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A review by talyasoytas
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
In this book, we follow our protagonist in a dual POV and timeline tale where one feels like a utopic, slightly unhinged world, and the other his mundane world albeit including some quizzical professions and that gets more and more fantastical as the book continues.
The world building was interesting and captivating in its strangeness. I found many details that kept my attention and intrigued me. Murakami also manages to create a sense of place very vividly without being wordy.
The book brought with it some contemplation of life tragectory, meaning of life, consciousness and mortality, which I highly enjoyed.
I will say that I was taken out of the narrative multiple times due to fat-phobic and misogynistic remarks by the character. I first thought it was a trait of this already weird protagonist, but later learned that Murakami tends to have such characters and narratives in his books so I am conflicted as to if I want to read another one of his works.
The world building was interesting and captivating in its strangeness. I found many details that kept my attention and intrigued me. Murakami also manages to create a sense of place very vividly without being wordy.
The book brought with it some contemplation of life tragectory, meaning of life, consciousness and mortality, which I highly enjoyed.
I will say that I was taken out of the narrative multiple times due to fat-phobic and misogynistic remarks by the character. I first thought it was a trait of this already weird protagonist, but later learned that Murakami tends to have such characters and narratives in his books so I am conflicted as to if I want to read another one of his works.