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.
