Description
An ode to George Orwell's "1984" told in alternating male and female voices relates the stories of Aomame, an assassin for a secret organization who discovers that she has been transported to an alternate reality, and Tengo, a mathematics lecturer and novice writer.
Series
Collection
Publication
Vintage (2012), Edition: Combined, 1328 pages
Pages
1328
Media reviews
Murakami name-drops George Orwell's laugh-riot 1984 several times. Both books deal with the concept of manipulated realities. And while Murakami's book is more than three times as long, it's also more fun to read.
As always, the experience is a bit like watching a Hollywood-influenced Japanese movie in a version that’s been dubbed by American actors. This time, sad to say, it also reminded me of stretches of the second season of Twin Peaks: familiar characters do familiar things, with the expected measure
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of weirdness, but David Lynch has squabbled with the network and left the show. Show Less
I finished 1Q84 feeling that its spiritual project was heroic and beautiful, that its central conflict involved a pitched battle between realism and unrealism (while being scrupulously fair to both sides), and that, in our own somewhat unreal times, younger readers, unlike me, would have no trouble
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at all believing in the existence of Little People and replicants. What they may have trouble with is the novel’s absolute faith in the transformative power of love. Show Less
One of the many longueurs in Haruki Murakami’s stupefying new novel, “1Q84,” sends the book’s heroine, a slender assassin named Aomame, into hiding. To sustain her through this period of isolation she is given an apartment, groceries and the entirety of Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of
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Things Past.”
For pity’s sake, if you have that kind of spare time, follow her lead. Aomame has the chance to read a book that is long and demanding but well worth the effort. The very thought of Aomame’s situation will pain anyone stuck in the quicksand of “1Q84.” You, sucker, will wade through nearly 1,000 uneventful pages while discovering a Tokyo that has two moons and is controlled by creatures that emerge from the mouth of a dead goat. These creatures are called Little People. They are supposed to be very wise, even though the smartest thing they ever say is “Ho ho.” Show Less
1Q84 is psychologically unconvincing and morally unsavory, full of lacunas and loose ends, stuffed to the gills with everything but the kitchen sink and a coherent story. By every standard metric, it is gravely flawed. But, I admit, standard metrics are difficult to apply to Murakami. It's tempting
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to write that out of five stars, I'd give this book two moons. Show Less
Over 900 pages ..., it’s an enormously readable (if oppressively slow) novel that offers a narrative experience few other authors could achieve. But it is also a depressing, dark, morally questionable book that suggests the author has lost his way.
...
And when, after 900 pages of crepuscular
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sex scenes alternated with sentimental thoughts about adolescent sexuality, the novel turns out to be a shaggy dog story, it no longer seems a guilty pleasure but instead a tremendous waste of the reader’s time. Show Less
Even at a daunting 932 pages, Japanese cult superstar Haruki ÂMurakami's breathlessly awaited 1Q84 is one of those books that Âdisappear in your hands, pulling you into its mysteries with such speed and skill that you don't even notice as the hours tick by and the mountain of pages quietly
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shrinks. Show Less
You could say that the units with which he builds his fiction aren’t words and sentences but emblems and actions, storytelling elements that are, if not pre-literary, then extra-literary. Sanding off the surface texture of the language only makes the lines of this underlying structure more
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visible and immediate. Translation is at the center of what Murakami does; not a translation from one tongue to another, but the translation of an inner world into this, the outer one. Very few writers speak the truths of that secret, inner universe more fluently. Show Less
"1Q84" is a big, sprawling novel, a shaggy dog story to be sure, but it achieves what is perhaps the primary function of literature: to reimagine, to reframe, the world.
[The professional reviews show there is] no consensus, opinions all over the place.
Do Murakami's stories themselves make people feel as if their lives have some meaning? Some critics are unsure what to make of him, the prejudice being that a writer who is so popular, particularly among young people, cannot really be that good, even if he is now quoted at short odds each year to
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win the Nobel prize for literature. But Murakami's success speaks to a hunger for what he is doing that is unusual. Most characters in the modern commercial genre called "literary fiction" take for granted a certain unexamined metaphysics and worry exclusively about the higher-level complexities of circumstance and relationships. Throughout Murakami's oeuvre, on the other hand, his characters never cease to express their bafflement about the nature of time, or change, or consciousness, or moral choice, or the simple fact of finding themselves alive, in this world or another. In this sense, Murakami's heroes and heroines are all philosophers. It is natural, then, that his work should enchant younger readers, to whom the problems of being are still fresh, as well as others who never grew out of such puzzlements – that his books should seem an outstretched hand of sympathy to anyone who feels that they too have been tossed, without their permission, into a labyrinth. Show Less
There’s no question about the sheer enjoyability of this gigantic novel, both as an eerie thriller and as a moving love story.
User reviews
LibraryThing member cameling
Taking a short cut to avoid being late for an important appointment, Aomame, a young woman, discovers that she has somehow entered an alternate universe. Her special skills are called into play which, unknown to her, changes her life in ways she never expected.
