Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Cun Shang Chun Shu · first published 2011
65% recommend30% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Surreal, dreamlike Murakami novel with a sci-fi and cyberpunk edge, built on a plot-inside-plot structure; suggested as a starting point for Murakami newcomers and for readers who like weird, imaginative fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…40s, I didn't give much for it as Sci-fi goes. I read it in one sitting. Ended with a headache, dizzy and hungry. It was well worth it. For Murakami, I'd pick instead a relatively unknown book by him: Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of The World. An inception-esque plot-inside-plot book, set in an almost Neuromancer-like setting. I love it. For Dystopian... Even though I have not read The Giver, just classification-wise I'd have to pick Shades…
on “Books to Read in a Lifetime” ↗Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Boiled-Wonderland-End-World-Inter...
on “Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?” ↗The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson. AR plays a heavy role in it (and it is my favorite Stephenson novel). Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami. I can't say much about it without ruining it.
on “Ask HN: Books that altered your view of reality” ↗Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami because the pace of half the book so closely resembles my life, decisions, alternative histories and the limited time we have in the world. not sure how much more I can say without…
on “Ask HN: What book impacted your life the most and how?” ↗Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World is a pretty underrated Murakami novel. It gets talked about much less than his other works- undeservedly so.
on “Ask HN: Sci-fi recommendations by non-western authors?” ↗When I'm at the used bookshop, I always look for a Murakami book, Haruki or Ryu. I especially recommend Haruki's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World for this crowd, as data encryption plays a role. Ryu is probably best known for his horror novel Audition because it was adapted for film by Miike Takashi. Both would be classified as surreal. Haruki's…
on “Surrealism, cafes and lots of cats: why Japanese fiction is booming” ↗If you've not read any of Murakami's fiction and are interested, check out "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". I think most HN readers would enjoy it.
on “Haruki Murakami: The Moment I Became a Novelist” ↗> Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of The World Thas is one of my favorite books of all times. Thank you for recommending it, and I will echo your sentiment to others here on HN to read it. It's one of the few books I've actually reread after saying…
on “Books to Read in a Lifetime” ↗Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Check it out, it's his personal favourite [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the...
on “The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 awarded to Bob Dylan” ↗I loved 'Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'. Do you have any book suggestions on that style? Japanese or not, I just wanted more of that weird cyberpunk/magic realism vibe.
on “Haruki Murakami Introduces the Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories” ↗I didn't particularly enjoy WSC, although it was… more interesting than other books from him I have read. My favourite is (by far) Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of The World. What did you think of it, if you have read it?
on “Haruki Murakami and the Scarcity of Serious Thought” ↗…short stories such as the "new writings in SF" anthologies. But they're hard to get hold of, so any "best SF" collection of short stories will serve you well. For postmodern fiction, Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a great read.
on “Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?” ↗I liked 1Q84. I felt it could have been a bit shorter without much loss to the story though. 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicle' and 'Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World' remain my favorite Murakami novels.
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗…great, his prose really touched me in a creative/imaginative sense. I get this surreal and whimsical sensation while reading his fiction. If you're lining up possible other books to read by him, I suggest Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗…field, but the guy's dedication and hard-work was inspiring (similarly, Pasteur's life is quite interesting to read about). Also out of our usual targets here, though somewhat more related, I enjoyed "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" [3] by Haruki Murakami. I found the universes interesting and enjoyed the setting of a world were programmers learn to compute and encrypt things in their brains (even if it's a small part of the story).…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