysical stuff, but the story of Kafka on the Shore is a more extended work with two clear threads and a more mature example of his fiction writing. Yet, there doesn't seem to be anything too difficult about it at all.
Well I finally started on Kafka on the Shore a couple of days ago, and from the very first page the book has been difficult to get away from! This is my first Murakami and I absolutely love his writing style, simple and yet so..so melodious I would say, for want of a better word. I'd had this book for so long on my TBR list and I would like to thank this group for motivating me to read it. Will talk some more about it, later. :)
I definitely agree, Priti. For me, reading "Kafka on the Shore" is like riding inside a balloon, drifting somewhere. About your word choice of "melodious", Murakami cites the titles of many musical songs of every description. I think that in this story Miss Saeki too composes a song with lyrics, which Kafka listens to on an LP. Back to reading. Kafka reaches the larger city of Takamatsu, grateful that adults aren't questioning his daytime presence outside of school. He figures out that the best, inconspicuous places are the library and gym, and that his freedom and survival might necessitate rule-bending.
Nakata's thread in the next chapter reports on the progress of the investigation into the 1944 Rice Bowl HilI incident. There had previously been recorded random, similar incidences with school students and teachers even back to the late-nineteenth century in various countries. According to the investigation of possible causes of sudden unconsciousness, the likeliest is eventually decided to be mass hypnosis. The poison gas theory has holes in it. The hypnosis theory still doesn't explain Nakata's extended coma, which lasts two weeks and which leaves him with a lack of all memory.
In chapter 9, Kafka awakes, surrounded by bushes, not knowing where he is and where he has been for the last four hours on the evening of May 28. His sticky, bloodied shirt tells him that whatever happened was not good. He cleans himself up in the washroom and phones Sakura. That episode contains common motifs with the rest of the novel. There are the miniature or great woods in which something extraordinary happens in a great basin or a flat clearing--the collapsing schoolchildren, Kafka's facing his terrifying fears, a surrealistic community. The clearing is close enough to a sanctuary like a shrine, a cabin, or a school. The reader and Kafka wonder what had ensued between the time he'd left the hotel to shortly before midnight. Further, the reader is unconvinced of the official explanation of the Rice Bowl Hill incident. One of the things which I like in this story is Kafka's cat-like, independent attitude, an adolescent older than his years, who realizes
"...nobody's going to come to my rescue. Nobody..."
Other intriguing things are Kafka's "alter ego" and the alternating chapters between Kafka and Nakata, as if their two stories are variations on a theme.
In chapter 10, Nakata "aimlessly" lingers with the neighborhood cats in a vacant lot. Now they are a little suspicious of Nakata on account of a rumored cat catcher in a tall hat and boots. A key phrase here is
"Time wasn't the main issue for him"
because, like Kafka's recent unconsciousness, Nakata falls into deep sleeps and adjusts to the sequential nature of living by his taking note of its signs.
The seashore, the forest, the city, the private library, the everyday as metaphor, all are a part of this novel. Also, characters reveal their life stories through conversation.
One of Kafka's revelations is the memory of his older, adopted sister's picture photographed at the seashore. He thinks of that girl, whom his mother took away with her, as being Sakura, a new friend he meets on the bus from Tokyo. Similarly, Miss Saeki contemplates a wall painting, titled Kafka at the Shore, Kafka's sitting in a deck chair and gazing toward the sea. Memories those pictures engender make their lives more interesting. Something else I noticed about the story is that a setting or a character's words or action echo something else like it, causing me to wonder whether those places and characters essentially were the same in disguise.
In the next chapter, the teacher who led Nakata and the other students on the outing twenty-eight years ago, comes forward to make a "confession about that day of the "mass coma" and to add her observations about Nakata's personality.
In the next chapter, Oshima and Kafka contrast some of Natsume Sōseki's stories. Then, during a hair-raising road trip to Oshima's mountain cabin deep in the Kochi mountains, Kafka learns more about that unusual person.
Appreciation of the story
Don't escape your problems that you have nowadays you must face your problems and obstacle in your life because every second and hour is very important to you. And it is your responsibilities to take it all .
Don't escape your problems that you have nowadays you must face your problems and obstacle in your life because every second and hour is very important to you. And it is your responsibilities to take it all .
