###Topics of discussion Parallel worlds
In reading the first couple chapters, what did you think about the two different worlds and narratives being told? Were you initially confused? Did you have any early hypotheses about what this meant?

Nameless faces
Did you notice that no one in the book has a real name? Professor, librarian, Colonel, Gatekeeper. Tons of characters, but no one is identified with a name. Why do you think that is?

Knowledge is power
Information holds unique meaning in the parallel worlds. In the Tokyo wonderland, the whole premise of Calcutecs and Semiotecs is based on an information war. In the End of the World, information and knowledge is locked away as part of, what seems to be a conspiracy theory. Reflect on the nature of knowledge, memory, and information. In a world where cyber-attacks, social media, free information on the Internet, and data privacy are daily topics of conversation, are so far away from our own Wonderland? If your memory fades and your core consciousness is locked away, what is really left?

Friendly shadow
In Jungian psychology, the shadow or “shadow aspect” may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. “Everyone carries a shadow,” Jung wrote, “and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” It may be (in part) one’s link to more primitive animal instincts, which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.

What is the shadow? What does it represent?

Fateful decision
Why do you think the narrator makes the decision that he does in the end? Why didn’t he take the opportunity?

###Bonus questions * On a scale of 0 to crazy, how would you rate Murakami’s writings? Seriously, Murakami is known for his balance of surreal and magical elements with very real and everyday happenings. His pace is often called refreshing or confusing. Now that the Book Club has read a couple Murakami books, what do we think about him? Why do we nominate his books so many times? * Did you notice that the map of the Town looks like a Brain?