About this title: The contemporary and the mythic collide in a hard-boiled tale of computers and conspiracy theories, unicorns and ancient lands. Winner of the Tanizaki Literary Prize.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1993-03-01
ISBN-13:9780679743460ISBN:0679743464
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780679743460. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780679743460ISBN:0679743464
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First Separate
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780099448785ISBN:0099448785
Description: Collectible; Very Good. VG-2001 VINTAGE PB, WITH ORIGINAL COVER-CLASSIC VOLUME OF MURAKAMI WRITING. MINOR SMALL CREASE TO TOP OF FRONT COVER, PAGE EDGES A LITTLE DULLED DUE TO PAPER STOCK, UNCREASED UNMARKED COPY OTHERWISE. Worldwide Shipping IMMEDIATE 1ST CLASS/AIRMAIL DISPATCH. read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VINTAGE Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780099448785ISBN:0099448785
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 416 pages. (416 pages) zooms between wild turkey whiskey and bob dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, john coltrane and lord jim. this title seeks to serve as an inventive fantasy and a meditation on the many uses of the mind. illustrations edition new ed (Paperback) read more
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Kodansha, Tokyo / New York
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Good. No Jacket. Translated from the Japanese & adapted by Alfred Birnbaum. Octavo (6" x 9 1/8"), glossy pictorial wrapper w/white lettering on black spine, map, 400 pp. + [4]. Wrapper rubbed at extremities. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN)
Date Published: 1991-09
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Good+ in Near Fine jacket. Stated First Edition with full number line. Good+/NF. Faint shelf wear. Does not sit square--Slight spine slant. Between pages 50-51 there is some separation at the signature. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1992-10-29
ISBN-13:9780140154351ISBN:0140154353
Description: VG Very Good. Paperback has been read but by a considerate reader. Spine shows readers crease but overall book and covers are in clean and very good condition. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha 1991
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: ISBN 4770015445. Hardback. First Printing. Very Good condition book with a crease to spine, small brown stains to front edge, in a Very Good condition dustjacket with minor rubs and creases around its edges. Tight, sound, unmarked copy. $21.95 original price is present and unclipped on front flap of dustjacket. Murakami's Second Novel. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc, Cary, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Hardback with dust jacket. First American edition, first printing. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum. 400pp. Very Good+ with one corner gently bumped in a Very Good+ dust jacket that has light wear along edges. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN)
Date Published: 1991-09
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Very Good. Hardcover with jacket, Kodansha, 1991, first edtion/first printing. A few tiny ink specks on vertical edge, book is otherwise like new; no markings. Jacket is price clipped; minimal edgewear; now in new archival protective cover. Overall, a beautiful copy. Cover scan available upon request. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Tokyo, New York, London: Kodansha International,
Date Published: [1991]
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Octavo, cloth-backed boards. First edition in English. The author's fourth novel and his second to be translated into English. A fine copy in fine dust jacket. (#128598) read more
Description: Kodansha International, 1991. 1st US printing / edition. Hardback. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum. Near Fine in Near Fine dustjacket. Small light smudge at the top. Jacket is lightly rubbed. ISBN: 4770015445 The author's second novel translated into English. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN)
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Very Good. 4770015445 1st ed., 1st. printing with complete numberline. Minor wear/scuffing on dust-jacket, price intact. Separation starting at head of spine, a few pages were dog-eared as place-holders, boards are sharp. Very good condition. read more
Edition: First Edition/First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc, New York
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: N-Fine in N-Fine jacket. A square solid tight carefully read copy. This copy has some veryyyyyyyyyyyyy light pagedge soil, text block is slightly concave at the top of the spine. The 21.95 jacket has some light rubbing wear, very minor edgewear. Translation by Alfred Birnbaum. A veryyyyyyy nice copy of the author's 2nd book and hard to find in this condition. read more
Edition: First American edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Kodansha International, Tokyo & New York
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9784770015440ISBN:4770015445
Description: Near Fine in near fine jacket. Very light spotting to the page edges, else As New. First published in Japanese as Sekai no owari to hadoboirudo wandarando in 1985. Murakami's fourth novel and the second to be published in English. 8vo, 400 pp. read more
Description: Fine; Collectible. 1991 Kodansha International hard cover-stated First Edition-brand new excellent unread collectible in mylar cover-enjoy. read more
"Another amazing novel by Haruki Murakami. The book is actually two stories told in alternating chapters: "Hardboiled Wonderland" is a Chandleresque science fiction detective tale about a sort of cyber-empath that is caught between two factors, The System and The Factory which are fighting for dominance. "The End of the World" is a Kafka influenced fantasy about a town in which unicorns exists and the inhabitants are separated from their shadows. The main protagonist comes to this world with no memories and is given the job of Dream Reader. Both stories continue separately from each other until they finally merge together at the end. This is an existential novel about identity and connection, two major themes in Murakami's works. But unlike much of his writings, there is more of an ending and most, but not all, connections are tied up in a satisfying climax. While most of the authors' works have fantastical elements this is the first one I read that is actually pure science fiction/fantasy. I rate it as good as Kafka By The Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicles which is high praise indeed."
