5/5 My most cherished and most loathed book of all time.

disclaimer: writing this post 12 hours of travel, errors may be made

I originally read this book in year 11 after it caught my eye at a book fair. This was my very first Murakami read...

My initial reaction to this book was one of: repulsion and loathe—and yet I was hooked till the very end. Now that I have reread it I cannot say that has changed very much. Elements of it (I will not spoil but if you have happened to have read this book you will know exactly what I mean) are flat out despicable and in a sense, vile.

So what makes this story so special? Why does it get 5/5 despite my overt hatred towards great chunks of this novel?

Easy. Murakami's writing style—Murakami's writing style makes room for such despicable elements whilst still allowing you to appreciate his writing. By the end of this novel you are not left devising a better way for it to have ended, you are not thinking up ways you would have written certain characters differently. The story (technically, 2 stories) do not lack in any of the fundamental pillars a good novel rests on. The characters do not feel plastic or generic, the plots do not feel unnatural or rushed. Everything—and I mean everything—feels as if it's in its own place.

Oshima is not just your cliché slightly "sexually deviant" and "quirky" for his time librarian. Miss Saeki does not feel like your typical "mysterious, brooding" character with a "dark" past. Nakata does not act like your typical character that finds out they have a "gift/talent" that they can put to good use...

But above all, these characters are not merely defined by character descriptions and the dialogue they partake in—the very plot itself allows you to understand what these characters are really like and how they behave. It is all so neatly laced together, you cannot help but admire Murakami's writing.

There are certain intricacies that a sleep-deprived, jet-lagged person, such as myself, cannot really express—they must be consumed directly by the reader themselves—as to avoid the quality of such work.

Finally, it takes immense talent and skill to invoke such hatred and loathing from a reader towards your work and yet ~still~ have them hooked on till the very end.

Definite recommend and definite recommend to recommend—it is always interesting to see how different people reacting to Kafka on the Shore.