I have to admit. I am a little excited about bringing this latest review to you. Since reading it over 5 years ago now, I have done nothing but espouse the good graces of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World (1985). Supremely underrated compared to some of Haruki Murakami’s other works, Hard-Boiled rarely receives the recognition it deserves. Just his fourth book, Murakami took an even bigger break between A Wild Sheep’s Chase and this one, spending the three or so years writing short stories and improving his craft ten-fold. While the story isn’t as expansive or intricate as the one that came before it, Hard-Boiled is Murakami’s most thematic to date, touching on issues like personal freedom, agency, and identity.
Well into his career by this point, Murakami has fine-tuned his writing, settling into the style that would make him renowned the world over. Credit, as usual, must be given to Murakami’s long-time translator Alfred Birnbaum, who is responsible for bringing these books to life in the English language.
Hard-Boiled is a focussed story that doesn’t waste time with fluff, something that will plague future books by the writer.
Returns once again to the dual narrative story structure, employing subtle stylistic changes to create real difference between the two “characters.” While Murakami hasn’t given them names, we can differentiate them by the role they each play in the story. The one who lives in the outside world reads data, while the one who lives in the dream world reads, well, dreams.
Our eyes and ears for half of the book is an unnamed data shuffler who bears a striking resemblance to the protagonist from Murakami’s first three books. A reclusive loner who keeps to himself, who is content with leading a life of quiet mediocrity. The man has spent three years in his current role as a calcutec, the same length of time between Murakami’s last book and this one. And like the man from those first three books, this one is also divorced and lives alone in an apartment. If it is the same exact person, which I have reason to believe it is, then he sure as heck did not learn a single thing from his treatment the last time around. But, for the benefit of this review – and to give Murakami’s creativity some credit – let’s say they are different people. But if we were, this book is where we start to see the cracks in Murakami’s writing. Having read the bulk of Murakami’s writing, I would have to say that characterisation is not one of his strong suits. Bland, unimaginative, and totally interchangeable, Murakami’s characters have similar flaws and personalities. After a little while, his protagonists start to blend together. Not even his female protagonists, if we can even call them that, are exempt from this unfortunate fact of Murakami’s writing.
The second of our two protagonists is much like the first. One day he finds himself in a town surrounded by a massive unscalable town. He has no memories of his past life except for faint whispers and recollections. In the town, he is given the role of the dream reader. But before he can do so, he has to part ways with his shadow, his one and only connection to the outside world. The town is filled with an assortment of strange characters, all with names based on their role within the walled city. One, if they were so inclined, could read this as a metaphor for the capitalist machine. In a world driven by capitalism, we, the lowly majority, are merely cogs that keep the world turning. The town, as he and his shadow slowly realise, isn’t what it seems. To stay there forever, its inhabitants must pay the ultimate price: death.
My hypothesis – and part of the reason why I wanted to review Murakami’s books in chronological order – is that all of Murakami’s books fall into one shared universe, with certain characters popping up again. But that discussion will be for a different review. For now, let’s stick to Hard-Boiled.
As I highlighted in the introduction, this is Murakami’s most probing book to date, touching on some pretty hard-hitting themes. While the overarching story is not as intricate as the one that came before it, Hard-Boiled is more contemplative and probing. It touches on the role we as ordinary people play in today’s world. The main character is, quite literally, a nameless cog who is used and abused by those in positions. He blindly follows their every order, going about his day without ever questioning why– until it is all too late. While Murakami’s books are usually open to interpretation, it is quite clear what he hopes to get across in this particular book. He calls on us to take stock of our own lives, to live in the moment and not let it pass us by.
