I knew I wasn’t going to immediately follow up my reading of The Handmaid’s Tale with another Margaret Atwood title (I will get back to her bibliography soon, though), but keeping in mind my promise to read more contemporary classic fiction, I decided it was time I read a Haruki Murakami title. I didn’t know where to start, so I browsed online for reading order recommendations and finally settled on Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
There are no names in the story, with every character addressed based on their occupation or description, but that doesn’t hinder you from getting to know them individually. Never do you wonder who in the world either narrator is describing or speaking about, especially when each of them have distinct personalities and have their own idiosyncrasies. The lack of names, however, does lend the narrative on both worlds a surreal quality, although that might also have to do with all the talk of human computing brains, scary kappas that worship ancient fishes, and the dreamreading, among others.
And with the lead characters in each story unnamed, I have to admit to taking my time warming up to them. This isn’t a book to be rushed and delving into the different worlds of the two stories require patience because they have a different tone and feel… at least until you start noticing their parallels. And when they do, you realize that the book offers a far more satisfying reading experience than you anticipated… even if some of its elements go over your head. Author Haruki Murakami deftly handles the double narrative with ease, a sure hand all throughout my reading that I felt wouldn’t lead me astray and take me to a satisfying end… even if I couldn’t quite fathom what kind of ending was in store for the characters or for myself as a reader.
It wouldn’t do to give you any more details on Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World… firstly, because this is a novel that you have to experience on your own and it helps not to know specifics, and secondly, there are still certain parts of the book that I’m still processing at this time. This isn’t a book you rush through and you do have to have a certain mindset before opening its pages. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s difficult, but it does require imagination. It’s a book that offers a detailed description of the lives of two seemingly different men, and every chapter fleshes out the worlds that they each inhabit. There’s a buildup that would seem slow in coming, but would eventually take on a blustering pace with a mystery at its core and a feel of adventure you didn’t expect would excite you. This book is a lot of things and you either get overwhelmed or you just hold on for the ride and trust it takes you somewhere good.
For the longest time, I’ve always felt bad that I had yet to read any of Haruki Murakami’s works… that I had put it off as long as I did. After reading Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, however, I realized that had I read it when I was younger, I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much as I did now. That I wouldn’t have been ready to appreciate its parallel storylines and that its lessons would have been lost on me. But who knows? Maybe I would have felt that I was on the cusp of something momentous, of reading something that would expand my reading experience and preferences.
But I suppose it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that I finally read one of his works. And that it was worth the wait.
Happy reading!!