Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

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.