"Hard Boiled wonderland and the End of the World" by Hark Murakami (Book Review)

Hard Boiled wonderland and the End of the World by Hark Murakami is a disorienting glimpse into a reality that at times leaves the reader questioning   what it really means to be human.  After a disorienting opening, Murakami begins to pull back the curtain to reveal the true nature of the novel's setting   and how the characters fit into it. The plot eventually emerges from the far-side of Murakami's imagination like one of the scary unseen "Inklings" we hear all about throughout the novel. The book takes some work to get through, but the pay off, when it's closed and put down for the last time, is gratifying and leaves me questioning my own place in our made-up world.  

There are lots of things to talk about/share from this book. The impassable perfectly made “wall” surrounding "the town" could be one. The forbidden forest, or maybe the unknown narrator’s various sexual proclivities, or lack of them.  Possibly, the deadly creatures that live underground called "Inklings" could be a point of discussion. There are burning "beast's” whose heads have been cut off so their "old dreams” can be captured (the narrator's job), the unicorn skull found by a Bolshevik soldier during the Red V White War that ends up on the narrator's TV cabinet. Also, not to be outdone, a librarian who cannot ever get full from eating.  There is even two mentions of Honoré de  Balzac, a famous French writer, who Karl Marx and Friedrich  Engels read and referenced  because of his graphic description of early Capitalistic 19th Century France.  

"Balzac's acute perception of historical trends, led him, in spite of himself, to highlight the contradictions and injustices of society and thus to promote the proletarian revolution he actively tried to prevent," Engels wrote in a letter to Margaret Hartness in 1888.     

To say the book Is irreverent and imaginative is an understatement. Two metaphysical ideas that I am still thinking about, hiding in the background throughout the book like  the Inklings hiding underground, ready to take you out after the smallest slip, are the nature of consciousness and our "shadows."   

Consciousness 

The book is mostly set in "the town" with its various outbuildings like the "wall," "forbidden forest,"  "library", and the narrator's apartment. In these settings, the author explores the nature of his world and just how many story lines does he have going on in his head at any given time and point. The narrator, it turns out, is a lone survivor of an experiment gone wrong that studied just such a question. Two leading characters, the "old man" and his "granddaughter," lead the reader through this event chain that will eventually come together near the end after various twists and turns, concluding with an escape to, well, I cannot say much more that happened because that would be one of those spoiler thingies.     

Many of us (raises hand) have had days, weeks, months, and for some, a lifetime where you are not quite sure who is living in your head, similar to the narrator in HBWL. Some things that may affect consciousness could be things like:  Dreams can offer a view into another layer of consciousness in a positive or negative way, depending on the dream. Meditation can be a powerful tool in sharpening our state of awareness. — Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, " The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness."     

LSD and other psychedelic drugs are used to induce states of being outside our usual mode.  — "Our greatest human adventure is the evolution of consciousness.  We are in this life to enlarge the soul, liberate the spirit, and light up the brain," said author Tom Robbins on the subject. —  Consciousness is a curious thing and Murakami puts a unique spin on the topic in "HBWL" with the help of an old mad scientist and his granddaughter.  

Here are some more famous quotes on consciousness.      

Shadow  

The "shadow" is the other big idea in the book. The "shadow" is carved out from lack of light and can refer to the "shadow" we all carry around with us on the inside.  At some point near the beginning the narrator must give up his shadow.  It is "cut" off by the "gatekeeper" and must live in a prison-like situation while  he explores "the town." He misses his "shadow" and he desperately wants it back as the story unfolds. Or does he? This was the most interesting part of the book for me because it later helped me realize something about myself that had not occurred to me until reading this book.  

What I realized, in this case,  is because I am blind, I have not seen my shadow in many years. I honestly do not remember the last time I saw it. Like many kids I spent plenty of hours investigating the powers of my shadow. Sometimes there are not a lot of things to do out in the country. What was it doing? Can I jump over it?" "Can I outrun it?"  I remember walking with friends a couple of times and seeing our long shadows out in front of us like in one of those movies. Our shadow is a part of us, and I realized like the character in the book I miss noticing mine. 

"When was the last time you paid attention to your shadow?" 

There is a flip  side of the "shadow" though.  The shadow can be something to fear and can be misunderstood ,   as in "the shadow" in books like "Lord of the Rings." It is what makes the moon phase and gives us the scary night. It is sometimes  a metaphor for the darkness that lives inside each of us, sometimes referred to as our "demons”. These often are inflicted on us by the environment around us.  Negative social conditioning, bullying, sexual and physical abuse, poverty, food insecurity, over policing, and let's not forget, war can all lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression that create a ready space for negative thoughts, which can lead to negative behaviors. 

 It can be difficult to manage this "shadow": it has been for me.  Being blind is not a piece of cake and I have struggled with depression and all its fall-outs. . Growing up in narco-police state Alabama as a medical cannabis + patient did not help much with my mental health either. Then there's regular life.  "Things are tough all over," according to Cheech and Chong.  I seem to be managing  my not so fun "shadow," hopefully,   through plant medicine, diet, and exercise, but in the book, the narrator makes a tough decision on what to do with his shadow. 

The book ends with the narrator and his shadow, which has hints of the fun playful shadow we ran around with as kids, but also exudes something dark, unsaid and unsettling, following through with an escape plan they had been working on together. The narrator, like many of us, does not know what to do with his shadow until the last split second of the tale. It leaves an interesting question hanging in the air: What should we do with our shadows? The fun playful one and the dark one, are both often kept locked away behind a "gatekeepers" door. How we treat our "shadow" can make all the difference in the world on how things turn out in our life, and the narrator's decision on what to do with his has a profound effect on his future. Was it the right one?  

The lyrics to an Electro song I have been listening too lately come to mind as I write this:   

"In the darkness of your mind,  

Is a strength that you can find.  

go on let yourself be free,  

Leave your body."

Steve Allmand - Darkness   

Admittedly, it was tough to finish HBWL because of its disorienting plot and setting. I listened to it on audio, which I think sometimes is a little easier than reading words, so I was able to make it through it. But the book is wild, I have barely touched on most of it,  and may take some patience to get to the finish line. It does have an underpinning of dark humor that helps keep the ball rolling but be prepared to do a fair bit of head shaking and exclamations as you move through the story. This was my first read of Japanese sci-fi fantasy and I am looking forward to reading more of Murakami's and other Japanese writer's  work.