Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0-679-74346-4 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 02 March, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (75 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A hard rain's a-gonna fall
Comment: This has been the first Murakami novel I have ever read, and I must say it is by far the best novel I have read in a long time ! I don't think it is right to simply attach a label like "cyberpunk" or "sci-fi" to the book, because I feel the psychological aspects of the journey of a man towards his inner self are the main focus of the book. The sci-fi elements that Murakami uses to set up the plot to me are merely background settings.
It is a well known fact to each living soul on this earth that death is inevitable, and one generally needs a lifetime to accept that. In this case, the main character is forced to complete his acceptation process within a day. While addressing the absurd question of "what would I do on my last conscious day", Murakami manages to create a cold concrete, painfully touching "radiohead"-like atmosphere in which the main character shamefully realizes the total triviality of his life.
The end of the book still lingers in my head, Murakami uses a lot of references to american pop culture throughout the book, but not just for the simple reference itself. When you will have read the book you will understand his last reference to Bob Dylan's "A hard rain's a-gonna fall":
Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Town in Your Mind
Comment: This was the seventh Haruki Murakami novel I've read. I was worried about this book. Although I have read and enjoyed other books by Murakami, I held this one off with a stick because I was frightened by the word Cyberpunk. I'm not a science fiction fan. The only other book that I have read that had a Cyberpunk theme was William Gibson's Neuromancer, which was so full of technological jargon that I had no idea what I was reading. I was worried this book was going to be the same, but I lucked out, the protagonist of the story really doesn't understand much of hat is happening to him or of the abilities that have been planted in his brain, so I found the book quite easy to read. The main character of the book is a nameless 35 year old man who works for the System, basically dealing in information, He meets quite colorful characters along the way: A genius Scientist, a pink loving young lady who wants to get him into the sack, and a slim pretty libraian who has a bottomless pit for a stomach. The main fascination that this book hold, however, is the parallel world that is inside the protagonist's mind a world of his own creation world that is his own prison. Read this book!
Rating: 2
Summary: Last Time I Buy a Book Based on Other People's Opinions...
Comment: Okay, I listened to all the hype and bought the book. And I'm not even half-way through but feel compelled to write a review. The book is a severe disappointment. Now, mind you, I'm one of those who looooves "twisted, dark and outrageous" stories, but this is NOT one of them. It barely even earns the title, "mildly entertaining." In fact, I hasten to say that if it wasn't for a Japanese having written this book (thus serving as a kind of cultural comment), it would never have been published. Much of the "Hard-Boiled" scenes reads like a very bad imitation of Hammet or Chandler, full of every detective cliche and stilted piece of dialogue you can imagine -- case in point is the Junior/Big Boy scene (Chapter 13) which is so deriative and stereotypical that it's a wonder it got past an editor's nose. I could go on about pratically every page -- all the bad, bad, incredibly boring dialogue (didn't Murakami ever learn to "show, not tell"?), all the trite, banal so-called "humor" which only reminded me of a dim-witted high-schooler. Now and again there is a clever little description, but it's simply not enough to offset all the prosaic moments. I give this two stars for its premise -- the idea of a split-narrative. Unfortunately, idea and practice are two different creatures. I suppose Murakami thought he was being terrifically "original" with his metaphors of unicorns, sentient shadows, and data inputed into someone's brain, but, really, all this has been done before by guys like Philip K. Dick and numerous other Sci-Fi writers. There is metaphor and then there's "deriative metaphor." I suspect Murakami watched Blade Runner too many times. If you want some truly original, mind-twisting stuff, then go read JG Ballard or John Shirley. Shirley in particular is quite adept at evoking new and startling images. To sum up: this book is a mixture of very bad Noir writing, an adolescent take on Blade Runner/The Matrix, and a Harry Potter-like voice that is incredibly callow and boring. Save your money and go buy Black Butterflies instead. You will not regret it.
 |
Title: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle : A Novel by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0679775439 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 037571894X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Dance Dance Dance by Alfred Birnbaum, Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0679753796 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0375704027 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Elephant Vanishes : Stories by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0679750533 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
