Storyline: 10
Suspense: 9
Humor: 8
Relatability: 9
Originality: 10
Overall: 9.2

Comments: WARNING: If you are not intrigued by the metaphysical, this book is not for you. Kafka on the Shore is a book that brings into question the very meaning of existing, of being your own person, and of what is real and what is not. It's a very intricate book not for people who don't like to think as they're reading.

The basic plotline is as such: A fifteen-year-old boy who names himself Kafka to hide his true identity runs away from home to either escape the prophecy his father gave him or to find his mother and sister, who basically abandoned him, leaving him with his father when he was four. At the same time, a mentally challenged aged man, Nakata, finally leaves his hometown after his life is turned upside down. Both paths are destined, both paths are unexpected, and both paths are entwined.

In a sense, this book is about coming of age, both for Kafka and Nakata. In another sense, this is a romantic novel. Yet still, either or even both of these descriptions are not complete enough to thoroughly describe this book. It is a book about fate and choice, right and wrong, life and death. It is about love, yet it also about hate. I suppose the best phrase to use to describe this book is "Yin Yang." Where there is light there is dark, and where there is dark there is light; one cannot exist without the other. This book has references to popular culture and music, yet it also borrows from mythology, psychology, and philosophy.

I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading something that will make you think about it later, something that will ring close to your heart and bring emotion out of you. If you're not very interested in the metaphysical and hidden deeper meanings, then this book isn't for you.

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