Rating: 
Summary: A hard rain's a-gonna fall
Review: This has been the first Murakami novel I have ever read, and I must say it is by far the best novel I have read in a long time ! I don't think it is right to simply attach a label like "cyberpunk" or "sci-fi" to the book, because I feel the psychological aspects of the journey of a man towards his inner self are the main focus of the book. The sci-fi elements that Murakami uses to set up the plot to me are merely background settings.
It is a well known fact to each living soul on this earth that death is inevitable, and one generally needs a lifetime to accept that. In this case, the main character is forced to complete his acceptation process within a day. While addressing the absurd question of "what would I do on my last conscious day", Murakami manages to create a cold concrete, painfully touching "radiohead"-like atmosphere in which the main character shamefully realizes the total triviality of his life.
The end of the book still lingers in my head, Murakami uses a lot of references to american pop culture throughout the book, but not just for the simple reference itself. When you will have read the book you will understand his last reference to Bob Dylan's "A hard rain's a-gonna fall":Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty, Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Rating:
Summary: Hard-boiled and utterly smashing!
Review: Amazing, awesome, brilliant...no word of praise is too hyperbolic for this bizarre sci-fi fantasy work. Murakami's books going b what little I've read are more like variations on a single theme...all of them have a central protagonist, a passive sterile Joe, who suddenly falls into mysterious and often macabre circumstances, meeting a series of strange people in parallel universes and being drawn therein into a quest to rescue his own existence/sanity.
This one has some hardcore sci-fi elements to it, with concepts like the human mind being altered and compartmentalized to function as a data processing and encryption unit.
I won't bother with giving a narrative summary since that's a lot of the fun of reading the book and it's too complicated to describe in any detail, but suffice to say that it's fast paced and gripping and even the sense of deja vu with other Murakami stories does not eclipse the brilliant construction of this epic.
The climax, as one sees it, is an absolute masterpiece - lasting nearly a 100 pages, where Murakami narrates in a kind of verbal 'slow-motion' mode, measuring out moment by deliciously excruciating moment to a glorious, majestic beat.
Rating:
Summary: the real murakami?
Review: although most people would prefer norwegian wood (which remains one of murakami's top seller), this is, i think, closer to murakami's true style. an exploration of self, a search for a potentially nihilistic life within the mind and an in depth look into reality. a good follow-up of this book is his latest (not yet translated, I believe) Seaside Kafka - that uses the same motif - a split story - about the search of oneself.
Rating:
Summary: The Town in Your Mind
Review: This was the seventh Haruki Murakami novel I've read. I was worried about this book. Although I have read and enjoyed other books by Murakami, I held this one off with a stick because I was frightened by the word Cyberpunk. I'm not a science fiction fan. The only other book that I have read that had a Cyberpunk theme was William Gibson's Neuromancer, which was so full of technological jargon that I had no idea what I was reading. I was worried this book was going to be the same, but I lucked out, the protagonist of the story really doesn't understand much of hat is happening to him or of the abilities that have been planted in his brain, so I found the book quite easy to read. The main character of the book is a nameless 35 year old man who works for the System, basically dealing in information, He meets quite colorful characters along the way: A genius Scientist, a pink loving young lady who wants to get him into the sack, and a slim pretty libraian who has a bottomless pit for a stomach. The main fascination that this book hold, however, is the parallel world that is inside the protagonist's mind a world of his own creation world that is his own prison. Read this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Last Time I Buy a Book Based on Other People's Opinions...
