Status
Available
Description
The last surviving victim of an experiment that implanted the subjects' heads with electrodes that decipher coded messages is the unnamed narrator. Half the chapters are set in Tokyo, where the narrator negotiates underground worlds populated by INKlings, dodges opponents of both sides of a raging high-tech infowar, and engages in an affair with a beautiful librarian with a gargantuan appetite. In alternating chapters he tries to reunite with his mind and his shadow, from which he has been severed by the grim, dark "replacement" consciousness implanted in him by a dotty neurophysiologist. Both worlds share the unearthly theme of unicorn skulls that moan and glow.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ccarlsson
This novel pulled me in and held me spellbound, occupying that favored niche known as my night book—the one I read for 15-45 minutes before falling asleep. I prefer good fiction as my eyes fail and I grow tired.
This story is not easy to characterize, being part science-fiction, part mystery,
Something about the tone of this novel kept reminding me the author is Japanese, but then around ¾ of the way through it, that finally fell away, only to re-emerge when the final scenes unfold in Tokyo. I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to the daily experiences and psychological worlds of contemporary Japanese (or any other era, for that matter) so I often found myself wondering if this book reflected that or not. Probably not, because Murakami is clearly a virtuoso, an imaginative genius, and like all great writers, captures a certain universal “truth” about our condition.
This is my first full novel of his, though I recall reading a New Yorker story a year ago or so. That was rather more somber than this novel, which is occasionally hilarious, but mostly utterly absorbing. But I’ll be voraciously going through his writings now. I’m really intrigued to check out his nonfiction. He apparently wrote a book on the Sarin gas suicide cult that attacked the subway system. Another real-life metaphor for larger dynamics I suppose.
Anyway, top rating for this one.
This story is not easy to characterize, being part science-fiction, part mystery,
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part existentialist drama, and part psychological thriller. What more could one ask for from a novel, really? Murakami, who my 20-year-old daughter has been pushing on me with wild enthusiasm already for a couple of years, is a brilliant prose writer, and the translation from Japanese by Alfred Birnbaum must be great because it’s taut, whimsical, ironic, and pointed. If any previous book I read came to mind it was Phillip K. Dick’s “Through a Scanner Darkly,” not because the stories are really similar, but because this book is the only other one I’ve read that really gets inside a brain that is completely halved itself. I can hardly imagine such a schizoid reality; in Dick’s novel it’s brutal and painful and hard to take. In Murakami’s it’s funny and amazing, hard to believe but weirdly hopeful too.Something about the tone of this novel kept reminding me the author is Japanese, but then around ¾ of the way through it, that finally fell away, only to re-emerge when the final scenes unfold in Tokyo. I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to the daily experiences and psychological worlds of contemporary Japanese (or any other era, for that matter) so I often found myself wondering if this book reflected that or not. Probably not, because Murakami is clearly a virtuoso, an imaginative genius, and like all great writers, captures a certain universal “truth” about our condition.
This is my first full novel of his, though I recall reading a New Yorker story a year ago or so. That was rather more somber than this novel, which is occasionally hilarious, but mostly utterly absorbing. But I’ll be voraciously going through his writings now. I’m really intrigued to check out his nonfiction. He apparently wrote a book on the Sarin gas suicide cult that attacked the subway system. Another real-life metaphor for larger dynamics I suppose.
Anyway, top rating for this one.
