1Q84, by Haruki Murakami, is brilliant, an epic novel. I've had a copy of the book for several years, but was intimidated by its length (1157 pages), and only recently did I garner the courage to tackle it.

It wasn't only the size of the book that gave me pause. Many years ago now I read Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and it confused me so much that I don't think I actually finished it. The thought of a confusing door-stop of a book for over 1100 pages seemed like a lot to take on.

The book was surprisingly readable. It did take me nineteen days to read it, but I enjoyed my late-night reading sessions of Murakami's glorious prose, wondrous imagination, and often stayed up nearly till dawn, unwilling to put down the book on my bedside table and sleep.

The book transcends genre. It is, I believe, primarily a romance, but it brought in magiical realism, fantasy, mystery, and perhaps science fiction.

It was a beautiful book. I will have a difficult time choosing a follow-up novel. What a book. It will remain permanently on my list of favourites. ( )

If someone were to say, “Haruki Murakami is up to his old tricks,” it would be catnip to millions of readers, and deservedly so. 1Q84 features some of the more celebrated Murakami touches: an alternate universe, many mysteries, some very memorable oddball characters, and multifarious threats, real and supernatural both, which keep both readers and characters on edge. Fortunately, Murakami’s clever presentation, his plain language, and mainly, his conception of this outré story all contribute to a memorably rewarding whole.

Tengo Kawana and Masami Aomame were classmates in elementary school almost 25 years ago. Each must fight the effects of a toxic home life featuring strict, overbearing parents and the cult-like demands that are imposed in each household. As children they find each other alone in a classroom while everyone else is out playing in the schoolyard. Aomame, which is the name the little girl eventually goes by, grabs and holds Tengo’s — the little boy’s — hand briefly, tightly, and as it turns out, unforgettably. For the remainder of the book’s 1,000 pages, we try to learn whether they can find each other again after all these years and strange events.

This book covers themes of sexual abuse (not directly depicted); mainstream but debilitating religious cults; poor parenting, which manages to be both abusive and neglectful at the same time; love, done in a quirky and unique way; and how people are judged by their appearance. He sets these challenges before his characters, and one can tease out the author’s position on these issues by how the characters fare.

I didn’t object as much as some critics to the book’s length. Some felt too much of the book contained no events worth considering, but I thought the tame language, the plodding, matter-of-fact nuts and bolts of a detective’s investigation, were interesting, and made me comfortable, and appreciate the author’s point of view as I hadn’t before. The tension during this exposition comes from an ill-defined set of supernatural beings called the Little People, who threaten an ill-defined cataclysm should Aomame and Tengo escape back to the real world.

Overall, 1Q84 proves Murakami’s inventiveness, as though any further proof could ever be needed. He lulls his readers into a sense ease at times, even though he has established that virtually his entire novel depicts supernatural and impossible features. The “story within a story within a story” effect wilts a little as the long dry passages parch it and make it pale, but this is still a rewarding book. I don’t, however, recommend it as highly as Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, or Kafka on the Shore.

I have not read an opinion on whether 1Q84 makes any kind of statement or reference to George Orwell’s classic 1984. Orwell takes modern cult politics and shoves it through a prism to point out its cruelty and absurdity. This does not strike me as something that Murakami was trying to emulate, repeat, or interpret here. Someone with more time to treat it might be more able to address it fully.

https://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2024/09/1q84-by-haruki-murakami.html ( )

over and over and over and over... at least half of this book could have been done away with if the writer could remember he'd already said that... sometimes, in the paragraph (or even sentence) just prior.
Interesting story - but ... only really good if you're autistic and cannot remember what was just said. ( )

1Q84 brings us the clean writing style of Murakami entangled with a convoluted love story in interdimensional realities. The book has very noticeable ups and downs and those downs may put the reader off. If they don’t, prepare for a long read enriched with all imaginable literary genres: love, fantasy, horror, spionage, pop culture and murder. The stew is seasoned with sophisticated killings, a pinch of LGBT and BDSM fantasies (in the same and in separated fantasies), Lolita complex and pedophilia. Three or four spoonfuls of tormented family relationships (one for each character), two big chunks of religious conspiracies and being Murakami the Chef of this, music, literature and exercise liberally sprinkled all through.
I understand why the book can be disappointing to some. I myself love Murakami’s stories. When I open his books, I expect a clean preparation of some, just a few, ingredients, masterfully rendered together. I expect this:


But in 1q84, what we have is a pot of anything and everything available in the kitchen. You got this:



I guess it was up to the skills of Murakami to get something out of this. And to me, it came out really tasty, but with its too-bland and too-greasy moments.

Reading 1Q84 reminded me very much to running a marathon. Murakami is an avid long distance runner, as I am. I wondered many times if he had not artistically put the pace and feelings of the long run into the novel.
Like the marathon, 1Q84 starts slowly. Holding the pace. The first 10k… I mean… the first 200 pages, are just to get into it. Then, you increase pace but aware that you need to keep your energy… At this moment, your only goal is to get to 21K (or half of the story), where the most interesting things happen. You perceive every detail with an enlightened conscience; the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the extraordinary is ordinary. You are completely into it and nothing can stop you.
And suddenly, all that energy reserves you thought you had, those you were saving for the last half, vanish. The joy starts fading away and you start doubting yourself… Will you be able to do it? The marks (or chapters) start feeling longer and longer, like five times longer than usual… And you start fighting with yourself to keep going. The things, big and little, which you enjoyed in the first half become repetitive and dull and at about three quarters into it, you hit the wall.
After a while, you take the book again, and recover the rhythm. Sure, it is not as enjoyable as the first part, but it has a je ne sais quoi. Yes. You can understand it. And it is actually good. You start getting into it again and as the finish line approaches, you find yourself rushing to it with a smile in your face.
And you are done. And the feeling is fantastic. And you remember fondly each part of it, even the most painful or the most boring, because they make sense now.

Two metaphors: one about food, and one about sports. I think they transmit my feelings about the book. 1Q84 is very good. It lacks the smooth lacquer polish of [b:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle|11275|The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle|Haruki Murakami|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327872639s/11275.jpg|2531376] or [b:Kafka on the Shore|4929|Kafka on the Shore|Haruki Murakami|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429638085s/4929.jpg|6191072]. I have to assume that it was a stylistic decision in order to make the characters more human and more committed than the epoche state of the protagonists in Murakami’s other novels. I also think that with a heavy scissored editing 1Q84 would have been raised to be a literary masterpiece. As published, it is a great book albeit difficult to recommend. I understand that it is not for everybody in substance or form.
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Fascinating, but flawed by its length and repetitiveness. ( )