false 10374 30 This is a narrative particle accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey and Bob Dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, John Coltrane and Lord Jim. Science fiction, detective story and post modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" is the tour de force that expanced Haruki Murakami's international following, tracking one man's descent into the kafkaesque underworld farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy. The result is a wildly inventive fantasy and a meditation on the many uses of the mind. 2531870 book 1985 Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World total:8205|5:3323|4:3168|3:1375|2:277|1:62| 8205 34028 11014 794 4 9 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 30 21:45:41 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 30 22:10:06 -0700 2007
If you like Murakami, you'll like it, although it doesn't blend the two t...more...]]> 3 9 false false Wed Feb 18 14:07:51 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 13:00:06 -0800 2009 The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World gets my vote the most unique and frustrating book in the Murakami catalog. I got the feeling that there’s a little bit of the fan in Murakami in this text; his love of PK Dick, Vonnegut, etc. seems present, and I imagine passages of the book wer...more...]]> 4 4 false false Sun Nov 18 07:03:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jun 07 00:56:25 -0700 2008
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/well...




Murakami is a rare type of writer for me. If one describe his novels, I would probabl...more...]]> 4 7 false false Tue Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Sep 09 15:31:24 -0700 2007 Tue Feb 05 20:52:05 -0800 2008 A Wild Sheep Chase, and After Dark, his earliest and most recent that have been translated into English, respectively. After hearing about how he was one of Japan's most beloved authors, I was really underwhelmed by those two offerings. Sheep was almos...more...]]> 3 4 false false Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 10:08:02 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 23:17:36 -0700 2009
First impressions on finishing:

I found this book so different than anything else Murakami has written. Oh yeah, it's Murakami all right - the aloneness and isolation of people, the stillness even in the craziness of what's going on. But this one was foreboding,...more...]]> 4 3 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Jul 11 20:52:16 -0700 2007 Sat Apr 19 19:24:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Wed Dec 17 06:02:50 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 08:37:27 -0800 2008 3 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Mar 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 29 17:25:01 -0700 2007 Sun Mar 16 05:32:06 -0700 2008 2
--- upon 2nd read: ---
Obviously not as surprising on the second but equally potent. Great extended metaphor for mechanisms of learning and memory. And its craft does not d...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 11:28:45 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 08:28:11 -0800 2009 1
It took me over half the book to realize tha...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 21:36:55 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 08:12:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Dec 03 20:05:50 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 20:07:05 -0800 2008 1 5 1 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 21:53:57 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 07:27:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 01:54:21 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 18:08:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 09:55:18 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 12:01:33 -0700 2008
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (March-April 2006)
A Wild Sheep Chase (April 2006)
South of the Border, West of the Sun (April 2006)
Sputnik Sweetheart (June 2007)
After Dark (June 2...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993 Mon Feb 18 09:28:13 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 18 09:34:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 11:47:35 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 03 12:50:01 -0800 2008
It's always hard with translations because you never know if the book's wonderfulness or awfulness is the fault of the author or the translator. This is an interesting case, as it is re...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Sep 26 18:25:49 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 28 12:52:17 -0700 2008
Hard-boiled Wonderland is an exercise of imagination if you run out of daydream. An imagination that takes you out of your shell but later sets you back grounded. It is a book that requires sheer imagination, so you can understand h...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Mar 29 05:11:12 -0700 2007 Thu Mar 29 05:13:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Nov 30 13:47:13 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 14:02:23 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Mar 05 14:58:31 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 16:52:59 -0800 2008 more...]]>