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LibraryThing member megmcardle
Two alternating stories with seemingly different protagonists and stories slowly merge in this early novel by experimental Japanese author Haruki Murakami (Wind-Up Bird Chronicles). In one storyline, the narrator is a computer technician expert at "shuffling" or encoding data. His ability to
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shuffle data has been made possible through experimental brain alterations. Called to a mysterious office building for a job, the narrator finds himself on the run from rival information agents and searching for a way to stop the decay of the tech in his brain. The alternating chapters are in a dreamlike world where a man has been separated from his shadow and put to work reading dreams from the skulls of unicorns. Yes, I know how that sounds, but it somehow works in the framework of the story. The narrator of this story is trying to understand the walled town that he has found himself in. He has no memory of his life before he came to the town and feels he is slowly losing his identity the longer he is separated from his shadow. The combination of the paranoid sf of the first story, reminiscent as it is of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, and the fantasy world of the second story becomes even more profound as the stories seem to be heading on a collision course. Complex and challenging, this is ultimately a rewarding and original reading experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member jkwouden
My favorite Murakami novel. Poetic and hallucinogenic at the same time, the protagonist whose job is being a 'dreamreader' carries data locked in his head, but, unlike William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Johnny Mnemonic, the secrets are accessible, encoded in a subconscious dream-world, 'the town',
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with stolen shadows and mystical beasts. The novel alternates chapters of this enigmatic and ominous subconscious world with the bizarre techno espionage thriller of the conscious world. Strange and beautiful. Show Less
LibraryThing member brleach
This is probably the best book I've ever read. It has layers upon layers that can be woven together, unraveled, and examined. The two stories fit together nearly perfectly - and the curious, apparent inconsistencies are fruitful to contemplate. The questions it raises about the nature of the self,
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the mind, consciousness, and identity are fascinating yet never resolved (which might be frustrating if it weren't for the fact that there are no pat answers to such questions even for those of us who spend years studying them). Finally, it combines my three favorite genres - fantasy, science fiction, and detective mysteries. I'll have to read it a second time before I can write a real review. Show Less
LibraryThing member johnwbeha
A few months ago if I anyone has said to me that I would get huge enjoyment and a whole lot of things to mull over in my mind from a book where I did not really understand what was going on for at least 300 of its 400 pages, I would have told them that they didn't understand me at all. But then
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IQ84 popped. Onto my reading pile and within hours I was incurable hooked on Murakami. Oddly enough my daughter told me 20 years ago that Norwegian Wood was one of her favourite books, but I never bothered to follow it up. Now I will be steadily working my way through his books, one every few months. On Pinterest the other day someone posted that this book reduced him to a trance like state. I know exactly what he means. In this book you are always thinking about what connection can possibly exist between two distinct narrative streams until you finally find out. Murakami seems to have a vast knowledge of western literature and music crossing all genres and he weaves this knowledge into this book, which only served to increase my involvement with the characters. There is no sense trying to provide a synopsis of the plot, this is a really good read and I am very glad that there are a lot more waiting for me to read them. Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
This month’s post-apocalyptic book club selection.
Regardless of ‘the end of the world’ in the title, this is not actually a post-apocalyptic story. It is, however, a remarkably excellent novel.
The narrative is divided into two sections – in one, a young man works as a Calcutec, able to do
Meanwhile, in another (even-more-surreal) world, another young man has just been admitted to a walled town called The End of The World. In order to enter, he must agree to be separated from his shadow, which is doomed to die a slow death without him. In this passive, circumscribed place, everyone seems to be afflicted by amnesia; they have no “mind” (a term used in a way which might seem to more closely approximate what people often refer to as “soul.) He is assigned to a job: ‘reading’/releasing the dreams of dead unicorns from their skulls.
It is quickly clear to the reader that there is some strange and intimate connection between the protagonists of these two stories. Each embarks on a kind of quest: the first a physical trek through sewers, pursued by Morlock-like “INKlings,” the second an intellectual journey through research, mapping, and an attempt to remember. At stake for both? The world itself? – or the individual’s conscious existence in the world?
The nature of their connection is only gradually revealed, in a masterfully crafted and intricately formatted tale full of symbolism, which explores the ideas of conscious and subconscious, and the nature of identity.
Regardless of ‘the end of the world’ in the title, this is not actually a post-apocalyptic story. It is, however, a remarkably excellent novel.
