Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

So far, this thing is darn good. Reminds me a bit of Jeannette Winterson, though slightly more plot-driven. I'm liking it even better than The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Sputnik Sweetheart.

Update: Ok, I finished it, and lent it to a friend alreay. I loved it. I'll likely read it again. Nice combination of sci-fi, fantasy, minimalist fiction and neuroscience (well, pop-neuroscience).

Murakami's particular brand of surrealism isn't exactly for me, but “Hard-Boiled Wonderland” came with the highest of recommendations and ended up as quite the compelling read. The book consists of two alternating stories, one taking place in then-modern Tokyo and the other occurring in a fantasy realm (complete with hand-drawn map) aptly titled the “End of the World.” Much of the book's force stems from the mystery of how these two seemingly-unrelated worlds are connected, and fortunately Murakami balances the contrasting stories with delicacy and ingenuity. By the end, some mysteries will be revealed, yet others won't–to say any more would be too revealing. At the very least, I can tell you that the book is more satisfying than the final season of Lost, with which “Hard-Boiled Wonderland” shares many similarities. Murakami's creativity is in full display here, as flourishes of golden unicorns, sewer-dwelling monsters and sentient shadows intrigue the reader without venturing into childish overbearance. Along the way, Murakami explores topics that continue to boggle the human imagination, such as sound modification, sonic warfare, unbreakable encryption, and the infinite complexities of the human subconscious. Birnbaum's translation is beautiful, reflecting the wit and lyricism one would expect from Murakami. Unfortunately, I found the story to drag at times, and I'm not too fond of pop-culture references for their own sake. Put these issues aside, however, and “Hard-Boiled Wonderland” is a great read.

One sentence synopsis... A relentlessly imaginative, mind-expanding exploration of consciousness told in alternating narratives - a futuristic, detective/noir Tokyo and a science-fiction society at world's end. .

Read it if you liked... Philip K. Dick (specifically ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'), George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut. .

Dream casting... It's pretty hard to imagine any Murakami characters portrayed by real people so instead I'm changing this to dream director and choosing Alfonso Cuaron.

3.5

I gotta say, after the incredible first couple of chapters, I was fully out on this book for a long stretch until the end. This is the Murakami I thought that would have matched my taste the most: surrealist sci-fi noir with a philosophical bend? I mean come on!

But a lot of it I found slow, or eye-rolling, or both. When I was younger I think I found Murakami's incessant references to music/film/lit exciting and charming; now I tend to find them a bit irritating and taste-flex-y. And I know I know - there is something to be said for the references in the Wonderland section here being indicative of the material reality of the world blah blah blah.... but whatever

I came back around in the last act of the book, and actually found it pretty moving. But still, it made me pretty nervous to revisit the other Murakami's that I thought were some of my favorites of all time

As a big Murakami fan, I can safely say that this (alongside Sputnik Sweetheart) is among my least favorite ones. This novel is considered by fans and critics alike to be one of his best ones, so it obviously has something to it, and I do see the appeal, but I'm guessing that it's just not for me. I was kind disappointed honestly. I found the Sci-fi/Fantasy concepts in the book uninteresting, and I think too much dry exposition (almost three whole chapters in the middle of the book) was used to convey something that really wasn't that complicated. I also think it's one of his novels where the negative Murakami cliches felt the most grating. Sleazy objectification of women, which I wouldn't usually mind if it helps build a certain character or theme or to convey a certain message, but knowing Murakami, it's simple self-insertion without much literary function. This is usual Murakami, but I thought it was notably strong in this particular novel and just enhanced the rest of what I found to be negative.

However, I'm giving the novel a bit of a pass by rating it a 3-star. The Norwegian translation was absolutely horrible, and I wish I had read the English or Japanese one instead. As someone who's worked in translation a bit, it is actually laughably bad at some points. There are numerous grammatical mistakes, weird/outdated choices of translations for lexical words, and unnatural syntax all over the place. I'm sure that the Japanese or even the translated English versions prose is much more natural than in mine.

It wasn't necessarily a bad reading experience. I am a big Murakami fan for a reason, and I did enjoy parts of the novel here and there. I thought it picked up especially towards the end, after the ascent from the “underworld”, in what I'd describe as the novels Act 3. I'm also one of those people who love descriptive passages of cooking and coffee-drinking, and I thought the literary references in this novel was unusually apt (if somewhat quickfire) to be Murakami. Once again he is successful in creating what I call a “cozy atmosphere”. Some of the key themes in the novel are also wonderfully worked into the plot and concepts of the book, so in that sense, it's all well put-together. This guy definitely knows how to write.

It all did simply not appeal to me that much this time around. There was no spark. It's probably me more than you, Murakami, and I still like you, but this date went a bit meh. I'm looking forward to our next meeting!

