Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

35 reviews

lilygrace18's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book was a lot wackier than I was expecting, but if you can get past the way murakami writes women, it has a lot of interesting things to say. Definitely the kind of book where my review may change upon further reflection.

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orionstar109's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I went into this book completely blind and founf myself not wanting to put it down after the first 20 pages.

The only reason I deducted from my rating is due to the author's comments about women in the story. He rarely makes an effort to describe the very few female characters in the story beyond their physical appearance and how the main character reacts to their presence, so -.5 for misogyny

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koberreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

THIS SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST BOOK TO READ IF YOU PLAN TO DIVE INTO HARUKI MURAKAMI WORKS

This book is more fascinationg mysterious and complex than I have ever thought. As profound as it is complex. This is not my first book of Haruki Murakami but I do think it should have been

This is his most scientific, mathematical, and consciousness and mind focus work of fiction. Did he study all of this before writing? Or he had all this knowledge before hand?

I do agree with this person who wrote a persuasive article below about the book: This should be your first book of Haruki Murakami if you plan to dive into his writings for the very first time because it has all the elements that you might expect in a Haruki Murakami book. (Great poetic prose, writings on music, food, normal settings of world mixed with the odd or fantasy elements but still within a form of magic realism and of course, the if you can bear it, awkward sex and misogyny.

This is also his book most focused on the philosopy or theory of how the conscious and unconscious mind work.

A sci-fi fantasy book regarding the mind through parallel alternating chapters

It is unexpectedly gives off the feeling of how human each character is even though the characters are utterly the oddest bunch you could ever meet. Maybe because we all struggle in understanding our minds. Especially the unconscious part of it when is the main focus of the book

I didnt expect the 1985 is the times where authors are so focus on the mind, consciouness, and the unconscious part of the mind, I guess books like this highlight the beginning of the world to focus on mental health or things regarding the mind.

https://bookoblivion.com/2018/04/23/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/

SPOILER ALERT BELOW

..The human mind, apart from outer space, is the last terra incognita or unexplored, unknown territory.
Chap 25: Meal, Elephant Factory, Trap
This is the most intense deep serious mediation of the nature of consciousness and uses of the mind
.. in the middle part where he laughed at Freuds and Carl Jung theories:
The black box (Unconscious part of the mind) can be either left alone or used as it is a black box and the scientist in this novel truly aims to make use of it. Although not all of us fully comprehend the unconscious mind but we can make use of it. (I wonder how could one write this all in Japanese aha.
One of the most scientific, deep serious though regarding the nature of consciouses and uses of the mind that I read from Murakami yet. I never thought Murakami read freud and Carl Jung so much also had the audacity to insult them as well which I love (Freud and Jung he said only made people talk about nature of the consciousness with jargons and gave it a scholastic color but never really describe what it really is.)
He did read Carl Kung explainaton regarding the shadow.. because he incorporated it in the End of the world story Chapter 30
Hole
a good one about doing things for the sake of it
whenever you lose your mind or let go of your thoughts.. there is only a deep peace behind the thoughts
Your true peaceful being is finally revealed after being concealed by thoughts for so long
Chapter 32
The explanation of the town.
Goddamn, I never really expected this though. It is so deep. Murakami has the best explanation on how the unconscious mind works. Goddamn

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vejis's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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federica123's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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emcatbee's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book reminded me why I don't read books written by men. I have no idea how Murakami became a canonised author. His writing is fine I guess but it's eclipsed by the incel level misogyny and fatphobia. Not a single good portrayal of a woman in this book at all and to be honest the men didn't come off great either. One start because I guess the descriptive writing was fine.

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ran_sophia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read the book a second time, and although I enjoyed it the first time, I enjoyed it a little more now. The main reason was that I wasn't confused at the beginning and knew the motives, the world of the book, and overall it made sense to me from the beginning. I found the writing and storytelling style to be very enjoyable. I also really liked the story and it was very nicely laid out.

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