The narrative is divided into two sections – in one, a young man works as a Calcutec, able to do
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feats of cryptography in his head. At a surreal job interview/assignment, he meets a pretty plump woman in pink and her mad-scientist grandfather. Gradually, we realize that his is not a wholly natural ability, and that the reason he can do his work may turn out to have not-so-benign repercussions. Meanwhile, in another (even-more-surreal) world, another young man has just been admitted to a walled town called The End of The World. In order to enter, he must agree to be separated from his shadow, which is doomed to die a slow death without him. In this passive, circumscribed place, everyone seems to be afflicted by amnesia; they have no “mind” (a term used in a way which might seem to more closely approximate what people often refer to as “soul.) He is assigned to a job: ‘reading’/releasing the dreams of dead unicorns from their skulls.
It is quickly clear to the reader that there is some strange and intimate connection between the protagonists of these two stories. Each embarks on a kind of quest: the first a physical trek through sewers, pursued by Morlock-like “INKlings,” the second an intellectual journey through research, mapping, and an attempt to remember. At stake for both? The world itself? – or the individual’s conscious existence in the world?
The nature of their connection is only gradually revealed, in a masterfully crafted and intricately formatted tale full of symbolism, which explores the ideas of conscious and subconscious, and the nature of identity.
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LibraryThing member figre
I have only two favorite authors listed in my profile. One is Harlan Ellison – and I entered his name fully aware of the body of his work. The second is Haruki Murakami, and his inclusion may have represented more of a leap of faith. I had read some of his books, was consistently floored, so
So, I started another of his novels wondering if my anticipation would be shattered with reality. Never fear. Again, an excellent book with a compelling story, excellent descriptions, and off-beat characters we shouldn’t understand but somehow do. While Murakami’s books often have a fantastical aspect (maybe surreal is the better word), this comes of the most science-fictional/fantasy-like I have encountered. In fact, there is almost a cyber-punk feel to it (without the hecticness that really helps define cyber-punk.) Two stories are interwoven – one the science-fiction element of a man who launders information through his memory and the other the fantasy element of a city of unicorns that exists at the end of the world. The elements are brought together seamlessly and, as Murakami always does in spite of the unbelievability of the situations and plot, we believe in what is occurring. Only one minor complaint – one chapter of the book suffers a bit from “As you know Bob” complex (that is, an involved section trying to explain the science behind some of the action). Too much detail, it is unnecessary. We are already believers. But this is a quibble, a small stumble in a well-told tale.
I still have more Murakami to read. But I don’t want to jump into them right away. The idea that in the next month or so I will have another Murakami novel to discover is a bright light in my reading future. I hold off taking them on because the joy of discovery for each new book is heightened by the patience of waiting. And, with each book, the fear that he may not live up to my expectations become less and less a concern
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added him as a favorite. And with each additional book I read, I am convinced his inclusion as a favorite is well-founded.So, I started another of his novels wondering if my anticipation would be shattered with reality. Never fear. Again, an excellent book with a compelling story, excellent descriptions, and off-beat characters we shouldn’t understand but somehow do. While Murakami’s books often have a fantastical aspect (maybe surreal is the better word), this comes of the most science-fictional/fantasy-like I have encountered. In fact, there is almost a cyber-punk feel to it (without the hecticness that really helps define cyber-punk.) Two stories are interwoven – one the science-fiction element of a man who launders information through his memory and the other the fantasy element of a city of unicorns that exists at the end of the world. The elements are brought together seamlessly and, as Murakami always does in spite of the unbelievability of the situations and plot, we believe in what is occurring. Only one minor complaint – one chapter of the book suffers a bit from “As you know Bob” complex (that is, an involved section trying to explain the science behind some of the action). Too much detail, it is unnecessary. We are already believers. But this is a quibble, a small stumble in a well-told tale.
I still have more Murakami to read. But I don’t want to jump into them right away. The idea that in the next month or so I will have another Murakami novel to discover is a bright light in my reading future. I hold off taking them on because the joy of discovery for each new book is heightened by the patience of waiting. And, with each book, the fear that he may not live up to my expectations become less and less a concern
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LibraryThing member brakketh
Fascinating and a real page-turner with some awful descriptions of women that were very jarring.