And she notices 2 moons in the sky one
A young math teacher with ambitions to be a writer enters into a clandestine arrangement with a young girl, the author of a fantastical novel, and an editor, to rewrite her novel before it's submitted to the magazine for consideration for a new writer's competition. The novel takes the first prize and therein sets things in motion with the Little People.
And he notices 2 moons in the sky one night.
Told in 2 narratives, we follow the progress, adventures and trepidation of these 2 individuals as they try to understand this world they're in, where the unbelievable becomes believable, and where everything started with a dead blind goat.
Murakami's genius shines in this wonderfully gripping tale.
And she notices 2 moons in the sky one
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night.A young math teacher with ambitions to be a writer enters into a clandestine arrangement with a young girl, the author of a fantastical novel, and an editor, to rewrite her novel before it's submitted to the magazine for consideration for a new writer's competition. The novel takes the first prize and therein sets things in motion with the Little People.
And he notices 2 moons in the sky one night.
Told in 2 narratives, we follow the progress, adventures and trepidation of these 2 individuals as they try to understand this world they're in, where the unbelievable becomes believable, and where everything started with a dead blind goat.
Murakami's genius shines in this wonderfully gripping tale.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Crazymamie
This was my first Murakami. It won't be my last. You need time for this one, and also imagination, and perhaps a love of the bizarre. It is chock full of literary, music, and film references that add a depth and a richness to the tapestry that Murakami is creating by weaving together interesting
In the beginning we meet Aomame, the main female character, who is riding in a taxi that is about to be stuck in traffic on an elevated expressway. She cannot afford to be late to her destination, and so she takes the advice of the taxi driver: "You could take the subway to Shibuya from here, but you'd have to do something a little...extreme." He proceeds to tell her that she can use the turnout on the expressway to access a stairway that will take her down to street level and from there catch the subway. The driver's parting words to her are an omen to both Aomame and the reader: "...you're about to do something out of the ordinary....And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before....But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality."
Next we meet Tengo, who teaches math at a cram school by day and writes in his free time. He dreams of being a novelist. He loses his hold on 1984 when he agrees to rewrite a novella submitted by a young girl to help it win a literary prize. He knows that he should not become involved in what is sure to be a scandal if the truth gets out, but he cannot resist the lure of her story. It calls to him.
IQ84 is what? An alternate version of 1984? A parallel world? A twisted homage to George Orwell's 1984 that goes backwards in time instead of forward? Perhaps the book is best described by Murakami himself in the dialogue that he wrote for Aomame and Tamaru:
"Still reading Proust?"
"But not making much progress," Aomame replied. It was like an exchange of passwords.
"You don't like it?"
"It's not that. How should I put it-it's a story about a different place, somewhere totally unlike here....By a different place, I mean it's like reading a detailed report from a small planet light-years away from this world I'm living in. I can picture all the scenes described and understand them, It's described very vividly, minutely, even. But I can't connect the scenes in that book with where I am now. We are physically too far apart. I'll be reading it, and I find myself having to go back and reread the same passage over and over again....It's not boring, though," she said. "It's so detailed and beautifully written, and I feel like I can grasp the structure of that lonely little planet. But I can't seem to go forward. It's like I'm in a boat, paddling upstream. I row for a while, but then when I take a rest and am thinking about something, I find myself back where I started."
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characters, a surreal storyline, and imagery that is at times disturbing. Originally, I wasn't sure that I was going to like where this journey was taking me, but in the end the story delivered and left me knowing that I will pick this up again in the future to reread passages that I am still thinking about. I may have put the book down, but it hasn't let go of me.In the beginning we meet Aomame, the main female character, who is riding in a taxi that is about to be stuck in traffic on an elevated expressway. She cannot afford to be late to her destination, and so she takes the advice of the taxi driver: "You could take the subway to Shibuya from here, but you'd have to do something a little...extreme." He proceeds to tell her that she can use the turnout on the expressway to access a stairway that will take her down to street level and from there catch the subway. The driver's parting words to her are an omen to both Aomame and the reader: "...you're about to do something out of the ordinary....And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before....But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality."
Next we meet Tengo, who teaches math at a cram school by day and writes in his free time. He dreams of being a novelist. He loses his hold on 1984 when he agrees to rewrite a novella submitted by a young girl to help it win a literary prize. He knows that he should not become involved in what is sure to be a scandal if the truth gets out, but he cannot resist the lure of her story. It calls to him.
IQ84 is what? An alternate version of 1984? A parallel world? A twisted homage to George Orwell's 1984 that goes backwards in time instead of forward? Perhaps the book is best described by Murakami himself in the dialogue that he wrote for Aomame and Tamaru:
"Still reading Proust?"
"But not making much progress," Aomame replied. It was like an exchange of passwords.
"You don't like it?"
"It's not that. How should I put it-it's a story about a different place, somewhere totally unlike here....By a different place, I mean it's like reading a detailed report from a small planet light-years away from this world I'm living in. I can picture all the scenes described and understand them, It's described very vividly, minutely, even. But I can't connect the scenes in that book with where I am now. We are physically too far apart. I'll be reading it, and I find myself having to go back and reread the same passage over and over again....It's not boring, though," she said. "It's so detailed and beautifully written, and I feel like I can grasp the structure of that lonely little planet. But I can't seem to go forward. It's like I'm in a boat, paddling upstream. I row for a while, but then when I take a rest and am thinking about something, I find myself back where I started."
