As the World(s) Turn

Well, today I finished Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.  I really liked it a lot, but as is the case with many of his books, it left me a tad confused about uh, lots of things.  The story line is this:  a nameless data processor gets caught up in some crazy capers driven by an old loopy scientist.  Turns out the old guy’s been messin’ with his mind – literally.  So the book alternates between the real world and a world constructed in the guy’s consciousness.  It’s pretty nuts, and it didn’t all quite come together for me in the end, (but it was close.)  It kind of made my head hurt trying to figure out exactly what was going on in some places, but that’s okay.  Thinking is good.

So, in the world constructed in his consciousness, the guy lives in a seemingly perfect peaceful little town.  But at a cost, as his ’shadow’ (the manifestation of his true self) tells him:

…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.

So the guy and his shadow spend the book trying to escape from mind world.  But lo and behold, the old scientist has other plans.

Maybe I’m just dumb, but I wasn’t totally sure what happened in the end.   I think in a few days it might come together for me.  But even if it doesn’t, it was still a good read.

So next, I’m going  to get started again on For the Love of Animals.  Maybe Larisa might have finished a book by the time I finish this new one.  Don’t worry, L, it’s a long book.

Samara

It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.

Right now, I’m about 1/3 of the way through Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.  Not surprisingly, I’m a bit confused by the plot right now, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not lovin’ it!  The book alternates between two different places/times, although it seems like some of the characters are the same.   As always, Murakami has created some compelling characters to play out his fantastical plot:  a data processing guy with a weakness for chubby ladies, a wacky old scientist who collects skulls, and who’s experimenting with the removal of sound from the world, and his cute chubby niece with a tendency to ask rather personal questions to strangers (“Are you well endowed?”)  I have no idea what’s going to happen, but that’s one of the things I love about Murakami.

Shit, it even has unicorns!

In further ‘blizzard’ developments, I mooched The Satanic Verses from someone on Bookmooch today.  Sweet!