I’ve been reading “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami. I ploughed through the first 3/4 of the book but now I’m on page 478 out of 615 it’s very much gone downhill for me.
spoiler
Nakata is my favorite character in the book and I loved the journey with Hoshino. But since Colonel Sanders turned up, it seems to fall into a repititve pattern where Colonel Sanders tells Hoshino what to do and we watch him do it - no uncertainty, no suspense, just following orders. I’m also bored with how Nakata suddenly seems to know exactly what to do with complete conviction, which seems very much contrary to his childlike mind in the first part of the book.
As for Kafka’s arc, I find the philosophical discussions with the other characters anything but engaging. The sex scenes between a teenager and a 50 year old are just disgusting.
Is the ending worth it? I’m reading the French translation, sorry if the characters have different names.
I hope to read through Kafka on the Shore soon, so I’m not reading anything past the spoiler mention in your post, but I don’t think you should force yourself to read something you don’t want to read unless you really have to, or if you can see a positive in finishing it i.e. it’s a difficult read for you and finishing it will make you a stronger reader, which is something you want.
No matter what anyone could say for (or against) that book, you as a reader should never feel forced to finish reading a book you started if you don’t enjoy it. Your time is too precious.
Books are not perishable goods, you can come back to any book you want in a few weeks, months, or many years. It will still be readable and happy to welcome you. Some of the books I consider my favorites nowadays, aged 50+, are books I could not get into as a teen or as a young adult and that is despite me trying over and over again to read them but then, one day, something happens and that book is suddenly the best thing you have ever read—yep, I’m looking at you, Proust.
I was fifty pages from the end of “Foucault’s Pendulum” when I quit. Zero regrets.
Unless it’s for a course or career training, there’s no reason to stick with a book you don’t like.
Quitting means you have more time to read the ones that will feed your soul.
For me personally it wasn’t. I read through Kafka on the shore and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and for both I thought afterward that it was a waste of my time. There wasn’t any great twist or revelation.