LibraryThing member Estramir
I've read 14 Murakami's to date, this is probably my favourite. It has all the familiar elements, lots of beer drinking, cooking, and music, an 'average Joe' central character who is slightly lost, mysterious females, a comical tough-guy duo, a kooky old guy, blasé casual sex, and a big mess of
The author employs two parallel stories, a device he went on to use in several other books, which gives a nice balance and builds the anticipation. The first few chapters really make you wonder what possible connection the two stories could have.
I'm not sure why I like Haruki Murakami's writing so much, some of his protagonists can be annoyingly selfish and sexist for sure, but they do have endearing qualities too that make you forget their faults. But his stories always are eminently readable and contain a mind-opening sense of wonder and magic behind the bland veneer.
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ideas which is never really cleaned up.The author employs two parallel stories, a device he went on to use in several other books, which gives a nice balance and builds the anticipation. The first few chapters really make you wonder what possible connection the two stories could have.
I'm not sure why I like Haruki Murakami's writing so much, some of his protagonists can be annoyingly selfish and sexist for sure, but they do have endearing qualities too that make you forget their faults. But his stories always are eminently readable and contain a mind-opening sense of wonder and magic behind the bland veneer.
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LibraryThing member angharad_reads
Existentialism, metaphysics, psychology, magical realism. Superb. Interweaves the two title narratives in alternating chapters: an allegorical fable, and a gritty cyberpunk fantasy. Symbolism deserves a reread.
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is another unclassifiable novel from literary surrealist, Haruki Murakami. As with a previous surrealistic experience from this author, Kafka on the Shore, you just need to go with it and let the book unfold in your mind. The closest comparison I can
The usual Murakami touches are there as well. The main characters have deep philosophic discussions on the nature of self and how the world is perceived, using the context of the story to make a greater statement about the real world. Murakami blurs the lines between the characters reality and imagined worlds, again much like Kafka on the Shore, but this is not a repetition of the same plot as before, it is a unique story.
For the reader, the challenge comes in connecting the two, at first, seemingly disparate story lines. Astute readers should be able to make the connection, but that does not diminish the enjoyment of the novel, but rather enhances it. It will bring you more into the world being created.
Very deep, sometimes dark and always surreal, this will have a strong appeal to Haruki Murakami fans. Free range thinkers should also enjoy this but unless you can think around corners, you may be baffled by this version of Wonderland. My thinking is very free range, so I have no problem with five stars for this offering.
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make is this story is a literary equivalent of a Miyazaki movie, complete with a precocious teen girl, an eccentric inventor grandfather and a young (but older than the teen girl) man in an adventure he does not understand and is beyond his control.The usual Murakami touches are there as well. The main characters have deep philosophic discussions on the nature of self and how the world is perceived, using the context of the story to make a greater statement about the real world. Murakami blurs the lines between the characters reality and imagined worlds, again much like Kafka on the Shore, but this is not a repetition of the same plot as before, it is a unique story.
For the reader, the challenge comes in connecting the two, at first, seemingly disparate story lines. Astute readers should be able to make the connection, but that does not diminish the enjoyment of the novel, but rather enhances it. It will bring you more into the world being created.
Very deep, sometimes dark and always surreal, this will have a strong appeal to Haruki Murakami fans. Free range thinkers should also enjoy this but unless you can think around corners, you may be baffled by this version of Wonderland. My thinking is very free range, so I have no problem with five stars for this offering.
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LibraryThing member dingleberries11
Wonderland is probably my favorite Murakami book-plot wise. BUT there is some essence that I find missing that I really loved in the other works I have read by him so far.
I think the big difference with this novel versus other works by Murakami, is that the supernatural or fantasy side of the tale
I still really enjoy this book and think it is fantastic. But to me it is just fantasy, where his other books seem as if the abnormal is an every day occurrence and these things happen around us all the time. Also, it is missing some of the wonder of everyday routine that you see in A Wild Sheep Chase and (particularly) in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.