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LibraryThing member jolerie
Right. And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality. Page 9
To avoid an inconvenient
Tengo, a brilliant math prodigy discovers that his passion extends beyond formulas and equations to the realm of fiction. He has the talent, the technical skills, but lacking the platform to convey his creativity until a orchestrated encounter with teenage girl from a commune shares her fantastical story. Two moons.
Two moons in both worlds will connect Aomame and Tengo in unfathomable ways. Two moons will serve as the bridge between what can, what is, and what will be. It is up to these two seemly fated people to make that connection, to discover themselves through that journey, and possibly in the end, find one another.
Aomame summed it up best when she said, "It feels like I'm experiencing someone else's dream." From the moment, Aomame made the decision to take a different path, I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole that is Murakami's Wonderland. Certain things are just a bit off, a bit strange. And then some things are just down right wacky. 1Q84 is not a book that can be rushed, or speedily read through. Murakami's brilliance resides in his meticulous world building, his poetic phrasings, and his detailed characterizations. His book reads like well laid out chess game where there is a purpose and function to every aspect of his story, from the thematic "see through" book cover, to the alternating page numbers. He provides no easy answers, but pushes us, the readers to look beyond the surface, to dig deeper, and hopefully through that process, like Aomame and Tengo, we realize that it is only by losing ourselves that we are truly found.
To avoid an inconvenient
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traffic jam on the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway Number 3, Aomame, on the advice of the taxi driver, decides to take a detour down a set of emergency stairs, and that's when things got a bit strange. The world is subtly changed, so minute are the differences that at first she doesn't notice anything different until she looked up. Two moons. Tengo, a brilliant math prodigy discovers that his passion extends beyond formulas and equations to the realm of fiction. He has the talent, the technical skills, but lacking the platform to convey his creativity until a orchestrated encounter with teenage girl from a commune shares her fantastical story. Two moons.
Two moons in both worlds will connect Aomame and Tengo in unfathomable ways. Two moons will serve as the bridge between what can, what is, and what will be. It is up to these two seemly fated people to make that connection, to discover themselves through that journey, and possibly in the end, find one another.
Aomame summed it up best when she said, "It feels like I'm experiencing someone else's dream." From the moment, Aomame made the decision to take a different path, I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole that is Murakami's Wonderland. Certain things are just a bit off, a bit strange. And then some things are just down right wacky. 1Q84 is not a book that can be rushed, or speedily read through. Murakami's brilliance resides in his meticulous world building, his poetic phrasings, and his detailed characterizations. His book reads like well laid out chess game where there is a purpose and function to every aspect of his story, from the thematic "see through" book cover, to the alternating page numbers. He provides no easy answers, but pushes us, the readers to look beyond the surface, to dig deeper, and hopefully through that process, like Aomame and Tengo, we realize that it is only by losing ourselves that we are truly found.
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LibraryThing member msf59
“It’s a Barnum and Bailey world,
Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believe in me…”
Okay, we begin in Tokyo, 1984. A taxi ride on a busy expressway. A young woman named Aomame, climbs out of the vehicle, walks the narrow shoulder and descends an emergency set
Now, we meet Tengo, a quiet aspiring young writer and math teacher. He is asked to take on a ghost-writing project, which leads him into a few dark mysterious corners.
The parallel paths of this couple, is our journey, twisting through a labyrinth of magic, suspense, sex and murder, where both worlds and both young lives are on a fated collision course.
This is not always an easy read. In the usual Murakami fashion, it is filled with the most mundane details but the author’s unique narrative style, is almost hypnotic as it pulls the reader along for a thousand pages, ending in a very satisfactory manner.
Fans of Murakami should be pleased. Newcomers might want to stay off that emergency set of stairs and start one of his earlier novels instead.
Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believe in me…”
Okay, we begin in Tokyo, 1984. A taxi ride on a busy expressway. A young woman named Aomame, climbs out of the vehicle, walks the narrow shoulder and descends an emergency set
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of stairs. She has now entered 1Q84. An alternate world, where things look the same but on second glance, are not. Here, two moons hang in the sky.Now, we meet Tengo, a quiet aspiring young writer and math teacher. He is asked to take on a ghost-writing project, which leads him into a few dark mysterious corners.
The parallel paths of this couple, is our journey, twisting through a labyrinth of magic, suspense, sex and murder, where both worlds and both young lives are on a fated collision course.
This is not always an easy read. In the usual Murakami fashion, it is filled with the most mundane details but the author’s unique narrative style, is almost hypnotic as it pulls the reader along for a thousand pages, ending in a very satisfactory manner.
Fans of Murakami should be pleased. Newcomers might want to stay off that emergency set of stairs and start one of his earlier novels instead.
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LibraryThing member suetu
“If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.”
