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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the…
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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) (original 1985; edition 1993)

by Haruki Murakami

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
9,620196793 (4.12)1 / 332
The last surviving victim of an experiment that implanted the subjects' heads with electrodes that decipher coded messages is the unnamed narrator. Half the chapters are set in Tokyo, where the narrator negotiates underground worlds populated by INKlings, dodges opponents of both sides of a raging high-tech infowar, and engages in an affair with a beautiful librarian with a gargantuan appetite. In alternating chapters he tries to reunite with his mind and his shadow, from which he has been severed by the grim, dark "replacement" consciousness implanted in him by a dotty neurophysiologist. Both worlds share the unearthly theme of unicorn skulls that moan and glow.… (more)
Member:ateolf
Title:Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)
Authors:Haruki Murakami
Info:Vintage (1993), Paperback, 416 pages
Collections:Your library, Read, Favorites
Rating:*****
Tags:literature, read

Work Information

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (1985)

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Group TopicMessagesLast Message 
 Name that Book: Science Fiction6 unread / 6edkman, January 2018

» See also 332 mentions

English (175)  French (7)  Spanish (5)  German (3)  Dutch (3)  Danish (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (195)
Showing 1-5 of 175 (next | show all)
Of the three Murakami novels that I have read, this is my favorite.
I love all the little trippy elements, I love the melancholy. The bizarre surrealism is utterly enjoyable. Its so easy to let the pages fly by and at the same time wonder if you are stuck in someone else's dream. Its super fun. It didn't end the way I wanted - not because I love tidy, happy endings, but because I felt the main character was disloyal to himself. Otherwise, though, this is fantastic. Never look at unicorns or paperclips like I used to! ( )
  AQsReviews | Aug 14, 2023 |
And after postmodernism and the crumble of men, Murakami comes to us...

“Yessir. Completely sound-free. That’s because sound is of no use to human evolution. In fact, it gets in the way. So we’re going t’wipe sound out, morning to night.”
Hmph. You’re saying there’ll be no birds singing or brooks babbling. No music?”
“ ’Course not.”
“It’s going to be a pretty bleak world, if you ask me.”
“Don’t blame me. That’s evolution. Evolution’s always hard.

(49)

I cannot tell if the thought is mine or if it has floated loose from some fragment of memory. I have lost so many things. I am so tired. I feel myself drifting, away, a little by little. I am overcome by the sensation that I am crumbling, parts of my being drifting away. Which part of me is thinking this?
(132)

You said that the mind is like the wind, but perhaps it is we who are like the wind. Knowing nothing, simply blowing through. Never aging, never dying.
(150)

My confidence is going, it’s true,” I say, dropping my eyes to the circle on the ground. “How can I be strong when I do not know my own mind? I am lost.”
(210)

“Listen. I may not be much, but I’m all I’ve got. Maybe you need a magnifying glass to find my face in my high school graduation photo. Maybe I haven’t got any family or friends. Yes, yes, I know all that. But, strange as it might seem, I’m not entirely dissatisfied with this life. It could be because this split personality of mine has made a stand-up comedy routine of it all. I wouldn’t know, would I? But whatever the reason, I feel pretty much at home with what I am. I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want any unicorns behind fences.”
(228-9)

Think about the koan: An arrow is stopped in flight. Well, the death of the body is the flight of the arrow. It’s makin’ a straight line for the brain. No dodgin’ it, not for anyone. People have t’die, the body has t’fall. Time is hurlin’ that arrow forward. And yet, like I was sayin’, thought goes on subdividin’ that time for ever and ever. The paradox becomes real. The arrow never hits.”
(238)

The sky was deep and brilliant, a fixed idea beyond human doubt. From my position on the ground, the sky seemed the logical culmination of all existence. The same with the sea. If you look at the sea for days, the sea is all there is. Quoth Joseph Conrad. A tiny boat cut loose from the fiction of the ship. Aimless, inescapable, inevitable.
(324)
( )
  NewLibrary78 | Jul 22, 2023 |
A quote from page 161 of the novel.
"Housewives filed past, leek and daikon radish tops sticking up from supermarket bags. I found myself envying them. They hadn't had their refrigerators raped or their bellies slashed. Leeks and daikon and the kids grades--- all was right with the world. No unicorn skulls or secret codes or consciousness transfers. This was normal everyday life."