Not to say that Murakami doesn’t make this novel believable. It’s just not what I had expected and isn’t as character driven. I enjoyed it, but I give it 4 1/2 instead of the full 5 stars.
I think the big difference with this novel versus other works by Murakami, is that the supernatural or fantasy side of the tale
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is much more in the forefront. Where as in, say, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles the supernatural is on a much smaller scale and seems almost as if they are just characteristics of different individuals (granted, the supernatural part does play a rather large role in forming the plot). It was taken as fact that some people could get inklings of peoples’ futures, while someone else could count backwards with ease, or others loved to eat. In this way, Murakami managed this sort of living dream feeling with ease that I think is missing in Hard-Boiled Wonderland.I still really enjoy this book and think it is fantastic. But to me it is just fantasy, where his other books seem as if the abnormal is an every day occurrence and these things happen around us all the time. Also, it is missing some of the wonder of everyday routine that you see in A Wild Sheep Chase and (particularly) in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.
Not to say that Murakami doesn’t make this novel believable. It’s just not what I had expected and isn’t as character driven. I enjoyed it, but I give it 4 1/2 instead of the full 5 stars.
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LibraryThing member page.fault
Love the title, hated the content. I didn't make it more than 30% in due to my absolute loathing for the narrator.
Loathing, unadulterated loathing
For your tone, your voice, your posing
Let's just say
I loathe it all!
How you describe women--it's your male gaze
It sends my anger right into a blaze
With
Seriously, just that first opening, in which he considers the "fat, beautiful" woman he's following. He comments that fat, beautiful women make him uncomfortable because he's not sure how to evaluate them--because obviously, all women must be evaluated in terms of their sexual desirability--after all, isn't that what women are for? He then proceeds to denigrate her for her eating habits while still considering her a sexual object--obviously, she's an ill-trained beast. Some man should take her in hand and whip her into shape so she can fulfil her primary function.
GRRRRRRRR.
Other than that little detail, I find the narrative, with its constant repetition (e.g. "Do you like sandwiches?" "Yes, I like sandwiches." "I'm glad you like sandwiches." etc), its fatuous flights of fancy (e.g. the Darwinian extinction of sound), and its tiresome characters (e.g. the airheaded ice-cream eating librarian or the "fat, beautiful girl" who attempts to sell herself to our dear narrator) just don't do anything for me. I'd love someone of the Literati to explain all of the horrifically idiotic pseudoscience blasted out in dry, obnoxious infodumps by the various characters. I hate, hate, hate bad pseudoscience. I didn't really mind the shadowless dream-reader, but I really, really hate the other guy. Murakami gives his narrator a really twisted obsession with women eating, somehow directly tying it into their sexuality. Fat or thin, all women are weirdly evaluated by their eating habits as well as their weight.
Yep, I get that I'm supposed to find the narrator obnoxious and that he's channeling the hardboiled vibe. Yes, I understand it's Literature and that somehow it magically achieves Snob Factor and that I should read the farce as something greater. Yes, I understand that disliking this book makes me an impatient, shallow, coarse, and lower-class reader (seriously, read the positive reviews...that's what they say about us lower beings who don't "understand" this book.) I don't care. It's not for me.
Loathing, unadulterated loathing
For your tone, your voice, your posing
Let's just say
I loathe it all!
How you describe women--it's your male gaze
It sends my anger right into a blaze
With
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simple utter loathing...Seriously, just that first opening, in which he considers the "fat, beautiful" woman he's following. He comments that fat, beautiful women make him uncomfortable because he's not sure how to evaluate them--because obviously, all women must be evaluated in terms of their sexual desirability--after all, isn't that what women are for? He then proceeds to denigrate her for her eating habits while still considering her a sexual object--obviously, she's an ill-trained beast. Some man should take her in hand and whip her into shape so she can fulfil her primary function.
GRRRRRRRR.
