A young boy, Kafka Tamura, runs away from home either to escape the fulfillment of a tragic Oedipal prophecy or to search for his mother and sister who have been missing for years.

A naive and not particularly intelligent old man, Nakata, who never managed to overcome the depression from the war, approaches Kafka and feels a kinship with him for reasons that, like the most basic functions in daily life, he cannot understand.

As their paths cross, and it gradually becomes clear why, Haruki Murakami immerses his readers in a world where cats walk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of bodies to make love or commit murder.

One of the greatest storytellers in the world at his best.