MURAKAMI'S KAFKA

I discovered Haruki Murakami a little late. Late in 2005, to be precise. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ptm/books/bestof2005.htm That was when I read the impressive 'Kafka on the Shore' which led me on to a journey into all literature Japanese. This one clearly wasn't lost in translation. The book is a real page-turner in addition to being a metaphysical mind-bender. It's 436 pages long, not poolside reading, and evokes Kafka in more ways than one. The protagonist deliberately chooses the name Kafka before launching on an intensely personal voyage of discovery. With clear streaks of Kafka, Murakami's characters often move from the all too real world of modern Japan into a strange parallel universe, "a very Kafka world" as Murakami would put it.

So it should come as no surprise that Murakami has been honoured with the Czech Republic's foremost literary award - the Franz Kafka Prize. Receiving the award in Prague, he acknowledged that Kafka is one of his favourite authors of "all time."

Murakami himself discovered Kafka with 'The Castle' when he was 15. Speaking of reading the book, he said "that book was so real and so unreal at the same time that my heart and soul seemed torn into two pieces."

While Kafka, has helped him achieve cult status, the master of the written form isn't resting easy. He is busy at work on his next book - one that promises to be bigger and longer than anything he has penned so far. But if you are hoping to hear anything of the plot, the intensely media shy author isn't giving anything away, so all you need to do is keep watching the written spaces for more Murakami updates. Till then enjoy his 'Birthday Stories' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birthday-Stories-Haruki-Murakami/dp/1843431599