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| Plot Summary of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World |
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"It all starts in an elevator, as the unnamed narrator - a professional data-cruncher in Tokyo called a "Calcutec" - finds himself called in for an assignment. The elevator, our hero notes, is moving so slowly that he cannot tell whether his is rising or ascending. It's the perfect opening to this unpredictable tale in two parts, told through alternating chapters. One storyline follows the Calcutec as his job, past and future turn out to be far more complex than he imagined, while the other unfolds in the parallel fantasy world of The Town, an isolated place of unicorns and lost selves, surrounded entirely by a threatening, mysterious Wall.
The Calcutec's latest assignment draws him deep beneath the city, into the hidden sanctuary of a former government scientist who specializes in the rewiring of human minds. In an information war between the government (The System) and private industry (The Factory), what could be a more effective way of protecting data than by shuffling it through the utterly unique pathways of a human brain? The Calcutec happens to be the sole remaining survivor of a group of human guinea pigs on whom such experiments have been conducted, and he finds himself threatened on both sides by the System and the Factory, and forced to trust the eccentric scientist and his granddaughter.
In the Town, we follow the story of a lost, confused narrator who doesn't know why he's here, or what his purpose may be. The townfolk provide vague guidance, but offer no clues to his identity or origin."
John Booth, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Lifeform altered?
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- engineer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers?
Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
Setting
Earth setting:
- near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- a fair amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- descript of touching personal anatomy
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Haruki Murakami Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 John Booth
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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