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Steve Fouse asked this question about Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World:
Has anybody got any ideas about why none the characters have names? The narrator is never named, and there are the chubby girl, the librarian(s), the Gatekeeper, and others. It may be a way of making the story's themes apply universally rather than just to specific people, but the characters are described in detail, and seem too real to be just nameless, non-specific persons.
Gary Crossey Not naming people is part of his style. In 1Q84 he talks about the main character best friend as his friend. It makes me think of how we interact with…moreNot naming people is part of his style. In 1Q84 he talks about the main character best friend as his friend. It makes me think of how we interact with one another. Often, we don't know the person's name. And refer to individuals as their relationship to others, or their job, or (when there is not another relationship) their body type, etc.

I think he is trying to capture that idea that we often only know the names of people we interact with often. Meanwhile, we insert the generic "naming" of people that we interact with infrequently.

The tall guy at the post office.
The young kid at the grocery store. (less)
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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Haruki Murakami
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