Kafka on the Shore cover art

Kafka on the Shore

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Kafka on the Shore

By: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator
Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy.

The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down.

As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.

'Wonderful... Magical and outlandish' Daily Mail

'Hypnotic, spellbinding' The Times

'Cool, fluent and addictive' Daily Telegraph

© Haruki Marakami 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism Metaphysical & Visionary World Literature Fantasy Magic Mind-bending Heartfelt Cats

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Mind Waves cover art
Memory and Dream cover art
Crow's Fate cover art
IQ84 cover art
Hyperion cover art
Sweet Bean Paste cover art
The Morning Star cover art
Treason cover art
Lord of All Things cover art
Imajica cover art
The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, Book 1) cover art
Wilderness and Other Stories cover art
Off Season cover art
Four Seasons in Japan cover art

Critic reviews

Wonderful... Magical and outlandish
A magnificently bewildering achievement... Brilliantly conceived, bold in its surreal scope, sexy and driven by a snappy plot... Exuberant storytelling
Cool, fluent and addictive
Hypnotic, spellbinding
Addictive... Exhilarating... A pleasure
Murakami's most addictive fix to date
Engrossing and wildly inventive
Laden with philosophical overtones and enchanting wit
Murakami's exquisitely simple prose and deft evocation of the surreal are captivating and sublime
The mysteries are never tainted by explanation, merely beautifully described, delivering a hypnotic read
All stars
Most relevant
The novel begins interestingly enough but then meanders a lot before failing to answer many of the riddles posed. So ultimately a little disappointing. The overuse of ambiguity may be to blame.

A strange novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely Brilliant, I loved this book❗Once I started Kafka on The Shore, I found it difficult to put down. When I wasn't reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Totally captivating.

The narration was outstanding ❗

I'm now in a quandary as to which Haruki Murakami novel I should read next ❓

. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
. 1Q84
. Norwegian Wood
Or
. A Wild Sheep Chase

Immersive writing at its best.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a lovely story, well written, intimate and warm. It’s not the story that matters here, but how it makes you feel. The characters story arc is fantastic and you get to witness their transformation. One of the best cast of voice actors I’ve heard in a while.

Fantastic listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Such a weird story…
I really liked it but it got quite weird at one point and so absurd it almost made no sense anymore

Weird

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Immoral message of patricide ang usery. No good message and would would be better without this perversion of the book.

Sceth about Johney walker very imaginative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews