Sample

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Kafka on the Shore

By: Haruki Murakami
Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.75

Buy for $24.75

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.

This magnificent novel has a similarly extraordinary scope and the same capacity to amaze, entertain, and bewitch. A tour de force of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle - yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.

Extravagant in its accomplishment, Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world's truly great storytellers at the height of his powers.

©2005 Haruki Murakami (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"As powerful as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.... Reading Murakami ... is a striking experience in consciousness expansion." ( The Chicago Tribune)
"An insistently metaphysical mind-bender." ( The New Yorker)
"If he has not achieved that status already, Haruki Murakami is on course to becoming the most widely read Japanese writer outside Japan, past or present." ( The New York Times)

Featured Article: 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear


Thanks to the work of translators and publishers, Japanese literature is now more accessible than ever to English-speaking audiences. If you've ever wanted to learn more about Japanese culture and literature, you cannot go wrong with listening to audiobooks from Japan. We've compiled a list of the most famous Japanese authors who have helped define Japanese literature, and their notable works across genres and time periods.

What listeners say about Kafka on the Shore

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,479
  • 4 Stars
    1,311
  • 3 Stars
    403
  • 2 Stars
    111
  • 1 Stars
    84
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,805
  • 4 Stars
    761
  • 3 Stars
    151
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    25
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,911
  • 4 Stars
    1,172
  • 3 Stars
    444
  • 2 Stars
    139
  • 1 Stars
    94

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The narration by Oliver Le Sueur and Sean Barrett

The narration by Oliver Le Sueur and Sean Barrett is what makes this book amazing!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So much fun!!

Any additional comments?

Haruki Murakami weaves this bizarre world that you end up being sad to leave once the book is over. It's so much fun and the narration is perfect. I'm left with so many questions about the meaning of the stories and what the symbolism/metaphors really mean!! Loved the book - definitely worth a listen :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story but

Oliver Le Suer was no match for the characters brought to life by Sean Barrett, he was monotone and it was many times difficult to notice when Kafka or Oshima was talking since he didn’t even try to change the tone. But kudos to Mr. Barrett , what a pleasure to hear his interpretation of Nakata, Cl Sanders, Johny Walker... so bad that Oliver definitely was not match at all!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Engaging and Not Totally Fulfilling

I won’t say I didn’t enjoy this book. Loads of surreal stuff happens that keeps you guessing and seeking a connective tissue across the events. There’s fantastic happenings and settings that give you an appreciation for the authors creativity.

Unfortunately, I was just left with lots of questions at the end. Few things received solid answers or even the beginnings of explanations. This was a book where I went online and researched other people’s interpretation of the events, because I really didn’t know how I felt at the end. It was almost like I accidentally skipped an important chapter or something.

I think this is less a flaw of the story and more and misalignment with my personal taste. The story is, I think be design, not trying to answer questions about itself. It wants you to stew in the surreal and draw your own interpretations and connections between what’s going on and a broader meaning. This can be powerful for sure, and certain moment did resonate with me, but I felt wanting of that connective tissue in the end.

If you like the surreal, check this book out. If you need a story where things get explained and you’re left feeling like you know what the point of the story was and how it all connected, maybe pick something else.

P.S. The performances were fantastic!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Existential dream

Loved every second of this book. The author conflates the dream with the reality to tell an amazing coming of age story of a 15 year old boy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well Performed

Murakami’s metaphysical magical realist bildungsroman riddle mystery is delightfully performed. Barrett and Le Sueur affectionately breathe life into every character. Each chapter alternates between two perspectives, and with it, the narrator. This makes for a clear, crisp transition between chapters. This, with many other touches, weaves into an overall poignant, joyful, and profound experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great narration, great story

Great narration, I feel I learned something about Japanese culture and geography as well. The story had a magical realism feel too it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Encore

Rich, dense...complex.
Different than other Murakami works.
I nod and shake my head (wink wink*) thinking I have to listen to it again to fully grasp its threads.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece

Journey into subconsciousness and dreams like no other book. Deep and provocative and hauntingly beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

How deep is too deep?

While I was listening to this audiobook, it felt very Lynchian. I started to search for the metaphors and meanings as the tale went farther down the rabbit hole. It was a bit too mysterious while some plot holes grew wide with more questions. I was intrigued enough to add a few other Murakami titles to my wishlist.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!