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| Translator | Philip Gabriel |
| First Written | 2025 |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Origin | Japan |
| Publisher | Vintage |
| ISBN-10 | 0593687841 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593687840 |
| My Copy | library audiobook |
| First Read | January 20, 2026 |
The City and Its Uncertain Walls:
The back and forth repetitiveness that I've noted in other Murakami books is really grating here too. I suppose it's worse because I'm listening to an audiobook.
Noted on January 20, 2026
Been talking Murakami with a friend, and picked this up cold. Other late Murakami books have felt like pastiche or retreads to me lately - and so imagine my confusion when this seems to be an actual rewrite of one of his most fun books - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World. At first I was very confused if I even had the right book here! There's a dreamlike city where you are separated from your shadow, with golden unicorns, and a job at the library Reading Dreams.
I'm only about 40% of the way through and it's starting to change shape a little bit, but what a weird thing.
Noted on January 20, 2026
If you’re balancing a plate on your head, it’s best not to look up at the sky.
Quoted on January 20, 2026