If you strip away everything else, at its heart, 1Q84 is a love story. But there’s quite a lot to the “everything else.” Haruki Murakami’s epic novel is the story of Aomame and Tengo,
Aomame narrates first. She’s a young professional stuck in the back of a cab. She’s hopelessly mired in traffic and concerned about being late for a meeting. Her driver proposes a way she could make it that might be a little “extreme.” Aomame follows his suggestion, and before she departs the cab, he reminds her, “things are not what they seem.” Aomame does not know it yet, but she has just gone down the rabbit hole.
In the second chapter, we are introduced to Tengo. Tengo teaches math by day. “What do I like about math? Math is like water. It has a lot of difficult theories, of course, but its basic logic is very simple. Just as water flows from high to low over the shortest possible distance, figures can only flow in one direction. You just have to keep your eye on them for the route to reveal itself. That’s all it takes. You don’t have to do a thing. Just concentrate your attention and keep your eyes open, and the figures make everything clear to you. In this whole, wide world, the only thing that treats me so kindly is math.” That’s Tengo in a nutshell. He’s a straight forward, honest guy. As we meet him, he’s discussing literary fraud, because by night he writes fiction. Fraud is the sort of thing Tengo would prefer to avoid, but he’s just received an offer he can’t refuse. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s just gone down the rabbit hole.
In the third chapter, we learn more about Aomame’s “meeting” and discover that everything we thought we knew about her is wrong. It’s the first of many times that author Murakami shows who’s really holding the cards in this unfolding story. Now clearly, I can’t summarize nearly 1,000 pages of complex, strange, fantastic fiction. Gradually, both Aomame and Tengo realize that their world has altered, although they are not sure how many other people have noticed. Aomame believes she has left her present in 1984 and entered the world of 1Q84. She posits, “At some point in time, the world I knew either vanished or withdrew, and another world came to take its place. Like the switching of a track.” Later on, Tengo adds, “The boundary between the real world and the imaginary one has grown obscure.” It seems a fictional world that he helped create has become their reality.
1Q84 has been called an homage to Orwell’s 1984, and there are several references to the work: “George Orwell introduced the dictator Big Brother in his novel 1984, as I’m sure you know. The book was an allegorical treatment of Stalinism, of course. And ever since then, the term ‘Big Brother’ has functioned as a social icon. That was Orwell’s great accomplishment. But now in the real year 1984, Big Brother is all too famous and all too obvious. If Big Brother were to appear before us now, we’d point to him and say, ‘Watch out! He’s Big Brother!’ There’s no longer a place for a Big Brother in this real world of ours. Instead, these so-called Little People have come on the scene. Interesting verbal contrast, don’t you think?”
Who those Little People are, you’ll have to discover for yourself. They are one of the many, many mysteries of this dense novel. There is so much going on within these pages on so many levels. Despite its length, the novel is quite accessible. The plot is engaging, suspenseful, and emotionally satisfying. It’ll keep you turning the pages. The characters are… They are so many things: idiosyncratic, erudite, isolated, intriguing. The language is gorgeous. I quoted heavily from the novel in this review for the simple pleasure of sharing Murakami’s words. They’re a joy to read. (Although, there were a few instances of textual redundancy that seemed slightly strange to me, and I wonder if it is an artifact of the novel having been published in three separate volumes in Japan?)
Having read this novel in a marathon week-long session, I have a great appreciation for Murakami’s achievement. And yet, I feel that having now gotten the complete picture, I would be well-served starting over at the beginning. There’s more to be discovered. And I wonder if I wouldn’t feel that way after any number of readings. There is beauty and fantasy and all kinds of social commentary, but in the end I return to where I began. It’s a romance. And as Aomame says, “I did have one person I fell in love with. It happened when I was ten. I held his hand.”
If you strip away everything else, at its heart, 1Q84 is a love story. But there’s quite a lot to the “everything else.” Haruki Murakami’s epic novel is the story of Aomame and Tengo,
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and the first two-thirds of the novel are told in chapters alternating between the viewpoints of the two. (In the last third, a new character and POV are added to the mix.)Aomame narrates first. She’s a young professional stuck in the back of a cab. She’s hopelessly mired in traffic and concerned about being late for a meeting. Her driver proposes a way she could make it that might be a little “extreme.” Aomame follows his suggestion, and before she departs the cab, he reminds her, “things are not what they seem.” Aomame does not know it yet, but she has just gone down the rabbit hole.
In the second chapter, we are introduced to Tengo. Tengo teaches math by day. “What do I like about math? Math is like water. It has a lot of difficult theories, of course, but its basic logic is very simple. Just as water flows from high to low over the shortest possible distance, figures can only flow in one direction. You just have to keep your eye on them for the route to reveal itself. That’s all it takes. You don’t have to do a thing. Just concentrate your attention and keep your eyes open, and the figures make everything clear to you. In this whole, wide world, the only thing that treats me so kindly is math.” That’s Tengo in a nutshell. He’s a straight forward, honest guy. As we meet him, he’s discussing literary fraud, because by night he writes fiction. Fraud is the sort of thing Tengo would prefer to avoid, but he’s just received an offer he can’t refuse. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s just gone down the rabbit hole.
