Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World in The Alternative Worlds

Sep 09, 2007 Brooke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, fantasy

I'd previously read two Haruki Murakami novels, 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 almost too bizarre to really appreciate, and After Dark was short and enjoyable, but nothing special. After reading Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, however, I suddenly Got It.

The title refe I'd previously read two Haruki Murakami novels, 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 almost too bizarre to really appreciate, and After Dark was short and enjoyable, but nothing special. After reading Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, however, I suddenly Got It.

The title refers to the two portions of the book - Hardboiled Wonderland is about a man who mentally processes information for a living - it's vaguely sci-fi-ish, but not enough to turn off readers who aren't interested in sci-fi. This nameless man finds himself running for his life underground when various groups suddenly decide they want him for their purposes. The End of the World is about a man who suddenly arrives in a unicorn-filled town that is surrounded by a Wall. He doesn't know how he got there or where he was before, and he must have his shadow cut away from him in order to live within the Wall. The novel goes back and forth between each half, which eventually start to tie together.

It's kind of similar to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, but that comparison will only take you so far. Murakami's nameless protagonists are more introspective than Gaiman's Richard Mayhew, and in the end, the focus is on what's going on within, rather than the action outside.

Despite flipping back and forth between the two halves, the novel flows very well. It kept my attention so well that I was eagerly looking forward to picking it up each time I had a chance to read, which is something I haven't felt about the last half-dozen or so books I've read. The novel was written in 1985, but other than the mention of cassettes, there was no sign that it was written over twenty years ago.

I'm really glad I didn't give up on Murakami after being disappointed by his first two that I read. Hopefully the rest of his books will hold some of the magic that Hardboiled Wonderland has, because I'll really feel let down if I go back to being underwhelmed again. ...more

37 likes · Like · see review

Jul 25, 2009 Lori rated it liked it

Rating to come.

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, very heavy as in pressure building in my brain while reading. For some reason it was very hard for me to read, not in the actual process of reading which was very flowing and simple, but it made me feel like I wanted to imp ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Andy rated it really liked it

I do like Murakami's works. I was first introduced to his writings when I attended one of his plays in Chicago. The main character was a frog man in a drama and this got me interested.

I could tell that Wonderland was written with a deep tie into Japanese culture. I have only been to Japan for a short amount of time so what ever I understand about it is gleaned from novels like this one. I can assume that there aren't frogmen, inlings, etc in Japan.. yet.

What I liked about the book was the tie ...more

Like · see review

May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, contemporary, world-japan

Haunting, dark, crazy imaginative. I loved Murakami before this book, but this novel hooked me to his writing forever. A genre-defying SF novel that dwells deeply into identity and the sense of time.

Like · see review

Nov 24, 2018 Tatjana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-fantasy, fiction-speculative, fiction-humour

I feel like I was just whisked away in a pink fuzzy bus, dumped in the snow, rolled around, then por back into the bus.
I don't know what just happened, but I love it. ...more

Like · see review