kafka on the shore

I just finished reading Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, the fourth novel I've read from this amazing author. The characters from his works are way out of this world, but share a very deep human showcast of emotions. I never get tired of his works even if I had to sacrifice consecutive sauna nights and stay until the wee hours of the morning. I'm hooked!

Calling quote suckers! Ponder on the memorable quotes that I personally selected from this remarkable novel:



ON LOVE

In ancient times people weren’t just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everybody in half, right down the middle. So after the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being that people spend their time running around trying to locate their other missing half. – Oshima

Why does loving somebody mean you have to hurt them just as much? I mean, if that’s the way it goes, what’s the point of loving someone? Why the hell does it have to be like that? – Kafka

I want you to remember me. If you remember me, then I don’t care if everybody else forgets. – Miss Saeki

It’s easy to forget things you don’t need anymore – Nakata




ON LIFE

Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through, is now like something from the distant past. We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past, like ancient stars that have burned out, are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about every day, too many new things we have to learn. New styles, new information, new technology, new terminology…But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things that we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone. - Teacher


If I had to say anything it’d be this: Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting. – Oshima

In everybody’s life there’s a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can’t go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That’s how we survive. – Oshima


Taking crazy things seriously – is a serious waste of time. – Hoshino

Pointless thinking is worse than no thinking at all. – Col Sanders (yes, the KFC guy!)