In the third chapter, we learn more about Aomame’s “meeting” and discover that everything we thought we knew about her is wrong. It’s the first of many times that author Murakami shows who’s really holding the cards in this unfolding story. Now clearly, I can’t summarize nearly 1,000 pages of complex, strange, fantastic fiction. Gradually, both Aomame and Tengo realize that their world has altered, although they are not sure how many other people have noticed. Aomame believes she has left her present in 1984 and entered the world of 1Q84. She posits, “At some point in time, the world I knew either vanished or withdrew, and another world came to take its place. Like the switching of a track.” Later on, Tengo adds, “The boundary between the real world and the imaginary one has grown obscure.” It seems a fictional world that he helped create has become their reality.
1Q84 has been called an homage to Orwell’s 1984, and there are several references to the work: “George Orwell introduced the dictator Big Brother in his novel 1984, as I’m sure you know. The book was an allegorical treatment of Stalinism, of course. And ever since then, the term ‘Big Brother’ has functioned as a social icon. That was Orwell’s great accomplishment. But now in the real year 1984, Big Brother is all too famous and all too obvious. If Big Brother were to appear before us now, we’d point to him and say, ‘Watch out! He’s Big Brother!’ There’s no longer a place for a Big Brother in this real world of ours. Instead, these so-called Little People have come on the scene. Interesting verbal contrast, don’t you think?”
Who those Little People are, you’ll have to discover for yourself. They are one of the many, many mysteries of this dense novel. There is so much going on within these pages on so many levels. Despite its length, the novel is quite accessible. The plot is engaging, suspenseful, and emotionally satisfying. It’ll keep you turning the pages. The characters are… They are so many things: idiosyncratic, erudite, isolated, intriguing. The language is gorgeous. I quoted heavily from the novel in this review for the simple pleasure of sharing Murakami’s words. They’re a joy to read. (Although, there were a few instances of textual redundancy that seemed slightly strange to me, and I wonder if it is an artifact of the novel having been published in three separate volumes in Japan?)
Having read this novel in a marathon week-long session, I have a great appreciation for Murakami’s achievement. And yet, I feel that having now gotten the complete picture, I would be well-served starting over at the beginning. There’s more to be discovered. And I wonder if I wouldn’t feel that way after any number of readings. There is beauty and fantasy and all kinds of social commentary, but in the end I return to where I began. It’s a romance. And as Aomame says, “I did have one person I fell in love with. It happened when I was ten. I held his hand.”
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LibraryThing member DieFledermaus
Plot and Characters - Murakami is one of my favorite authors, but this is probably one of my least favorite of his books. That said, it’s still Murakami, so it was an addictive, interesting read. The narrative switches between two characters – Tengo and Aomame. As in Hard Boiled Wonderland,
Tengo has an ordinary job, but also some more-than-ordinary ambitions – he’s a good writer and wants to be a novelist. An editor friend of his convinces him to take on a risky assignment – rewriting a story by Fuka-Eri, a 17-year old girl. Both Tengo and his friend, Komatsu, agree that her story is oddly compelling but not technically proficient, so Tengo gives it the polish that allows the story to win a prize and land on the bestseller list. In doing this, Tengo becomes mixed up with the girl and her odd guardian, a dangerous religious cult, and various supernatural forces. Aomame’s job as an assassin also lands her into trouble. She works for an organization with money and power and thinks that her killings are just. Her life is uncluttered otherwise, though she struggles to maintain friendships due to past traumas. Aomame’s story starts when, to get to a job, she climbs down a maintenance ladder on the expressway and finds herself in a parallel world – one that is like ours but slightly off. There are a number of usual Murakami motifs – parallel worlds, precocious and odd teenage girls, ears, disappearing women etc.
The bad - Though many elements of the story were vintage Murakami, there were a lot more things that irritated me. First, it was too long. I don’t mind long books if the length seems justified. It did not seem that all the smaller twists, turns and side characters as well as a lot of waiting by various characters was required.
There was also too much repetition. The book was initially published as three separate volumes and some of the repetition was the kind that would jog readers’ memories about events in the previous volumes. However, various scenes would be recapitulated quite frequently when a quick allusion would suffice and I felt some of the more ordinary scenes had too much detail. In the book, Komatsu tells Tengo “When you introduce things that most readers have never seen before into a piece of fiction, you have to describe them with as much precision and in as much detail as possible. What you can eliminate from fiction is the description of things that most readers have seen.” but Murakami doesn’t stick to this consistently. In past Murakamis, I’ve enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the characters doing everyday things – shopping, cooking – as a contrast to the supernatural occurrences. Also, the mundane descriptions would establish the character’s ordinariness. However, with 900+ pages and many, many descriptions of shopping, walking, train trips and cooking – it was too much. Sometimes the repetition could even lead to bad writing/character problems. For example, Murakami couldn’t stop talking about breasts. Aomame and Tengo were constantly thinking about the breasts of various characters – Aomame’s own, Aomame’s friends’ breasts, Fuka-Eri’s breasts, Tengo’s girlfriend’s breasts. This made sense in some cases – Tengo thinking of his girlfriend, for example, since their relationship was mostly physical. However, when Aomame sadly remembers her friends who are now gone, she also imagines their breasts. What? Why wouldn’t she think about the good times and conversations they had or their personalities? It seemed very false. There were other examples, but it generally made me think a good editor would have helped.
