What basis is there for concluding that "You Deserve Nothing" depicts actual events involving the author? Anonymous gossip on the web? Spurious rumorsWhat basis is there for concluding that "You Deserve Nothing" depicts actual events involving the author? Anonymous gossip on the web? Spurious rumors promulgated in online tabloids? The author states categorically that the work is fiction, that it is NOT a memoir or confessional, and that the principal characters are his own inventions. Perhaps, given what little we know about the veracity of the accusers, we go too far by even entertaining these allegations. Read objectively, this book has much to offer in a serious and thought-provoking way and is a good companion read to Camus' "The Stranger"....more
Murakami writes great sentences and paragraphs - no one can dispute that - but with a stream-of-consciousness kind of cohesion that is risky because Murakami writes great sentences and paragraphs - no one can dispute that - but with a stream-of-consciousness kind of cohesion that is risky because the result can be the same kind of superficiality as a movie with great special effects but a jarringly dysfunctional story-line. This is my take on "Kafka on the Shore". I was riveted by many bits and pieces of the narrative but, in the end, the story didn鈥檛 seem to hold together and I couldn鈥檛 free myself of persistent notions that the author was merely indulging a certain hubris.
There鈥檚 an expression: 鈥渁rs celare artem鈥� or 鈥渢he art that conceals art鈥� that, I think, sets a standard for metaphysical novels. For example, I think we experience 鈥渁rs celare artem鈥� when we lose ourselves in a fantasy world of an artist's creation and then, putting the work aside, find we suddenly have a whole new perspective on our own world. With this book I could never get sufficiently removed from the looming presence of the author and his seemingly bizarre and twisted fantasies to become truly immersed in his world.
In general, I think that a work of literature, like any work of art, needs to transcend the personal involvement of the artist (author) in order to truly succeed. And this is where I think "Kafka on the Shore" falls short....more
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