Haruki Murakami · 2002 · road

Haruki Murakami's 2002 novel, two stories braided together: a runaway teenager fleeing an oracular curse, and an old man who lost his wits and gained the power to speak with cats. Both are drawn from Tokyo across Japan to a quiet library in Takamatsu, on the island of Shikoku, where the boundaries between worlds give way. Dreamlike, funny and haunting, it is one of Murakami's most beloved journeys through a half-real Japan.

1. 1
   Tokyo

   Kafka Tamura, not quite fifteen, runs away from his father's house in Tokyo, boarding a night bus into the west of Japan.

2. 2
   Kobe

   The highway carries him through the night past Kobe, toward an island he has chosen almost at random for its distance from home.

3. 3
   Takamatsu

   He crosses to Shikoku over the bridges and Awaji Island and settles in Takamatsu, taking refuge in a small private library where his strange story unfolds.