The writing could be flat and too-expositional at times. Some of this would be the same as repetition irritation – characters doing an infodump, often an infodump the reader already knows about. Also, besides too many breasts, the sex scene that got a nomination for worst of the year was pretty bad. I didn’t even like that relationship moving to sex and later attempts to downplay it did not help.
The main love story didn’t really catch me the way previous ones did. I didn’t think the character’s interactions justified treating the relationship as though they were soulmates. Usually I’ve like a lot of good normal and quirky interactions that lead to love despite – or perhaps because of – the oddness surrounding the pair, but there was none of that here.
I didn’t love all the magic realist plot parts, but went along with it. There were enough surprisingly creepy ones to not be annoyed about it.
The good – the usual Murakami mood of things being “off” or the menacing amorphous atmosphere. The first book was so compelling and immediately established two interesting parallel plotlines. Aomame’s inquiries into the new world and Tengo’s hesitations as weirder things happen in his ghostwriting project create a wonderful tension that definitely kept me reading. At the same time, descriptions their ordinary lives build a sense of isolation. This continued in the second half but about halfway through, my interest flagged. I enjoyed the detective/noir feel of the third – more isolation also – but there was a good deal of repetition there also.
There was a metafictional element that was interesting. Fuka-Eri’s novel is seen as fantasy at first, but gradually the characters wonder if it’s all true. In writing the book, Tengo begins to affect the real world – or is it the real world? Some of the menacing supernatural events are centered around the book and I enjoy a good book-related conspiracy. One wonders if Tengo’s in-progress novel, set in the world of Fuka-Eri’s story, is the novel you’re reading right now.
Murakami’s character descriptions are fascinating. Side characters have their own lives and backgrounds as well as their own encounters with the uncanny. Sometimes I was hoping certain people would play a larger part in the book (Fuka-Eri’s guardian for example). Tragedies and incidents in the characters’ past helped define them and weren’t just there to fit into the plot later. For example, Tamaru, a man who works with Aomame, and Ushikawa, an investigator for the cult, play functional roles in the plot and could have been flat characters - but are given their own side stories and descriptions and ruminations on the past. Tengo’s friend Komatsu and Aomame’s employer, a wealthy older woman, also are well-developed.
The writing, despite some bad parts, still had Murakami’s gleaming descriptions which would make you read them twice, then think – hadn’t thought of it that way before.
Muramki doesn’t wrap things neatly up at the end, which I appreciated. Some of the past is never explained, but life moves on. I liked the ambiguity in the end and didn’t mind the loose ends. In some cases, various bits of information were given which would allow the reader to make up their own mind regarding interpretations of some of the events.
Allusions and Janacek - Also loved the constant mention of Janacek’s Sinfonietta as the song Aomame associates with her trip down the rabbit hole. Instead of Western pop music, as in previous books, there’s a focus on classical and jazz. Murakami also adds in many literary allusions – Aomame reads Proust while in hiding, Tengo quotes Chekov and compares his childhood to Dickens. As is mentioned once – all take place in the real world, but an unimaginable one to Aomame and Tengo, who are in a parallel world.
The fields of Bohemia, evoked in the Sinfonietta, seem pretty far away and Aomame mentions that the song was dedicated for a gymnasium opening but other than that there are not too many connections to the Janacek. I will quibble with Aomame’s characterization of the Sinfonietta. She wonders “How many people could recognize Janacek’s Sinfonietta after hearing just he first few bars? Probably somewhere between ‘very few’ and ‘almost none’”. No. The opening is VERY distinct – part of the first main theme which is repeated several times. The distinctive brass and percussion in Janacek’s inimitable style are very memorable. Yeah, it’s not that popular – but being memorable isn’t the same as being popular.
General opinion is that Janacek’s style is almost instantly recognizable for anyone who is even a bit familiar with his works. So I think Janacek is a not-bad fit for Murakami. Both have a highly original and recognizable style while not being experimental in off-putting ways (Janacek was not atonal, didn’t use any kind of serialism, electronic, weird instruments, John Cage-esque stunts; Murakami has recognizable plots and characters and his odd elements come from familiar fantasy, sci fi or magic realist genres). Janacek is well known for having pretty weird operas – some of them would be Murakami approved as they feature disappearing women, a man who travels to the moon and the 15th century, an ageless opera singer, talking animals, adultery and some shocking violence (baby killing, face cutting). A Janacek piece as the theme seems very appropriate.
I would recommend this one for Murakami enthusiasts, definitely not beginners.
