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A review by airheadgallery
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
my thoughts on this book are very well mixed. the weird fixation on the professor’s granddaughter’s body is the first thing that hits you. i’ve read murakami before so i know stuff like this isn’t new but what was new to me was the weird descriptions of what the main character proposes how the granddaughter eats and his sexual desires towards “young, beautiful, fat women.” this could have been more bearable to read if the granddaughter wasn’t continuously referred to as “the professor’s chubby granddaughter” as opposed to the zero other professor’s granddaughters we’ve been introduced to in the book. there is a million more things i could say about this but on a positive note about the graddaughter i do like the fact that over time it’s revealed that she is smarter than the protagonist. yes her homeschooling and with her grandfather’s work but also by the way she handled the two guys who managed to create much trouble for the protagonist. she was just like “yeah two dweebs showed up and i shot one of them in the ear and they left.” insane. love it.
i will say the premise of the book was incredibly interesting and i think as a whole this is probably one of murakami’s best works (even though it’s not my absolute favourite). i like the two stories going back and forth, while also reflecting each other. it has really cool imagery throughout the book, while i might have not liked it all the time, i could exactly imagine what the author was talking about.
i know some people didn’t like the name dropping in the book but i felt like it wasn’t for no reason and added to the overall vibe. i also might be saying this because i did buy the stranger by camus while also getting this book unknowing it was mentioned so i felt a little pride while reading. however i also feel like the name dropping can also tell you a little something about the character. i couldn’t tell you what, i haven’t read any of those books, so i wouldn’t know.
i will say the premise of the book was incredibly interesting and i think as a whole this is probably one of murakami’s best works (even though it’s not my absolute favourite). i like the two stories going back and forth, while also reflecting each other. it has really cool imagery throughout the book, while i might have not liked it all the time, i could exactly imagine what the author was talking about.
i know some people didn’t like the name dropping in the book but i felt like it wasn’t for no reason and added to the overall vibe. i also might be saying this because i did buy the stranger by camus while also getting this book unknowing it was mentioned so i felt a little pride while reading. however i also feel like the name dropping can also tell you a little something about the character. i couldn’t tell you what, i haven’t read any of those books, so i wouldn’t know.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Fatphobia