Unicorns, underground labs, Bob Dylan and subconscious mind
Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
The book contains two separate narratives one that is called Hard-boiled Wonderland and another that is called The End of the World. Odd-numbered chapters tell the Hard-boiled Wonderland story a dynamic, fast-paced part of the book, and even numbered chapters tell the End of the World story a slow paced, calm, dream like part of the book.
Hard-boiled Wonderland takes place in the world similar to normal Japan but with a soft touch of cyberpunk and science fiction. The narrator is a 35 year old loner, who works for a governmental-ish organization โ โThe Systemโ as a Calcutec โ person who uses their subconscious mind to process and encrypt data, he is called to perform an encryption of the results of some secret research that should not be accessed by wrong people, especially the Semiotecs who work for an organization called Factory that functions as sort of information-centric mafia-like group. He soon realizes that nothing is what it seams and that the situation he was thrown into is far more serious and might have consequences that would surprisingly affect him far more than he expected.
As for the End of the World story, it takes place in a weird isolated town that is impossible to leave for its surrounded by a giant wall end no way around it, to become a part of the town a person has to be separated from their shadow, something that connects them to outside world and connects to their memory of their past life. The Town seems to be a utopian world, full of its own mysteries. The narrator is a new person in town newly separated from his shadow, is trying to understand what this weird Town actually is, and while he is trying to understand it he meets people who live in the town, people without shadows, he learns about life in this place, reads old dreams, and observes the life of unicorns that live in town.
What I liked about this book is that itโs a perfect blend of thought provoking story you canโt stop thinking of after you finish the book and thrilling plot that makes you keep reading and reading without a stop, it has its funny moments, its sad moments, the main character is someone you can sympathize with for he is just a person leaving his normal life, thrown into a troublesome mess against his will
Itโs a book that makes you contemplate things like identity, conscious and subconscious mind, what makes a person who they are. It makes you ask questions like โ Is our life worth living?โ or โWould we like living without remembering who we are in a world with no fear no death and no sorrow?โ, โIs a utopian world something a person should desire or a fantasy that should stay just that - a fantasy?โ Everyone would ask their own questions, and the answers they give would be different too, thereโs no right or wrong answer, just you and room for reflection.
Aside from my love for having a little existential crisis after reading a good book, what I loved about the book was an odd world where magical mythical things live side by side with the normalcy of the real world. Unicorns, living shadows, weird creatures living in the underground world and old songs and movie and book references, everything that makes the Murakami style something so unique, something that I love and canโt get enough of.
When it comes to any dislikes about this book I must say Iโm mostly satisfied with the story itself and I think that the way two narratives sort of merged together complementing and completing each other leaving just enough questions unanswered for each reader to answer themselves, I think that some things in the main body of the novel needed a little bit of a more thorough explanation, there were some explanations given but without trying to sound too complicated and science they were a tiny bit hard to understand in the process for me (though I think in the end I managed just fine)
Also the ending was not something I expected or maybe hoped for, but is it really something I dislike if I think that the ending that Iโve got in the end is the only one that would make this story truly complete and in its own way much more beautiful?
To sum up Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a novel that is very readable and in some way might be even a tad bit spectacular, itโs fun to read, its inventive and unique, itโs odd and itโs relatable, but whatโs more important itโs a good book to spend a few evenings or a weekend on so if it intrigued you at least a little bit, give it a chance, get yourself a cup of coffee or tea and read it. Moreover Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World might be my favorite Murakami novel so far, and Iโd give it a 9, 5 out of 10 rating because of all the things it made me feel and all the things it made me think.
"Yes, I have doubts," I say. "To begin with, I can't even recall my former self. How can I be sure that self is worth returning to? Or that world?" - Haruki Murakami - Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of the World
