Hello readers!!
Book: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Author: Haruki Murakami
Genre: General Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 400
Source: Amazon
★★★★★
Eternal Mind Review:
Two parallel universes, but not your usual, ordinary universes. Murakami creates two strange yet thought-provoking universes.
The story revolves around a smart data processor, a mad genius scientist, his interesting granddaughter, various organizations with questionable motives, librarians, and various creatures all collide in parallel universes.
This story is simultaneously horrifying and funny, and it takes the reader through a journey of uncovering the works of the human mind.
This was my first time reading Haruki Murakami’s written work, and I was immensely impressed by his writing style. He created an unbelievable world filled with fascinating characters and creatures while still expressing them in a relatable manner. The human mind is complex and has been found to be extremely difficult to fully understand all aspects of it, and Murakami exudes the complexity of the human mind in this work of fiction. He engages the reader from the beginning of the book to the end. This book incorporates humor, adventure, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and romance (I was surprised about how boldly Murakami wrote about his character’s sexual thoughts).
I rated this book with 4.5 stars and not 5 because of the ending. I had hoped for a different ending while reading this book. Not to say the ending was bad, because it’s not. But, it was just not a satisfying ending for me and I felt like I was left without proper closure. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers so I won’t dive into this any further and I’ll let you decide for yourself if the end was satisfying for you.
This book is for anyone who enjoys Haruki Murakami’s writing style. If you are new to his written work, then this book would be a great read for you, especially if you would like to read about the complexities of the mind through two parallel universe narratives.
BOOK THOUGHTS:
There were many many moments while I was reading this book when I was in awe of how something was written or described. This book really makes you think about how complex our minds are and how it can change the way we perceive the world around us.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
“To stop experiencin’ is to die.”
“Stealing memories was stealing time.”
“Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left?”
– Haruki Murakami – Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
I hope you enjoyed reading this review!!!
Please let me know what your thoughts are on this book in the comment section below.
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LunaLuminous 