Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Quotes from the book:=
"Stealing memories is stealing time"
"But on the phenomenological level, this world is only one out of countless possibilities. As you create memories you're creatin' a parallel world"
We are in a future Japan where information is a commodity highly prized and the Calculecs work for The System whose competitors are the Semiotecs of The Factory but maybe these two organisations are one and the same or maybe not.
Two parallel story lines start with our narrator travelling in a hermetically sealed lift which he is not sure if it is going up or down. To calm himself he counts his loose change in both pockets simultaneously. A neat trick but simple for a Calcutec whose core consciousness has been altered so he can run information through one hemisphere of his brain, encrypt and scramble it.
He is met by a "chubby girl" in pink who leads him through labyrinthine passages to meet her grandfather, an eccentric professor who, amongst other things, can turn off sound. He is given information to scramble and told that the world depends on him carrying out his task.
The concurrent storyline is 'The End of the World" which is a walled town with few inhabitants and a herd of golden unicorns. Our narrator has just arrived but he has no memory of how he got there or memory of his past life. On entering the town he has to give up his shadow and becomes the towns dream reader. The shadow will not last long without him so they make a pact that he will map out the town for escape and they will leave. (This map appears in the frontispiece of the book).
Tokyo is the setting of the "Hard boiled Wonderland" which is full of hazard with a nod to Raymond Chandler we have two heavies in pursuit of our hero. There are strange watery underground places where dangerous creatures called INKlings roam. The End of the World is full of warnings, whirlpools and dark forests.
We inhabit both these strange places through Murakami's vivid descriptions and journey with our hero and supporting characters as the plot unfolds.
Murakami has a light touch and the theme of memory, consciousness and self is explored in an imaginative and entertaining way with a touch of dry wit.
Verdict - Recommended Read
Showing posts with label Science Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science Fiction. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Friday, 16 January 2009
Mars
The recent discovery of methane on Mars put me in mind of the novel 'The Martian Race' by Gregory Benford which is set in 2015 when the US government has abandoned the space programme when one of its rockets explodes killing all on board.
A $30 billion Mars prize is offered and a private consortium is formed to get to the planet and of course there also appears a rival group who aim to get there and back sooner and collect the prize.
The opening chapters where it is setting up the history I found a bit predictable and was considering not going any further but I am glad I persevered as once we get to the planet the book 'takes off'. Not to give too much away but things do not go smoothly, they discover something they name 'marsmat' which may be something more than it appears. The will they, wont they get off, who will survive and the resolution is effective, as well as the mysteries on the planet left a lot of questions to be answered. (There is a new release following the story of astronauts Viktor & Julia called 'The Sunborn' but don't know much about it yet).
The book raises the question of whether the exploration of the red planet will be a race for money or a hope of co-operation in space. Wonder which one will happen. I suppose we all live in hope that we do better in space than we have on this planet. I depends on whether I am having a pessimistic or optimistic day on what I think.
I loved Benford's descriptions of Mars and a lot of what he was writing about, in this 1999 novel, NASA have recently discovered (toxicity of soil etc). Of course he is an astrophysicist and a Professor of Physics with an imagination so I will have to keep reading.
Verdict: Ripping Yarn
Link to Gregory Benford's website here contains info on his fiction and non-fiction.
A $30 billion Mars prize is offered and a private consortium is formed to get to the planet and of course there also appears a rival group who aim to get there and back sooner and collect the prize.
The opening chapters where it is setting up the history I found a bit predictable and was considering not going any further but I am glad I persevered as once we get to the planet the book 'takes off'. Not to give too much away but things do not go smoothly, they discover something they name 'marsmat' which may be something more than it appears. The will they, wont they get off, who will survive and the resolution is effective, as well as the mysteries on the planet left a lot of questions to be answered. (There is a new release following the story of astronauts Viktor & Julia called 'The Sunborn' but don't know much about it yet).
The book raises the question of whether the exploration of the red planet will be a race for money or a hope of co-operation in space. Wonder which one will happen. I suppose we all live in hope that we do better in space than we have on this planet. I depends on whether I am having a pessimistic or optimistic day on what I think.
I loved Benford's descriptions of Mars and a lot of what he was writing about, in this 1999 novel, NASA have recently discovered (toxicity of soil etc). Of course he is an astrophysicist and a Professor of Physics with an imagination so I will have to keep reading.
Verdict: Ripping Yarn
Link to Gregory Benford's website here contains info on his fiction and non-fiction.
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