Haruki Murakami Resources - hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world

hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world
(世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド Hitsuji o meguru boken Sekai no owari to Hādoboirudo Wandārando)

First published in Japan by Kodansha (1982)

Translated by Alfred Birnbaum

Published in English in 1989 by Kodansha English Library (Japan) - US 1993
UK (Hamish Hamilton 1990, Penguin 1991, Harvill 2000)

UK Edition:
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Vintage (28 Sep 2001)
ISBN-10: 0099448785

US Edition:
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Vintage (March 2, 1993)
ISBN-10: 0679743464

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First, about the mind. You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That this is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.

synopsis

This is a narrative particle accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey and Bob Dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, John Coltrane and Lord Jim. Science fiction, detective story and post modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" is the tour de force that expanced Haruki Murakami's international following, tracking one man's descent into the kafkaesque underworld farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy. The result is a wildly inventive fantasy and a meditation on the many uses of the mind.
from amazon.co.uk)

reviews

Stealing Dreams From Unicorns - New York Times by Paul West

wikipedia page on the novel

librarything.com page on the novel

recommended blog review by oxipoet

blogcritics review by Jonathan Zabel

Interesting video interpreting Hard-Boiled Wonderland from youtube

readers reviews from lookupbooks

Blog critic's review by Chad Orzel

Anybooks4less customer reviews

kuro5hin.org review

A discussion of different realities in the novel by Elizabeth Dunlop