But Murakami novels are never normal...


René Descartes stated " I think therefore I am." and Neil Simon asked "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"


Well in this novel Murakami asks, in typical Murakami fashion, can two separate consciousness share a mind without causing irrefutable damage to it's owner ?
( )
  kevinkevbo | Jul 14, 2023 |
One of the best books I've read. Hard to describe though... ( )
  Littlecatbird | Jul 7, 2023 |
Murakami's sentences are simple, at least in translation to English, and I sometimes feel underwhelmed as I read him, but I found the totality of this book to be moving. ( )
  markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 175 (next | show all)
He has become the foremost representatives of a new style of Japanese writing: hip, cynical and highly stylized, set at the juncture of cyberpunk, postmodernism, and hard-boiled detective fiction.... Murakami [is] adept at deadpan wit, outrageous style.
added by GYKM | editLos Angeles Times Magazine
 
Murakami's bold willingness to go straight over the top [is] a signal indication of his genius... a world-class writer who has both eyes open and takes big risks.
added by GYKM | editWashington Post Book World
 

» Add other authors (19 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Haruki Murakamiprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bar, NomaCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Birnbaum, AlfredTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Camp, Marion Op denTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dean, SuzanneDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gall, JohnCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ortmanns, AnnelieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Porta, LourdesTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stalph, JürgenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Winter, Maxim deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why do the birds go on singing?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?

The End of the World (Sylvia Dee/Arthur Kent)
Dedication
First words
The elevator continued its impossibly slow ascent.
Elevatoren var på vej op i ekstremt langosmt tempo. Eller det forestillede jeg mig i det mindste. Jeg var ikke sikker. Det gik så langsomt, at jeg havde mistet orienteringen. Det kunne lige så godt være, at den var på vej ned, eller at den slet ikke bevægede sig.
Quotations
But on the phenomenological level, this world is only one out of countless possibillities. As you create memories, you're creatin' a parallel world
...I walked right into her backside. It was wonderfully cushioning, like a firm rain cloud.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

The last surviving victim of an experiment that implanted the subjects' heads with electrodes that decipher coded messages is the unnamed narrator. Half the chapters are set in Tokyo, where the narrator negotiates underground worlds populated by INKlings, dodges opponents of both sides of a raging high-tech infowar, and engages in an affair with a beautiful librarian with a gargantuan appetite. In alternating chapters he tries to reunite with his mind and his shadow, from which he has been severed by the grim, dark "replacement" consciousness implanted in him by a dotty neurophysiologist. Both worlds share the unearthly theme of unicorn skulls that moan and glow.

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Book description
From Library Journal
The last surviving victim of an experiment that implanted the subjects' heads with electrodes that decipher coded messages is the unnamed narrator of this excellent book by Murakami, one of Japan's best-selling novelists and winner of the prestigious Tanizaki prize. Half the chapters are set in Tokyo, where the narrator negotiates underground worlds populated by INKlings, dodges opponents of both sides of a raging high-tech infowar, and engages in an affair with a beautiful librarian with a gargantuan appetite. In alternating chapters he tries to reunite with his mind and his shadow, from which he has been severed by the grim, dark "replacement" consciousness implanted in him by a dotty neurophysiologist. Both worlds share the unearthly theme of unicorn skulls that moan and glow. Murakami's fast-paced style, full of hip internationalism, slangy allegory, and intrigue, has been adroitly translated. Murakami is also author of A Wild Sheep Chase ( LJ 10/15/89); his new work is recommended for academic libraries and public libraries emphasizing serious contemporary fiction.
- D.E. Perushek, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville
Haiku summary
Birds fly overhead
Golden beasts graze in the town
INKlings worship... fish?

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