Don’t really have many specific comments on these chapters but I enjoyed them a lot! It feels like the plot with カフカ is really starting to get moving after all of the initial set up. Especially the last chapter, I have so many questions! Who’s blood was it? Is カフカ passing out somehow linked to the other children passing out?
It’s a good thing that I’ve got many other things to catch up on reading or I’m not sure if I’d manage to stop myself from reading the next few chapters ahead of schedule!
My thoughts exactly! Things are really starting to pick up at the end of this week’s assignment and I kinda wanted to keep reading. But I also have another book club to get to…
Chapter 7: I’ve been wondering, but the カラスと呼ばれる少年 is just in his head, right? I think I might have had the same thought during the prologue/chapter 1, but had forgotten about it in the meantime. or maybe I forgot about some details from earlier chapters that proved his „existence“
But him suddenly being there in the restaurant surely must mean he‘s imaginary? With the weird 予言s as well, I think they must be in カフカ‘s head.
Chapter 8: I‘m actually so glad we got another interview I liked how the doctor just casually said „well the children didn’t have any long-term effects at all! We just found parasites in some of them …“ You what??
I hope this will become relevant later on! Probably not, but who knows…
Safely through Chapter 8 was a bit of a struggle; it was very interesting but I guess it’s more academic language than I’m used to? Go figure I haven’t seen a lot of that in like the VNs I’ve been reading So I was gonna stop after that but then chapter 9 started with like “I woke up in a bush” so I got sucked in and read all of that too
I think yes but maybe it’s complicated? It hasn’t really been confirmed one way or the other as far as I can tell, but I get the sense that only カフカ can see/hear/whatever him, but I think he might be “real” in some sense? Like connected with the kids losing consciousness or the whole two halves of a soul thing, idk.
Actually… typing this I just came up with a theory: I had the thought in chapter 8 that ナカタ maybe switched bodies somehow, or whoever or whatever woke up in his body wasn’t him exactly, so what if ナカタ’s soul or whatever you wanna call it just completely left his body behind and is now showing up in カフカ’s head for some reason? Whether that’s actually where he exists or he’s just able to show up sometimes, idk, but there’s definitely some things going on
But yeah chapter 9 was pretty wild; I wonder how he ended up there, and what he meant by gathering up fragments of himself?? And apparently he’s experienced something like that before which is… interesting to say the least. Probably unrelated to the cat having meeting another person who could talk to them that they couldn’t remember, but it did register as a parallel. And カフカ keeps looking at his hands when he’s questioning his whole life which like fair, but I wonder if it means anything who knows!
Made me think of the shadow halves/shadow fragments(?) ナカタ and the cat talked about. There’s probably a lot more to it.
That‘s very well possible. And ナカタ‘s other half appearing in カフカ‘s head would be wild, but in a good sense! I‘m looking forward to more parallels and more interconnectedness of all the stories
That’s a good point. Sometimes I forget that this part of the story takes place 70 years ago
And I did read chapter 9 as well! I just didn’t have anything to add, really.
Regarding chapter 7:
I also hope we get to learn more about カフカ‘s (traumatic) past. In the library, he talked about Franz Kafka‘s work, The Penal Colony, and how that‘s something he actually experienced. I wonder what exactly he meant by that.
I finished! I have nothing to add other than I have decided on absolutely no basis what-so-ever (other than I read too many crime novels) that the person he killed was 大島.
I zoned out a ton in chapter 8, only the very end interested me. Chapter 9 was a wild ride and I agree with this entirely:
Chapter 7, I don’t have much to say other than I love cats. Heard that there may be some hard chapters to read concerning cats in the future. While I think I can handle it, I’m already mentally preparing.
Chapter 8 took me aaaaall last week and then some to get through. Similar to what @natarin said, it was the academic language for me. I couldn’t fous well either, so maybe I’m wrong, but I could swear that chapter was pretty repetitive I was so desperate for new information, when it did come up I found it all extremely fascinating.
But Chapter 9 was the reward for making it through! The vibe of the scene, such as the single standing mercury-vapour lamp or the down-trodden apartment that helps calm down Kafka, made the whole chapter play like a movie in my mind.
I don’t usually try and solve mysteries in books or film, but this book has me trying to draw parallels and figure it all out… I’m going to be honest, though it’s nothing I’m willing to defend, but I just keep thinking haha
Oh definitely, it was a rough combination of hard to read and mostly stuff we already knew The parts that were new were interesting though! And chapter 9 even more so, agreed for sure. seems totally possible to me too, there are so many things that are just… weird
That actually crossed my mind as well Like when he wondered which safe place he could go to, I imagined that being the library and that he‘d get there but that 大島 surprisingly wasn’t there…
Home Thread
I liked how the doctor just casually said „well the children didn’t have any long-term effects at all! We just found parasites in some of them …“ You what??
Chapter 8 was a bit of a struggle; 
So I was gonna stop after that but then chapter 9 started with like “I woke up in a bush” so I got sucked in and read all of that too 
who knows!
I was so desperate for new information, when it did come up I found it all extremely fascinating. 
haha