Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

In "Hard-Boiled Wonderland," an average Japanese working man descends into the Tokyo sewers to put his mind to work as a living computer inside a laboratory. Elsewhere, in "The End of the World," a newcomer to a walled-off town finds his shadow cut off from his body, and his role in the town designated as Dreamreader. These two narratives interweave in Murakami's seminal exploration of identity and consciousness.