Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)
Book Review: The best example of Zany-Period Murakami
Summary: 4 Stars
After the controlled realism of early-period Murakami (hard to get hold of in english), he moved into a self-conciously zany phase of writing - full of ultra-bizzare happenings and experimental plot twists. This is probably the best of those works (though 'A Wild Sheep Chase' comes a close second, with the yet-to-be-reissued 'Dance, Dance, Dance' in third place). I like this book, but like those other two it feels a little overloaded and slightly too unfocused, like he's getting something out of his system.After these works, he wrote Norwegian Wood, in which he perfected the poised tragic realism he had written in before - and in doing so become a superstar in his native japan. He then moved on to 'third-period' Murakami, where he managed to counterpoint the weirdness of his second period properly with the sense of poised realism he had developed earlier in his early novels and "Norwegian Wood". This balancing act produced to my mind his greatest novel, "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles" - I'd recommend that above anything else, so long as you don't mind diving in at the deep end.
But if it's weird romps and postmodern games with genre styles you're after, then I'd say this and 'A Wild Sheep Chase' are the two to look out for.
Book Review: Beautiful, meaningful experiments
Summary: 5 Stars
This differs from other Murakami works I've read in that the protagonist "I" - both in the "real" world and the other - actually tries to comprehend why it is (or how it can be) that such strange events are happening to him, rather than accepting them at face value and limiting his responses to working his way logically through the steps he needs to take to address the situation. Conversely the recounting of his grim acceptance of the fait accompli presented to him in this world combined with the enforced attempt to fight the situation in the other present a meditation on fate, choice, power and meaning.The counterpoint between stoic recognition and vehement resistance represented by the intersection of the worlds and between his singular (this) and dual (other) existences builds a palpable tension and a suspense remarkable for prose which, although narrating a different vista of activity from other Murakami works, is still elegantly controlled, subtle, and delicate. On a number of occasions it makes playful use of linguistic devices which may appear crass or clumsy in other milieux, yet which here simply made me smile at the author's technical capacity and frankly stunning audacity in combining contemporary, counter- and high culture. He peppers the text with casual brilliance, with such panache that I wanted to applaud. I feel bound to draw attention to what I feel, although I don't know Japanese, must be a triumph of translation.
Above all else this is perhaps the most moving I've read of Murakami's works; it consistently touches the "other" that the best of his words do in a more detailed and explicit way, until the resolution leaves myriad explanations possible both tragic and beautiful. It's a stunning, elegiac, powerful piece of writing. My head has been swimming with it all day.
Book Review: General weirdness from Murakami
Summary: 5 Stars
A sort of bizarre fairytale story by murakami - less rooted in reality with the twin tracks of the wonderland and the "real" heading slowly towards each other and the typical indeterminate ending of his.Where does he get his ideas from ?
Its just amazing.
Book Review: Two Fascinating, Inter-Twining Novels in One Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End Of the World is written with Murakami's trademark style of descriptions and story telling, with an incredible use of adjectives to create massive detail and enthralling situations. The book tells two stories; 'Hard Boiled Wonderland' and 'The End Of The World', chapters alternating between the two. One tells of an adventure in to scientific experimentation and gang rivalry. The other provides tranquil descriptions of a tranquil place, where the every character is mindlessly calm appart from the main character's shadow, who has been placed in quarantine.Murakami presents a wide and wild variety of in-conceivable situations in a way that makes the reader accept them entirely. The highlight of this book, as with many other Murakami books, is his descriptive technique, especcially of the personality of the shadow. The weak point of the book is the slight lagging of pace at point, and the indefinate ending to the book. But to conclude, a fantastically interesting book, easy to read but challenging to comprehend. Definatley worth a read.
Book Review: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautiful book written in Murakami's usual lyrical style that brilliantly conveys the depths and complexities of the human consciousness. It is best described as a combination of genres, including fantasy, science-fiction and detective story, but really it is about one man's journey of self-discovery when he learns that the End of the World is near. Murakami easily combines two stories that are full of surprises and compliment each other perfectly as the book progresses. The alternating chapters make the book easy to read and they also prove Murakami to be a skilled storyteller, as he so cleverly narrates two parallel tales. His characters are a group of striking individuals that seem at once fantastical and very real. Murakami's descriptions of a man evaluating his life and musing on what he has lost are engrossing and interesting, as well as fresh and inspired.
I loved this book and couldn't wait to start reading it again each time I put it down. I chose this book after having read another novel, Norweigan Wood, by the same author. Having read and truly loved both novels I would recommend Murakami as a brilliant and poetic storyteller with a fantastic imagination. This book is something different and definitely worth reading, even if it's not your normal type of thing!