...and the End of the World

While the narrator from the hard-boiled wonderland is sarcastic, loud, and unwilling to get involved, the narrator at the end of the world is quiet and thoughtful. He's not complacent, but he's willing to let things progress on their own until he can get his answers. At the beginning of the book, he arrives at the end of the world: a small village enclosed within  wall and surrounded by mysterious horned beasts. The man has no recollection of his previous life - he doesn't remember where he came from, or even what his name is. All he knows is his shadow, who seems to have more knowledge of the two of them (The shadow is very interesting in that he doesn't trust the town and seems eager to escape, but that is a matter for another time). However, upon entering the town, the shadow is taken from him, and the narrator is assigned the inexplicable task of dream reading.

Instead of answering questions, however, the narrator's job just creates more. And this is why I like the second narrator. He's just as confused as the first narrator, but unlike the first narrator he goes looking for answers. Where the first narrator avoids his problems and puts off dealing with them for as long as he can, the narrator from the end of the world looks (albeit hesitantly) for explanations. Even when he isn't entirely sure on something, his shadow can usually convince him to look closer. This is my other favorite kind of narrator: the one who is completely lost and looking for answers.

The narrator from the end of the world is, as I mentioned earlier, assigned the job of dream reading upon his entry to the town. This job introduces some parallels to the story that I thought were really interesting. The dream reader works in the library, where he reads old dreams from the skulls of the village's horned beasts (they're unicorns but horned beasts sounds way more interesting) for hours on end. Sound familiar? It does to the narrator. As he looks at the skull, he is "overcome by a strange sense of deja vu. [...] Is this a fragment of a real memory or has time folded back on itself? (60)" There are actually several parallels here. Both narrators are presented with mysterious unicorn skulls that they don't quite know what to do with. To find answers, they go to the library, where they meet the attractive young woman working there and (maybe) fall a little bit in love. That seems a bit too similar for it to be a coincidence. 

It's clear that the narrators are related in some way, but I still don't know exactly how. I can't tell what is happening when. Are the two stories happening simultaneously, or is one before the other? Are the narrators the same person, or two different people leading strangely similar (and yet entirely different) lives? Right now, my hypothesis is that the events happening in the hard-boiled wonderland are leading up to the ones at the end of the world, but that raises a whole new set of questions. If that's the case,  what happens to the first narrator to make him forget who he is? I can't even begin to guess. Thoughts?

Hard-Boiled Wonderland...

Hey all! I know it's been a while (oops) but now that the musical is done with I hope to get back into the swing of things. I have misplaced the copy of Les Mis with all of my annotations, so I'm taking a break from that one until I find it again. For now, I've switched to Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I know, it's a mouthful. Anyways, enjoy!

This book right here. Check it out.  No, seriously, read this book.

I am pretty quickly beginning to think that Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is going to be my favorite book of the year. Already things are lining up in its favor: it has my two favorite types of narrators, an intriguing plot, and a really excellent cast of characters. Right now I'm going to be looking at one of the two narrators, this one from the hard-boiled wonderland that is the future (there's a second narrator at the end of the world, but that's an entirely different matter). 

In a futuristic world where data is everything, the unnamed narrator is an unassuming Calcutec thrust into an adventure that he doesn't necessarily want. He is my first type of narrator - a quiet guy who lives his own life, has his own goals, and finds himself in the middle of everything even though all he wants to do is go home and sleep. He's quite the character. His disbelief and somewhat snarky tone endear him to me all the more. For example, he says things like "for convenience sake, I agreed to entertain to entertain the remote hypothesis that the owner of said skull might be, conceivably, a unicorn. [...] Great, I thought. Just great. Why were all these things happening to me? (Murakami 80)" This quote actually sums up his role in the story pretty well. He's willing to entertain the idea that all of these crazy things are actually happening, even though he has absolutely no desire to get involved. For some reason, that makes me like his character a lot.

I would say that the narrators defining characteristic is his reluctance. Because he doesn't want to be there, he's sassy and a little bit rude. He's pretty disgruntled for much of the story, and I think that's his way of disguising the fact that he's scared. And of course he is! This is a crazy adventure. He's risking his life for something he isn't sure he even believes in, and that's frightening. This makes him human, and relatable, and that's why I love the narrator living in the hard-boiled wonderland.