BOOK REVIEW: I think I’m turning Japanese
As the modern world rapidly closes the geographical gaps, more and more literature from different nations pops into the American market.
While the bookstores are flooded with high quality literature from all over Europe, Asian literature is a different story; American readers just don’t have much opportunity to see what Asian authors are writing about.
One writer that has beaten the odds for international success is Japanese author Haruki Murakami. If you haven’t heard of him, then let me be the first to suggest one of his finest, “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World.”
Murakami’s novel follows the adventures of two completely different story lines and two different main characters.
One character, a human data-encryption machine called a “Calcutec,” falls into a fantastic espionage adventure by getting involved with an acoustic scientist and his beautiful daughter. Did I mention he fights sewer monsters?
The second story revolves around a “Dream-reader” and his dogged investigations into the dark secrets of his strangely utopian community.
Murakami’s most impressive skill is the ability to juggle both story lines while weaving patterns of meaning through both.
“Hard-Boiled” is a difficult book to classify: while aspects of it are definitely science fiction and cyber-punk, the Dream-reader section employs the bizarre landscape and strange tone characteristic of Kafka’s best work.
The Calcutec narrator has an entirely different feel, reminiscent of Sam Spade or other film noir detectives. Throughout it all, Murakami’s effortlessly cool prose provides a gripping message about the power and misuse of technology and the price that modernization has on the human experience.
Before opening the book, however, readers should be warned about Murakami’s scattershot style. This is not an easy book to follow, and it isn’t intended to be. Murakami’s fictional world is at times intentionally confusing and requires some work to sort out.
Still, the effort is easily worth the reward. Murakami works miracles with his literary collage and crafts a striking picture of life in the 20th (and 21rst) century.
Ben Clarke is the very cultured book critic for The Statesman. Send comments to him as benclarke@cc.usu.edu.