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Shima's Reviews > Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
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did not like it

Here is a full list of every female character who appears in this book:

-An elderly retired teacher who writes to a psychiatrist to say how much she admires his work, and speaks about having an erotic dream years ago, masturbating and getting her period unexpectedly, which is “the most embarrassing thing that could happen to a woman."
-A young hairdresser who lets a stranger, who happens to be a muscular young man covered in blood, sleep in her house. Tells him they can’t sleep together because she has a boyfriend and then proceeds to give him a hand job to help him relax. Then says she wishes she was his sister.
-A receptionist who the main character thinks about when masturbating.
-A woman who hires someone to find her children’s lost cat, and when the cat is returned to their house, goes to get the money for his husband to give to the person.
-An older librarian who never recovered from losing her boyfriend when she was 15, but is nonetheless still “slim and pretty�.
-Two “shrill and unimaginative� women who are investigating women’s ease of access to public buildings. In response to their question of why female authors are listed after males in the library, they are asked whether they also found it wrong when their names were called after others in schools based on the order of the alphabet.
-A young girl working in the tourist centre who is “pretty enough� although her eyes are a little too far apart from each other.
-A girl sitting close by who the male character decides he doesn’t have the time to make a pass at.
-An unnamed sex worker, referred to as a “supple young sex machine� who does to the male characters things he’s never experienced in his life, she is a philosophy student and he asks her to quote philosophy stuff so he doesn’t come so quickly
-A 50-year woman who sleepwalks into the 15-year old character’s room, undresses and gets in bed with him. He doesn’t wake her up because he doesn’t have the strength to resist. Instead, they have sex while she is asleep, and thinks he is her dead boyfriend.
-A 50-year old woman who sleeps with a 15-year old because he asks her to.
-(Dream sequence) The main character takes off a sleeping girl's panties and puts his fingers inside of her. Then rapes her as she sleeps, because "he has no choice". She wakes up and cries, but there is no way he is going to leave her body. She closes her eyes and gives herself over to him, without protesting. He feels her pleasure.
-“A living breathing girl you can touch, her small breast just underneath her blouse, in the kitchen, cooking for me.� “I’ll do the cooking here for a while, the washing and cleaning as well, just put your laundry in the basket and I’ll take care of it� “If you need me, I’ll be here�

Note: There is also a female cat, who moves like a belly dancer.

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Quotes Shima Liked

Haruki Murakami
“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore


Reading Progress

August 28, 2021 – Started Reading
August 28, 2021 – Shelved
September 30, 2021 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)

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message 1: by ī (new) - rated it 1 star

ī Goodness me. Thanks for posting this review, Shima. This book was on my list and highly recommended to me and I must say, I’m a bit put off by the idea of reading it now.


message 2: by Sh (new) - added it

Sh FUCK SAKE THIS SHIT SEEMS T0 BE EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC


Siavash فکر کنم یک ستاره برای این کتاب کم باشه


Shima Nazanin wrote: "Goodness me. Thanks for posting this review, Shima. This book was on my list and highly recommended to me and I must say, I’m a bit put off by the idea of reading it now."

Haha, I'm glad to help. Honestly, there are bits of it I still liked, but the overall misogyny was just too much for me. You could always still read it and make up your mind about it. I'd be keen to hear your thoughts.


Shima Shakiba wrote: "FUCK SAKE THIS SHIT SEEMS T0 BE EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC"

HAHA YES! I'm honestly surprised that this isn't pointed out more often. I think the quality of the writing and the strangeness of the plot distracts people from it, but once you notice the pattern, it's impossible to ignore!


Shima Siavash wrote: "فکر کنم یک ستاره برای این کتاب کم باشه"

خوبیه هنر اینه که میشه درموردش نظرای متفاوت داشت


message 7: by Finn (new) - rated it 1 star

Finn the Human I don't think Murakami has ever written a young girl and not mentioned her "small" "budding" "developing" or otherwise "growing" breasts and you can flip a coin on whether or not she's being described by her brother.


Shima Nahaylem wrote: "I don't think Murakami has ever written a young girl and not mentioned her "small" "budding" "developing" or otherwise "growing" breasts and you can flip a coin on whether or not she's being descri..."

Ahhh, sadly that seems entirely too plausible.


message 9: by Finn (new) - rated it 1 star

Finn the Human He's maybe the only author I've ever read that I truly cannot understand the rewown and success he's achieved.


message 10: by ī (new) - rated it 1 star

ī This is a year later, Shima, but I just stumbled upon your review again as I finished the book (gave it 1 star) and questioned myself on why I ended up reading it anyway� I never saw your reply to my comment (thanks ŷ!).
I think the bits I didn’t like and was perhaps slightly disgusted by (e.g. rape bit) outweighed the bits I liked. It was disappointing.
My thoughts on this book are very much in line with yours.


message 11: by Fajer (new) - rated it 1 star

Fajer I totally forgot about the first woman lol, did he forgot to write about her more too?


message 12: by Angel (new) - rated it 1 star

Angel I really don’t understand why people celebrate Murakami when his writing is so sexist and misogynistic.


message 13: by Sienna (new)

Sienna This review just made me decide to unhaul all of the Murakamis I’ve collected 😭


message 14: by [deleted user] (new)

Murakami is a weird guy.


Stanisław Kowalski A receptionist is a trans man


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