Other than that little detail, I find the narrative, with its constant repetition (e.g. "Do you like sandwiches?" "Yes, I like sandwiches." "I'm glad you like sandwiches." etc), its fatuous flights of fancy (e.g. the Darwinian extinction of sound), and its tiresome characters (e.g. the airheaded ice-cream eating librarian or the "fat, beautiful girl" who attempts to sell herself to our dear narrator) just don't do anything for me. I'd love someone of the Literati to explain all of the horrifically idiotic pseudoscience blasted out in dry, obnoxious infodumps by the various characters. I hate, hate, hate bad pseudoscience. I didn't really mind the shadowless dream-reader, but I really, really hate the other guy. Murakami gives his narrator a really twisted obsession with women eating, somehow directly tying it into their sexuality. Fat or thin, all women are weirdly evaluated by their eating habits as well as their weight.
Yep, I get that I'm supposed to find the narrator obnoxious and that he's channeling the hardboiled vibe. Yes, I understand it's Literature and that somehow it magically achieves Snob Factor and that I should read the farce as something greater. Yes, I understand that disliking this book makes me an impatient, shallow, coarse, and lower-class reader (seriously, read the positive reviews...that's what they say about us lower beings who don't "understand" this book.) I don't care. It's not for me.
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LibraryThing member hippietrail
It took me a little longer to get absorbed than the two previous Murakami books I read (Dance, Dance, Dance and Wind-up Bird Chronicle) but now I'm half-way through and totally hooked. It interleaves a cyberpunk-ish thread and a fantasy-ish thread which seem to converge in unusual and interesting
Fortunately this book has not been "Britishized" as was the case with my copy of Wind-up Bird but there are still too many proofing errors. The translation seems more on par with Wind-up Bird than the very smooth Dance, Dance, Dance, but that could just as easily be due a different style or the fact that this is an earlier work.
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ways as the novel progresses.Fortunately this book has not been "Britishized" as was the case with my copy of Wind-up Bird but there are still too many proofing errors. The translation seems more on par with Wind-up Bird than the very smooth Dance, Dance, Dance, but that could just as easily be due a different style or the fact that this is an earlier work.
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LibraryThing member istoria
This is one of those books where I just lost time. I remember reading it but it was like the entire world just stopped around me. It was amazingly intricate and drew you in to this odd (and at times hard to understand) world.
LibraryThing member littlegeek
There's something about Murakami. I don't usually like pomo much, but he speaks to me. Part Raymond Chandler, part William Gibson, but all Murakami. Weird and wonderful.
LibraryThing member sovietsong
My favourite Murakami novel. The information/ librarian element is one of the reasons, but I also love the double world and the way you gradually realise what's going on.
LibraryThing member tonybreed
My favorite Murakami book, told in alternating chapters. The story of a professional memorizer in a noirish, futuristic city, interwoven with the story of a man who finds himself in a mysterious walled town with a library full of unicorn skulls. Slowly you discover the meaning of each side of the
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story, and how they connect. Just brilliant. Show Less
LibraryThing member inklingsfan47
I am hesitant about reviewing this book. I don't want to mar it with my lack of 'the right words' or say something I don't mean to say, because I am so inept and intimidated, when it comes to talking about this book. So I have to be careful here. This is my favorite piece of literature we're
I had never intended to review this book at all. Still, I think I'll refrain from giving it a 'universal' point of view; when it comes to anything by Murakami, the only things I find I can say about them are very, very personal. That is the rare beauty that lies in any Murakami novel or short story. It means different things to different people.
Why is Hard-Boiled Wonderland my favorite book? That answer lies in me, not in the text. Though the text is a crucial part to finding out. Much in the same way the central character searches for his own truth, I do, too. I can relate. I don't know the whole workings of 'me'. I find it fascinating that parts of me are unknown and unexplored. I believe it. I believe I could not keep living if it were not true. If I were no longer a mystery, I could not go on living. The idea enthralls me (personally), plays with me, delights me. To have truth inside of me brings that ever elusive 'meaning' to my life. It is almost as if Murakami's character is searching for proof of his own soul... if he were religious, he would realize he is trying to find God inside of himself.
