| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Literature & Fiction |
| Author: | Haruki Murakami |
Hard-boiled Wonder land and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
So this is my 2nd Murakami’s book. Just finish reading yesterday night. It’s much better than my 1st book “ The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” , shorter, lesser erotic sex scene , and more interesting.
So here’s the summary :
The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters take place in 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland', although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text, only in page headers. The narrator is a "Calcutec," a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The Calcutecs work for the quasi-governmental System, as opposed to the criminal "Semiotecs" who work for the Factory and who are generally fallen Calcutecs. The relationship between the two groups is simple: the System protects data while the Semiotecs steal it, although it is suggested that one man might be behind both. The narrator completes an assignment for a mysterious scientist, who is exploring "sound reduction". He works in a laboratory hidden within an anachronistic version of Tokyo's sewer system.
The even-numbered chapters deal with a newcomer to 'the End of the World', a strange, isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall. The narrator is in the process of being accepted into the Town. His shadow has been "cut off" and this shadow lives in the "shadow grounds" where he is not expected to survive the winter. Residents of the town are not allowed to have a shadow, and, it transpires, do not have a mind. Or is it only suppressed? The narrator is assigned quarters and a job as the current "dreamreader": a process intended to remove the traces of mind from the Town. He goes to the Library every evening where, assisted by the Librarian, he learns to read dreams from the skulls of unicorns. These "beasts" passively accept their role, sent out of the Town at night, to their enclosure where many die of cold during the winter.
The two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the unconscious mind (or as it incorrectly referred to, subconscious) and identity.
Review:
This is a very interesting novel. In the sense that Murakami combine two books [Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World] into one book. As the summary had mentioned , the even number is Hard-Boiled Wonderland , while the odd is the other. Which means after one chapter of book 1, you have to wait for another book 2 chapter past in order to continue book 1 story. Weird isn’t it ? It’s just like watching a drama series on the TV. When the story reaches climax , you have to continue the story on the next day. Of course you can skip the chapter, but it’ll just spoil the fun.
At 1st these 2 books seems does not make any sense. But in the end they converge perfectly. Hard-boiled Wonderland is the reality, while the End of the World is the opposite. It’s an imaginary world create by the narrator where people living peacefully and eternally. However those people don’t have mind. They don’t have needs, they won’t get angry and they don’t even know what is love. They just do what they ought to do , everyday, eternally. This part of the book, the author describe more about the weather , scenery o f the town , than the adventure of the narrator.
As for the Hard-Boiled Wonderland, it’s about “secret agent” working in the modern Tokyo. There’re a lot of weird but interesting adventures in this part. For example: the adventure in the sewage underground. What I don’t like about this part is the sex scene. Perhaps I’m a bit conservative, I still can’t accept the fact they add sex in a novel, when there’s no necessary for it. In fact, some people quote sex as an normal daily activity just like eating, sleeping, and etc. Still, I can’t accept it. Perhaps Murakami describe it in an erotic way instead of what it meant to be, the romantic way.
And that’s the one think I hate about Murakami. He will never forget to put erotic scene in his book. Maybe because he’s a man, he thinks sex as an erotic activity than a romantic activity. However, his books left us do lot of thinking, and give readers lots of fresh and weird ideas. Such as, why do we need shadows? , or Would you want an eternal life but without any though? …etc. Besides, this author has lots of knowledge in classical music and English literatures. These can be seen by the input of the 2 elements in Hard-Boiled Wonderland. Of course I know nothing about any of this element, which make me kind of ignorant.
Overall:
Hard-Boiled Wonderland it’s about science fiction and adventure. While the End of the World it’s more about inner feeling, and more thinking.
I especially like the ending. Where the author did not describe it clearly and left a space for the reader to think. What I think is, the narrator’s shadow escape the town and became a white bird flying in the sky. As for the narrator’s “body” , it was freeze in the lab in the reality by the Scientist Granddaughter , while the real “mind” of the narrator lives serene, eternally and happily with his librarian girlfriend in the woods of End of the World town, which is an imaginary town. The End.
P.s In case for those who don’t know who Murakami. He’s the famous Japanese Modern Best-selling writer 村上春树。
