Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - (1985)

Author: Haruki Murakami.

After reading Dostoevsky, I really needed to read something light and fun.

I remember reading "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" 14 years ago or so and didn't get it. I think it was the last Murakami book I've read back then.

I didn't take it too seriously this time and enjoyed the story.

There is not much to it; The setting is maybe very detailed and the sci-fi is extremely fantastic. But the story is simple and light.

I was happy the main character didn't sleep with the 17 years old girl like in 1Q84. And now I realize he doesn't have a name, nobody in this book has a name... Ahahah completely missed it while reading.

In the last chapter of the book the main character quotes from The Brothers Karamazov I've just finished reading last week. So in a funny coincidence those two books reading were part of a single experience.

He says: "how many people in Tokyo know the names of the brother Karamazov?"

And I thought: "how many people in Berlin know the answer is: Dimitri, Ivan, Alexey and Smerdyakov?"

Verdict: 4 / 5 ★ - Fun.