Goodreads | Magnus's review

Magnus's review

Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Haruki Murakami

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10374.Hardboiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166154603m/10374.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10374.Hardboiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3354.Haruki_Murakami">Haruki Murakami</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/477505?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars I don't think I have ever read a book that that I have initially understood so little of and yet felt so strongly compelled to keep reading. This is the kind of book you wish you didn't have to put down, and, unlike Dan "Cliffhanger" Brown, Murakami grips your attention in a very good, genuine way, not in the "artificial" way that Brown does (if you know what I mean, no you probably don't, but oh well...). It took time to put the pieces in the puzzle together. But it was worth every second! 
 
 The copy that I read is in English, in fact I don't think Murakami has been published in Swedish yet. It took a while before I really got into it (thank you very much, language barrier) but that obstacle was soon overcome and the words just flowed before me. Aside from a short part in which the protagonist discusses complex mathematics with some sort of professor (a part that I don't think was hard to follow because of the language but rather because of the intellectual content), the language feels so easy to understand that I often almost get an urge to start translating this work into Swedish, and I am a little surprised how few words I didn't know. 
 
 The disposition of the book is interesting. There are two separate plots going on at the same time. At first it seemed like the two had nothing to do with each other, but gradually I understood that this is not so. I'm certain this is not a mistake made by the writer but done deliberately. More and more connections between the two seemingly separate stories pop up.
 
 Reading this book will excite you, it will confuse you and it will frighten you, and if you give it an honest chance, you will not regret it!
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/42649?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Magnus's review
rating:

I don't think I have ever read a book that that I have initially understood so little of and yet felt so strongly compelled to keep reading. This is the kind of book you wish you didn't have to put down, and, unlike Dan "Cliffhanger" Brown, Murakami grips your attention in a very good, genuine way, not in the "artificial" way that Brown does (if you know what I mean, no you probably don't, but oh well...). It took time to put the pieces in the puzzle together. But it was worth every second!

The copy that I read is in English, in fact I don't think Murakami has been published in Swedish yet. It took a while before I really got into it (thank you very much, language barrier) but that obstacle was soon overcome and the words just flowed before me. Aside from a short part in which the protagonist discusses complex mathematics with some sort of professor (a part that I don't think was hard to follow because of the language but rather because of the intellectual conte...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it) flag

comments (showing 1-1 of 1)

newest »

date

message 1: by Rea

01/17/2008 08:28AM

i know exactly what you mean about Dan Brown! boo to Dan Brown the deceiver!