Kafka on the Shore follows the fortunes of tworemarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under theshadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats,who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantlysimplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel odysseys areenriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats conversewith people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghostlike pimp deploys aHegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-agedsince WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim andkiller is a riddle. Murakami's new novel is at once a classic tale of quest,but it is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, ofpatricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it is an entertainment ofa very high order.