Review: Okay, I listened to all the hype and bought the book. And I'm not even half-way through but feel compelled to write a review. The book is a severe disappointment. Now, mind you, I'm one of those who looooves "twisted, dark and outrageous" stories, but this is NOT one of them. It barely even earns the title, "mildly entertaining." In fact, I hasten to say that if it wasn't for a Japanese having written this book (thus serving as a kind of cultural comment), it would never have been published. Much of the "Hard-Boiled" scenes reads like a very bad imitation of Hammet or Chandler, full of every detective cliche and stilted piece of dialogue you can imagine -- case in point is the Junior/Big Boy scene (Chapter 13) which is so deriative and stereotypical that it's a wonder it got past an editor's nose. I could go on about pratically every page -- all the bad, bad, incredibly boring dialogue (didn't Murakami ever learn to "show, not tell"?), all the trite, banal so-called "humor" which only reminded me of a dim-witted high-schooler. Now and again there is a clever little description, but it's simply not enough to offset all the prosaic moments. I give this two stars for its premise -- the idea of a split-narrative. Unfortunately, idea and practice are two different creatures. I suppose Murakami thought he was being terrifically "original" with his metaphors of unicorns, sentient shadows, and data inputed into someone's brain, but, really, all this has been done before by guys like Philip K. Dick and numerous other Sci-Fi writers. There is metaphor and then there's "deriative metaphor." I suspect Murakami watched Blade Runner too many times. If you want some truly original, mind-twisting stuff, then go read JG Ballard or John Shirley. Shirley in particular is quite adept at evoking new and startling images. To sum up: this book is a mixture of very bad Noir writing, an adolescent take on Blade Runner/The Matrix, and a Harry Potter-like voice that is incredibly callow and boring. Save your money and go buy Black Butterflies instead. You will not regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Too Much
Review: I love Murakami's works, especially Norwegian Wood, but this one is longer than the others and a little too much Science Fiction for me. Although, I did read it non-stop - so he had me from the beginning but I feel many will not be able to finish this novel - they will give up on it without finding out what happens. It is a mind twister though. What is real and what is not.
Rating:
Summary: A hard rain's a-gonna fall
Review: This has been the first Murakami novel I have ever read, and I must say it is by far the best novel I have read in a long time ! I don't think it is right to simply attach a label like "cyberpunk" or "sci-fi" to the book, because I feel the psychological aspects of the journey of a man towards his inner self are the main focus of the book. The sci-fi elements that Murakami uses to set up the plot to me are merely background settings.
It is a well known fact to each living soul on this earth that death is inevitable, and one generally needs a lifetime to accept that. In this case, the main character is forced to complete his acceptation process within a day. While addressing the absurd question of "what would I do on my last conscious day", Murakami manages to create a cold concrete, painfully touching "radiohead"-like atmosphere in which the main character shamefully realizes the total triviality of his life.
The end of the book still lingers in my head, Murakami uses a lot of references to american pop culture throughout the book, but not just for the simple reference itself. When you will have read the book you will understand his last reference to Bob Dylan's "A hard rain's a-gonna fall": Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty, Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Rating:
Summary: End of the World
Review: This is 'Alice in Wonderland' colliding with a strangely symbolic sci-fi universe. I see the shadowy landscapes and the brilliantly colored streets of imagination. This book explores the transition between dreams/imagination and reality. The slightly understated narration and the exaggerated scenery of this novel clash brilliantly. It is a ride away from what most of us are used to, so give it a chance.
Rating:
Summary: great read
Review: In my opinion this novel serves as a bridge between genre-fiction (sci-fi/cyberpunk in this case) and more serious literature. It's not the best novel I've ever read so forget about murakami being the greatest writer alive or things like that... He's very talented, no doubt about that, and provided with an astounding imagination but I'll trade this book any minute for a Tom Robbins' novel... Let alone Kurt Vonnegut.
Still, it clealy deserves 4 stars (and maybe a "bonus" 1/2) and I gladly suggest this to everyone who's looking for a twisted (but brilliant) take at genre-fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Wild Ride, I love this stuff
Review: Now this is a novel! It's not much on characterization, but the edgy plot and style are bursting forth with creative imagery. And the style is a bit different from the other Haruki Murakami novels I've read. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World has a long-winded sounding name, but it is appropriate here. There are actually two stories running in parallel - Hard-Boiled Wonderland is one, and The End of the World is the other. They do connect, and the reasoning becomes clear sooner rather than later, but I won't say how. It's grossly unfair to give away absolutely anything in a Murakami novel review. It makes reviewing harder, but you really should be reading the book instead of my comments on the book anyway. Basically, Murakami has written a cyberpunk novel, and he does it better than Gibson ever could. This is an early version of the style. It's essentially cyberpunk without computers. Impossible, you say? Think again. Okay, I see I've written two paragraphs without actually saying anything about the book itself. In short, a guy is hired to do some data analysis for an eccentric scientist. Shortly after that, he finds himself chased by various shady characters. Then he wonders, with good reasons, if he's losing his mind somehow. That's all I dare to say. Read it yourself for the rest of the story.
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