Kafka on the Shore follows the adventures of two extraordinary characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, haunted by his father's dark prophecy. The older Nakata, a tracker of lost cats who has never recovered from a bizarre childhood illness, finds his peacefully simplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel journeys are enriched by lively companions and compelling dramas. Cats talk to people; fish fall from the sky; a ghostly pimp controls a girl of easy virtue with a penchant for Hegel; a forest harbors soldiers who apparently haven't aged since World War II. A gruesome murder takes place, but the identity of both victim and perpetrator remains a mystery. Murakami's new novel is both a classic quest and a powerful exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos such as patricide, maternal love, and sisterly love. Above all, it is entertainment of the highest order.