Kafka On the Shore, Huraki Murakami

I finished reading Kafka on the Shore today.  I'm sad it's over, I enjoyed reading this book a lot.  I like magical realism and when a tidy narrative takes twists and turns into the impossible.  The writing, characters & story were all great.  I really loved the parallel construction of the two stories alternating back and forth -- thought it really worked well, and I'm not always a big fan of these kinds of structures.

I suspect the book got such a favorable reception from me because it struck me as both deep and also very much a fantasy of escapism and the impossible - things that resonate with me a lot these days.  I'm also struck at having sandwiched the May 25th period with Wind Up Bird Chronicle and this late November period with Kafka on the Shore, bringing a decidedly Murakami flavor to a rather pedestrian life experience...

Grading it an A-, as I did feel there was something holding it back from being a masterpiece.  Murakami said in interviews you need to read it a few times to work out some riddles -- that will have to wait for me...