I really loved this novel. Sort of a hybrid between a hard-bitten detective novel by Raymond Chandler and a surreal fantasy world of Richard Brautigan. I wonder if Murakami was influenced by Brautigan who, later in his career, became famous in Japan and even moved there for a while.

This book was such a pleasure to read. I'm sad I've finished it. However, I have plenty more of Murakami to read.

This book never really did anything for me. I felt lost the majority of the time for one reason or another. I enjoyed some of the humor in the book and I got the general idea and messaging in the book, but I never really was invested in the story. This is the first book I have read by this author and it was recommended by a number of people. Overall it was ok.

I liked this little story a lot, if not as much as Kafka by the Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami takes two entirely separate but parallel worlds and weaves two entirely different stories that somehow make up two halves of a whole rather nicely. Murakami has a neat way of describing how someone who's seemingly well-adjusted and stable on the surface can be hiding something fractured underneath. I won't go into the plot or provide any sort of meaningful explanation about what I think everything meant, but I will say that I greatly enjoyed the last quarter of the book especially.

Always carry paperclips.

Reading this as hard SF didn't work, but I found it easy to transition into reading it as ... as what? As a what-if? As (ahem) a thought experiment? As philosophy? I'm still not sure how to interpret it, what to take from it, but I am sure that I really loved the experience of discovering this book and perhaps Murakami as well.

Beautiful imagery. Beautiful ideas. Disturbing recognition of our personal inertia; action and inaction; our role in an indifferent world.

Reading this book I realized I can categorize Murakami's work into two broad categories - books like this one with magic realism (my personal preference) and books like Norwegian Wood.
This book explores various concepts like those of self, identity, and the subconscious. I really enjoyed this mix of sci-fi and surreal reality, getting transported into two very different yet interestingly converging worlds.

Although lengthy, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is an excellent title for this work. Expect ‘hard-boiled' detective work, ‘wonderland'-like occurrences, and something strange to do with ‘the end of the world.'

This was the book that got me into Murakami. He never disappoints. He is incredibly creative in all of his stories, and this is no exception. The plot can get a bit slow at times, but stick with this book; it's worth it. Murakami is such a fantastic author!

Murakami's one of those types for which I actually take a lunch break just to get some reading in at the middle of the day, for which I complain about having to go out socially instead of staying at home to read, for which I get annoyed with how the athletic rigours of ultimate frisbee render me unable to read for long without falling asleep – even though the language is somewhat stilted, the characters are always flatter than I expect them to be, and the ending always leaves me 10% unfulfilled.

I picked up this book from a Reddit comment saying it is Murakami's most signatory work. Having only read 1Q84 prior to this, I expected a tinge of magical realism plastered here and there along a banal plotline. The book pleasantly surprised me on that front.

In the real world, there is a typical Japanese worker; maybe not so typical, since his work is mind encryption. In the magical world, there is a man whose shadow got sundered from him by the Gatekeeper of the Town. The mind encrypter received a job from a mad professor to perform memory obfuscation. The shadowless man became the Dreamreader, evoking dreams from animal skulls everyday. Some clashes happened, some trouble arose, some memory regained, some secrets revealed, and then it was the end of the world.

The real world in which our mind encrypter lives has surrealist elements, and they are quite direct. They are described through the first-person view as a matter of fact, but somehow it leaves quite an impression on me. It is the real world, occupied by real people, but there is always something that is off, detracting my mind from visualizing it. It is an enjoyable feeling.

The book poses philosophical questions on the relationship between memory and identity. I did not particularly engage with this theme, nor do I warrant the sci-fi details much interest, but I do believe the book is invested in those areas, if that is your cup of tea. For me, I read the book in a hazy state of mind, haphazardly immersing myself in the world of dreams and shadowless townpeople, and I think it is how the book is intended to be experienced.

This is my first time reading Haruki Murakami and boy what a ride! I have to admit that the book had me flipping pages fast and gave me an undeniable curiosity about what was what and what was happening. The funny thing is that in the end, there are no certain answers to it all. Don't let that turn you off, however. Things are explained, there is a ‘why' to what is happening, but there is also so much more that is subjective and thoughtful. I feel like this is one of those books that will stick with you for many years to come as you glean more and more from its thoughtful exploration of identity, thought and mind. My own mind is still sifting through it all trying to figure out exactly what it is that I just read. I liked it, I liked it a lot, but it is also a story with a depth that won't be easily plied. I even think it could take multiple readings to really get a handle on it all - and that would be no bad thing. Definitely a refreshing read from what I usually get into and highly recommended if you're looking for something thoughtful and slightly bizarre.

This is only my second Murakami experience (Strange Library being the first, so a toe in the pond really). I loved this, racing home to get back to it each day. I look forward to reading more. Today I walked onto the elevator and there was a paperclip on the floor. It takes a master for me to override my longstanding belief that a paperclip may be something more than a device to hold papers together.