Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Haruki Murakami

An interesting exercise in left-brain/right-brain,fantasy/ science fiction storytelling, all with...more

An interesting exercise in left-brain/right-brain,fantasy/ science fiction storytelling, all with the distinctive Murakami style that we've all grown to love ;-). The story can actuall be split into two seperate works of fiction, the first being a science fiction novel following the exploits of a 35 year old "Calcutec" (organic data-processor) caught in the middle of an information war between provate corporations in a somewhat futuristic (well, if we still lived in the 80's and listened to Duran Duran) Japan. The other tale, starting in teh second Chapter and continuing in every other chapter, is the story of a man separated from his shadow, living in a world of unicorns while trying to solve the mystery of the Town found at the End of the World. Connecting the two is a mad scientist as well as a touch of destiny. Given that this is Murakami, expect the unexpected, and be prepared to bring your own imagination to bear....   hide

A damn fine book. Weirdly reminiscent of parts of Gaiman's Neverwhere (especially the underground...more

A damn fine book. Weirdly reminiscent of parts of Gaiman's Neverwhere (especially the underground bits), Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians (the bleak, blank solitariness of the End of the World setting) and, in the more humorous and zany parts, of Jim Jarmusch's films. It also has elements of Paul Auster's In the Country of Last Things and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, though it doesn't quite plumb the same depths of despair. Despite these similarities (which, even if they were deliberate derivations would be acceptable), Murakami's voice is distinctively his own and he yet manages to leave you staggered at his originality and conciseness of style. This was my first Murakami read. It won't be my last.   hide

Murakami here paints a fantastical world divided in to two a 'hard-boiled wonderland' which is...more

Murakami here paints a fantastical world divided in to two a 'hard-boiled wonderland' which is greatly similar to our own world except for some oddities where the security information is paramount and the 'end of the world' which is the story of the souless in a town and the unicorns they look after, the worlds are linked but the link is not too easy to say. Murakami paints a spellbindingly realistic world in which the powers of evil seem to just merge together and the end f the world seems almost tangible. Murakami once again displays that he is a master of the surreal. A genuinely in credible book.   hide

My second favorite Murakami novel after Wind-up Bird. The book begins as two stories in one, with...more

My second favorite Murakami novel after Wind-up Bird. The book begins as two stories in one, with odd chapters devoted to one thread and even chapters devoted to the other thread. Not until the end do you begin to see the link between the two tales and then... well, you'll need to read it yourself. Also, one of the few Murakami novels that has an actual ending and leaves you with some understanding of what just happened.   hide

Definitely one of my favorite books. This is the second time I read it and it was better than I...more

Definitely one of my favorite books. This is the second time I read it and it was better than I remembered, too. It's deliciously surreal and imaginative but not wildly fantastical. Continues Murakami's exploration of the mind and consciousness/subconsciousness. Summary-wise, basically there's this guy in Tokyo and he launders information and gets mixed up with a scientist who'd been messing with his brain, and consequently his mind also. So he's got a world in his conscious mind where he's part of an information war and a world in his subconscious mind where he lives in a town and reads unicorn dreams but they aren't *completely* unlinked so they're starting to converge, in a way... It's good, really   hide