I still stand by my criticisms of the book, which are:

• The cheap “deus ex machina” in the form of Colonel Sanders giving Hoshino all the answers, and Nakata always knowing where to go. It takes the suspense out the plot.
• The overdone sex scenes. Of course there’s the motive of the Œdipus myth, but this goes overboard. Teenagers don’t usually end up sleeping with whatever woman crosses their path and I certainly don’t need elaborate descriptions given the age of Kafka and the young Ms. Saeki.

Nakata’s passing surprised me. After Colonel Sanders’ appearance, I’d thought the characters are invinicible. But now Hoshino is thrown into cold water and we get some suspense back.

I think the book gives a deserving end to both Nakata and Ms. Saeki. Until their meeting I hadn’t noticed just how strongly they complement each other with both of them being empty in their respective ways. Their end seems to match the theme of closing what was opened after they have undergone their respective journeys.

But one of my favorite parts of the book is in the last chapter: When Sada asks Kafka if he’s seen the soldiers. Up until that point, I’d made a distinction between two worlds. There’s the real world where we have the library, the cafes, the motorway stops. Then there’s the dream world where Kafka meets young Ms. Saeki or where we find the village in the forest. Sada comes into the novel as a more or unless unrelated character dwelling in the real world. With this one simple question he provides (to my judgement at least) the first hard evidence that there is no such distinctions. Both the tangible and the intangible dreams are part of the same reality.

Oh, and Hoshino is just delightful! I wish him well. :::spoiler–___