The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami is an intelligent, nonlinear, and truly original novel — one in which mystery, atmosphere, and concept work seamlessly together.

The book marks a remarkable return to Murakami’s early creative explorations.

Its foundations lie in two earlier works: the short story of the same name, published in Japan in 1980 when the author was only 31 — a text Murakami himself refused to reissue for years, considering it “immature”; and the iconic novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), which partially reimagines the themes of that original story.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Murakami felt the time had come to return to this idea.

And so, he revisits the image of a walled city — a place where clocks have no hands, where people have abandoned their shadows, and where a man reads old dreams in a library.

From this, a novel emerges in which surrealism meets emotional maturity, and imagined spaces collide with the inevitability of reality.

Between Memory and Dream

The City and Its Uncertain Walls follows a young man who, at the age of seventeen, meets a mysterious girl who tells him: “My true self lives in a city behind a wall.”

She disappears, leaving behind only a memory — and the image of that city. Isolated. Timeless. Populated by people without shadows. Guarding the secrets of dreams within its library.

Decades later, the protagonist finds himself drawn back to this place. In his attempt to understand which reality is real and which is only a dream, he begins working in a remote library, encounters new characters — including Koyasu, a mysterious boy with a photographic memory — and gradually uncovers connections between the worlds.

The novel unfolds in three parts, weaving together two timelines: one of youth, and one of maturity.

Literary Archaeology

This is not simply a return to an old idea. It is something deeper. A kind of literary archaeology — carefully assembled with nostalgia, philosophical depth, and a richly imagined landscape.

A novel about the hidden spaces within us. The ones that exist behind our own internal walls — uncertain, fragile, but undeniably real.

From Booklovers, we believe this novel will resonate deeply with long-time readers of Murakami, while also offering a compelling entry point for those encountering his work for the first time. Our personal favorite remains 1Q84 — the unforgettable story of Aomame and Tengo, and the strange parallel world they inhabit.