So, the question remains: would I have taken that last, drastic step to find out?
No, I answer. No, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. If I'm right about it, then I needn't go so far. God is in the world, too. Forever is just a little too long for me.
Personally.
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talkin' about!I had never intended to review this book at all. Still, I think I'll refrain from giving it a 'universal' point of view; when it comes to anything by Murakami, the only things I find I can say about them are very, very personal. That is the rare beauty that lies in any Murakami novel or short story. It means different things to different people.
Why is Hard-Boiled Wonderland my favorite book? That answer lies in me, not in the text. Though the text is a crucial part to finding out. Much in the same way the central character searches for his own truth, I do, too. I can relate. I don't know the whole workings of 'me'. I find it fascinating that parts of me are unknown and unexplored. I believe it. I believe I could not keep living if it were not true. If I were no longer a mystery, I could not go on living. The idea enthralls me (personally), plays with me, delights me. To have truth inside of me brings that ever elusive 'meaning' to my life. It is almost as if Murakami's character is searching for proof of his own soul... if he were religious, he would realize he is trying to find God inside of himself.
So, the question remains: would I have taken that last, drastic step to find out?
No, I answer. No, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. If I'm right about it, then I needn't go so far. God is in the world, too. Forever is just a little too long for me.
Personally.
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LibraryThing member michaeldwebb
Probably my favourite book. I can't write a review that will do this book justice.
The facts: two parallel stories, one in (sort of reality) - one not. The startling feeling of realising that reality may not be, and how it may feel to have your mind and world collapse. I didn't want this book to
The facts: two parallel stories, one in (sort of reality) - one not. The startling feeling of realising that reality may not be, and how it may feel to have your mind and world collapse. I didn't want this book to
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finish. Show Less
LibraryThing member DRFP
Two intertwined tales, one set in a Hard-Boiled Wonderland, the other at the End of the World.
Although I felt one section of this book dragged on a little too long (the HBW part underground) overall I find this a good read from Murakami. The End of the World sections were espcially evocative.
I
Although I felt one section of this book dragged on a little too long (the HBW part underground) overall I find this a good read from Murakami. The End of the World sections were espcially evocative.
I
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merely wish that I had the time to re-read this work so that I could better appreciate it. Show Less
LibraryThing member TomChicago
Although the Professor lost me in the particulars, I understood enough to get some idea of what the protagonist faced. I found the story and the characters very moving, funny and smart. The translation never felt like a translation; it was smooth and hip. I was hooked from the beginning and will be
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looking for more Murakami. Show Less
LibraryThing member kafkascampi
My favorite Murakami and one of my favorite books, period. It's rare that a book can pull off the alternating chapter storyline gambit, but this one does. It's bleak, sad and sweet. Hypnotic and beautiful.
LibraryThing member mabeloos
I loved this book. The best way I can describe it: a cross between William Gibson's Neuromancer and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. You'll have to read it yourself to see what I mean (that is, if you've read the other two books).
My only gripe about the paperback edition: it was poorly
If you don't like post-modern fiction (if you can define it, go ahead, I'm not going to), don't read this book.
My only gripe about the paperback edition: it was poorly
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typeset. There were extra spaces where there should not have been (even on justified text, you can tell), a few typographical errors, and some bizarre registration mistakes. I learned to ignore it, but it was just a little bit irritating.If you don't like post-modern fiction (if you can define it, go ahead, I'm not going to), don't read this book.
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LibraryThing member thioviolight
Quite a beautifully-written novel, it's a fascinating take on how the mind works. It may be a bit confusing to read at some parts, but it's presents not only a great story, but also an interesting idea. As in Murakami's other novels, there's also a good dose of surrealism and a feast for the senses
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-- particularly food and music! A wonderful read! Show Less