Book Review: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Release Date: 1985 (Japan)/September 1991 English
Publisher: Kodansha International
Pages: 416
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 5/5













For those of you who are Murakami fans, I suppose this review won't sway you to read his books, as you already have them. But for those of you who are unfamiliar with the author of the modern surrealist novel, I would recommend checking his ouvre out and, for a more accessible text, I would suggest Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.






The one thing I appreciate about Murakami's books, or the ones I have read to this point, is that he is able to weave a story where the surreal and supernatural can, within the confines of the novels physics, become completely normal or happenstance to the characters and, by extension, for the reader. In addition, he is able to create a story that provides a story, or interpretation of the novel, that is structured for the reader. By that I mean that a reader doing a 'surface read' (or just reading it to read it for the story) will get a coherent story, and those reading it with an eye for critical interpretation will get something the same, yet different from the surface read of novel.


In addition to these two elements that I find Murakami highly successful in, I also enjoy how he physically structures the novels to emphasize the story. A good example is with this novel. The main character is, not a split personality, but two versions of the same personality and this is reflected not only in the dual storylines, but also how the storylines parallele one another and how the novel reflects the neural network the professor creates in the main characters brain.


Though, if I had to find things that didn't work for me as a reader in regards to the novel, Murakami's focus on certain elements, or characterizations throughout the novel would be one. I suppose one example I could pull from this text is the professors fascination with paper clips. I just don't get it and it doesn't do anything for me as a reader to better understand the professor and, as such, feels extraneous or a character having weird quirks for weirdnesses sake. But there are other times I question if it is just my own failure to understand the significance of the characterization. But, if its nothing, than its just a red herring and I feel like I'm wasting my time to try and 'understand the novel' and stop trying to understand it any further than on the surface level.

In a similar vein, sometimes I feel like Murakami is just weird to be weird. While I am not saying it is a bad thing, at times it pulled me away from the text. For example, the midget and giant henchmen that appear in the novel several times. For some reason, perhaps the contrast, or strange characters suddenly appearing, pulled me out of the text. While a midget and a giant working together is certainly possible in the real world we live in, there really had not been any weird stuff revealed to the reader at this point in the book, and to have a midget with anger management slashing the main characters gut while a taciturn giant is throwing food around and trashing his kitchen is a bit much to take in at once, and proved distracting rather than engaging.


I think the reason why these moments bothered me is because they pulled me out of the book, a place I wanted to stay. The experience that Murakami weaves together for readers is a surreal, interesting, and sometimes confusing one that I enjoy and highly recommend. Once again, if you want to go down the rabbit hole with Murakami, I suggest Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World  as it is a good introduction to Murakami.