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there is a relationship but it only gradually becomes clear. However, the relationship is more prosaic than the one between the two narrators in HBW. Tengo is a typical Murakami character – intelligent but ordinary 30/40ish man who is somewhat detached from life, in a relationship that precludes commitment, and who becomes embroiled in all sorts of fantastic happenings which he accepts with his normal straightforward attitude. Aomame is a different type, an isolated and cool but strongly emotive woman whose special skills enable her to act as an assassin.Tengo has an ordinary job, but also some more-than-ordinary ambitions – he’s a good writer and wants to be a novelist. An editor friend of his convinces him to take on a risky assignment – rewriting a story by Fuka-Eri, a 17-year old girl. Both Tengo and his friend, Komatsu, agree that her story is oddly compelling but not technically proficient, so Tengo gives it the polish that allows the story to win a prize and land on the bestseller list. In doing this, Tengo becomes mixed up with the girl and her odd guardian, a dangerous religious cult, and various supernatural forces. Aomame’s job as an assassin also lands her into trouble. She works for an organization with money and power and thinks that her killings are just. Her life is uncluttered otherwise, though she struggles to maintain friendships due to past traumas. Aomame’s story starts when, to get to a job, she climbs down a maintenance ladder on the expressway and finds herself in a parallel world – one that is like ours but slightly off. There are a number of usual Murakami motifs – parallel worlds, precocious and odd teenage girls, ears, disappearing women etc.
The bad - Though many elements of the story were vintage Murakami, there were a lot more things that irritated me. First, it was too long. I don’t mind long books if the length seems justified. It did not seem that all the smaller twists, turns and side characters as well as a lot of waiting by various characters was required.
There was also too much repetition. The book was initially published as three separate volumes and some of the repetition was the kind that would jog readers’ memories about events in the previous volumes. However, various scenes would be recapitulated quite frequently when a quick allusion would suffice and I felt some of the more ordinary scenes had too much detail. In the book, Komatsu tells Tengo “When you introduce things that most readers have never seen before into a piece of fiction, you have to describe them with as much precision and in as much detail as possible. What you can eliminate from fiction is the description of things that most readers have seen.” but Murakami doesn’t stick to this consistently. In past Murakamis, I’ve enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the characters doing everyday things – shopping, cooking – as a contrast to the supernatural occurrences. Also, the mundane descriptions would establish the character’s ordinariness. However, with 900+ pages and many, many descriptions of shopping, walking, train trips and cooking – it was too much. Sometimes the repetition could even lead to bad writing/character problems. For example, Murakami couldn’t stop talking about breasts. Aomame and Tengo were constantly thinking about the breasts of various characters – Aomame’s own, Aomame’s friends’ breasts, Fuka-Eri’s breasts, Tengo’s girlfriend’s breasts. This made sense in some cases – Tengo thinking of his girlfriend, for example, since their relationship was mostly physical. However, when Aomame sadly remembers her friends who are now gone, she also imagines their breasts. What? Why wouldn’t she think about the good times and conversations they had or their personalities? It seemed very false. There were other examples, but it generally made me think a good editor would have helped.
The writing could be flat and too-expositional at times. Some of this would be the same as repetition irritation – characters doing an infodump, often an infodump the reader already knows about. Also, besides too many breasts, the sex scene that got a nomination for worst of the year was pretty bad. I didn’t even like that relationship moving to sex and later attempts to downplay it did not help.
The main love story didn’t really catch me the way previous ones did. I didn’t think the character’s interactions justified treating the relationship as though they were soulmates. Usually I’ve like a lot of good normal and quirky interactions that lead to love despite – or perhaps because of – the oddness surrounding the pair, but there was none of that here.
I didn’t love all the magic realist plot parts, but went along with it. There were enough surprisingly creepy ones to not be annoyed about it.
The good – the usual Murakami mood of things being “off” or the menacing amorphous atmosphere. The first book was so compelling and immediately established two interesting parallel plotlines. Aomame’s inquiries into the new world and Tengo’s hesitations as weirder things happen in his ghostwriting project create a wonderful tension that definitely kept me reading. At the same time, descriptions their ordinary lives build a sense of isolation. This continued in the second half but about halfway through, my interest flagged. I enjoyed the detective/noir feel of the third – more isolation also – but there was a good deal of repetition there also.
There was a metafictional element that was interesting. Fuka-Eri’s novel is seen as fantasy at first, but gradually the characters wonder if it’s all true. In writing the book, Tengo begins to affect the real world – or is it the real world? Some of the menacing supernatural events are centered around the book and I enjoy a good book-related conspiracy. One wonders if Tengo’s in-progress novel, set in the world of Fuka-Eri’s story, is the novel you’re reading right now.
Murakami’s character descriptions are fascinating. Side characters have their own lives and backgrounds as well as their own encounters with the uncanny. Sometimes I was hoping certain people would play a larger part in the book (Fuka-Eri’s guardian for example). Tragedies and incidents in the characters’ past helped define them and weren’t just there to fit into the plot later. For example, Tamaru, a man who works with Aomame, and Ushikawa, an investigator for the cult, play functional roles in the plot and could have been flat characters - but are given their own side stories and descriptions and ruminations on the past. Tengo’s friend Komatsu and Aomame’s employer, a wealthy older woman, also are well-developed.
The writing, despite some bad parts, still had Murakami’s gleaming descriptions which would make you read them twice, then think – hadn’t thought of it that way before.
Muramki doesn’t wrap things neatly up at the end, which I appreciated. Some of the past is never explained, but life moves on. I liked the ambiguity in the end and didn’t mind the loose ends. In some cases, various bits of information were given which would allow the reader to make up their own mind regarding interpretations of some of the events.