"This is the first book I've read for my dystopic science fiction book club. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it so much because it's amazing or if it just resonated with me at this moment, like the sound of a dream being tapped out of a unicorn skull.
It took me over half the book to realize that this is really two books in one, each one with a different running header (a term introduced to me by my housemate). I do like books that jump back and forth, whether between stories or in time. These ones start as seemingly disparate narratives that come closer and closer to each other as the book progresses.
Is there an alternate world created by your unconscious mind? Is such a closed system even possible? And if so, what would it look like?
And if you had twenty-two hours left to live, what would you do?
favorite quote, page 392: "Fairness is a concept that holds only in limited situations. Yet we want the concept to extend to everything, in and out of phase. From snails to hardware stores to married life. Maybe no one finds it, or even misses it, but fairness is like love. What is given has nothing to do with what we seek.""
"Hardboiled Wonderland is my third Murakami novel and fourth book over the course of the last six months, and my admiration for his writing has developed from a puppy love to a mature one. Gone are the expectations of flawlessness and romanticism because I feel like I now know what to expect, but what remains is even more compelling and significant to me.
There are still aspects of Murakami (and/or his translations) that really irk me, much like moving in with a significant other only to find that they load the dishwasher the wrong way, but his offerings are so numerous and fascinating that I have never even considered putting down one of his books for good.
I would group Hardboiled Wonderland with Kafka on the Shore, and I find myself resisting to call them contemporary fables. Perhaps I am tempted to find some sort of moral insinuation in his writing, but then again it was the lack of moral pontificating that drew me to his books in the first place. He may write with them in mind, but he hides them well enough as to warrant multiple interpretations, which is the most you can hope for in any piece of artwork. Even more significant is that I was able to use his writing to reflect on my own life in this moment, without much effort.
His imagination is so foreign to mine, that I am wholly and completely consumed by it. Both Hardboiled Wonderland and Kafka remind me of Spirited Away in the way that they could meld such existential darkness with the true, small (and possibly fleeting) pleasures of life: food, records, maintaining company with friends and acquaintances, helping others in times of need, the occasional drink, finding satisfying work, and extraordinary adventure, all socially-constructed inventions of the human condition. There are others I have omitted, I'm sure, but they differ for everyone.
My only significant gripe with Murakami (the verbal tick, the facial blemish, the object of disdain one maybe later come to love) is his obsession with cultural specifics. Such a characteristic part of his work, I find his penchant to describe his Nike bag or Toyota car so incredibly distracting that I almost threaten filing for divorce. But if you can get through that, I would hope that your marriage will have been as successful as ours is, blemishes and all, coming to terms with my own faults while learning to love theirs. To quote the great Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, if I may, "the question is not whether you're perfect or she's perfect; it's whether you're perfect for each other." The ring stays on."
"The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World gets my vote the most unique and frustrating book in the Murakami catalog. I got the feeling that there's a little bit of the fan in Murakami in this text; his love of PK Dick, Vonnegut, etc. seems present, and I imagine passages of the book were great fun to write as a tribute, if you will, to his influences. However, the cold, metallic neurophysiology, whether accurate or not (I don't know much about brain chemistry, so I can't say one way or the other) left me, for the first time in my long history with the author, hoping a long, clinical section near the middle of the book would end quickly. Luckily, the material bracketing that extended passage was strong although perhaps not coherent enough to place this book amongst Murakami's best.
The book focuses in some ways on the conscious/unconscious reality/perceptual ground familiar to readers of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and After Dark. Murakami changes the context from the isolation of the well or mysterious rooms one can only sometimes enter to a place where brains are modified in ways that bridge or fail to bridge the conscious and unconscious minds for strategic purposes. In other words, Murakami places this book's world, for better or for worse, firmly in the land of science fiction. The "other" realm, full of unicorns, retired generals, and demure librarians, is a rich, thoughtful meditation on the ways in which different parts of our consciousness interact. College students looking for term paper fodder related to fiction and Jung/Campbell would have a field day with this book.
But does that make for a great Murakami novel? No. While (in my eyes, and I know Murakami is one of those "love/hate" goodreads authors) most of the author's work is transcendent and inspiring, The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World earns those descriptors on rare and brief occasions. The book is good, interesting, even, but serves more as an intellectual exercise than a fun, "this is why I love books" read. For fans only."
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