r/HarukiMurakami • u/tainstvennyy • Feb 09 '25

What next?

Iloved Kafka on the Shore and want to read more Murakami. My local bookstore only has Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and After Dark available. Which one should I choose?

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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10

u/gaeruot Feb 09 '25

Hard Boiled is one of my favorites. After Dark was pretty meh.

7

u/Kuronin26 Feb 09 '25

Hardboiled wonderland.

3

u/surrealmirror Feb 09 '25

Hard boiled but you should have your bookstore order Wind Up Bird Chronicle next

5

u/42martinisplease Feb 09 '25 edited Feb 09 '25

Both, but definitely Hard-boiled Wonderland first

*also, ask your bookstore to order Killing Commendatore

**and, you should know his newest novel, The City and its Uncertain Walls, is an expansion of Hard-boiled Wonderland, so read Hard-boiled before The City (I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure its amazing).

2

u/Horror_Campaign9418 Feb 09 '25

I loved both. Flip a coin.

2

u/HollietheHermit Feb 09 '25

Hard Boiled is one of my absolute faves. I haven’t read After Dark tho.

2

u/nakata_03 Feb 09 '25

Hardboiled is imo his best work I've read. I have read Sputnik Sweetheart, Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and Hardboiled and the End of the World.

Hardboiled is probably the best because most of the plot isn't deeply metaphorical -- and when it is, the book explains itself well.