Allusions and Janacek - Also loved the constant mention of Janacek’s Sinfonietta as the song Aomame associates with her trip down the rabbit hole. Instead of Western pop music, as in previous books, there’s a focus on classical and jazz. Murakami also adds in many literary allusions – Aomame reads Proust while in hiding, Tengo quotes Chekov and compares his childhood to Dickens. As is mentioned once – all take place in the real world, but an unimaginable one to Aomame and Tengo, who are in a parallel world.
The fields of Bohemia, evoked in the Sinfonietta, seem pretty far away and Aomame mentions that the song was dedicated for a gymnasium opening but other than that there are not too many connections to the Janacek. I will quibble with Aomame’s characterization of the Sinfonietta. She wonders “How many people could recognize Janacek’s Sinfonietta after hearing just he first few bars? Probably somewhere between ‘very few’ and ‘almost none’”. No. The opening is VERY distinct – part of the first main theme which is repeated several times. The distinctive brass and percussion in Janacek’s inimitable style are very memorable. Yeah, it’s not that popular – but being memorable isn’t the same as being popular.
General opinion is that Janacek’s style is almost instantly recognizable for anyone who is even a bit familiar with his works. So I think Janacek is a not-bad fit for Murakami. Both have a highly original and recognizable style while not being experimental in off-putting ways (Janacek was not atonal, didn’t use any kind of serialism, electronic, weird instruments, John Cage-esque stunts; Murakami has recognizable plots and characters and his odd elements come from familiar fantasy, sci fi or magic realist genres). Janacek is well known for having pretty weird operas – some of them would be Murakami approved as they feature disappearing women, a man who travels to the moon and the 15th century, an ageless opera singer, talking animals, adultery and some shocking violence (baby killing, face cutting). A Janacek piece as the theme seems very appropriate.
I would recommend this one for Murakami enthusiasts, definitely not beginners.
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LibraryThing member williecostello
'1Q84' is bad. And not merely 'bad for Murakami, good for any other novelist' bad. It's just plain bad.
I say this as a devoted Murakami fan, someone who's read and liked all his other novels, and loved several of them. As such, I am none too happy to be so critical of this his most recent work. Yet
Let me start, however, with the good. At the very least, '1Q84' is definitely a Murakami novel, full of all those familiar Murakami tropes that his fans all love and have come to expect: that same male protagonist, a just-slightly-off (alternate?) universe, the ultra-particularist musical and literary allusions. In other words, '1Q84' still (and thankfully) has that signature Murakami feel to it, and if anything reads and flows better than any of his other works (though part of the credit here surely goes to his adept English translators). Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, '1Q84' sees Murakami in a deep process of reflexive engagement with the inner workings of his own brand of fiction. As I've always read him (and as this novel's titular allusion constantly reminds one), unlike Orwell, whose imagined 1984 is so obviously another world, an exaggerated reality that wears its symbolism on its sleeve, Murakami traffics in parallel universes that are nearly tangential to our own, where all possible meaning is left implicit at best. That is, Murakami's fiction doesn't transport its reader to some other place so much as it makes the reader's own world feel all the more surreal and illogical. This, I think, is the joy of reading Murakami, and in a certain sense '1Q84' is one long meditation on this theme.
Where '1Q84' falters is in how it artlessly handles this and its other motifs. Suddenly, for the first time I can remember in any of Murakami's works, everything is on the surface---all points of significance are now explicitly spelled out for the reader, walking her through every turn of the plot, as well as its interpretation. **Seriously, important passages of the book are literally repeated multiple times in bold** (lest the inattentive readers pass them over, I guess). This more than anything else is what ruined '1Q84' for me. Murakami's talent has always been his light touch, his willingness to leave things enigmatic and polysemous for the sake of mood. This novels removes all that, instead presenting a tedious series of "Did you see what I just did there"s---a sort of 'Murakami for Dummies', like having a Cole's Notes primer written into the very novel you're reading.
Yet '1Q84's faults extend beyond this main offence. In addition, as is obvious to anyone who so much as sees the book, this novel is *long*, which wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't also so slow-paced (and if so much of that space weren't taken up by needless thematic reiterations). The novel, I think, could've easily been condensed to one third its size and only been made the better for it. Furthermore, there's plenty to critique in the story's plot itself, which continually borders on sentimentality (though never, I think, quite crosses that line), feels in various ways unfocused (such as with its prolonged and seemingly aimless examination of Japanese organized religions), and even betrays subtle hints of sexism in its underwhelming portrayal of its femme fatale co-protagonist, as well as the novels' other female characters.
I know that somewhere under this mess is a good book: an intriguing meditation on the interplay between fiction and reality, a modern-day love epic, a touching story of father and son. '1Q84', however, is not that book.
I say this as a devoted Murakami fan, someone who's read and liked all his other novels, and loved several of them. As such, I am none too happy to be so critical of this his most recent work. Yet
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I say this also as someone who's just spent two months now slogging through a 925-page tome that continually disappointed, and in all the wrong ways. So I think some amount of aspersion is justified.Let me start, however, with the good. At the very least, '1Q84' is definitely a Murakami novel, full of all those familiar Murakami tropes that his fans all love and have come to expect: that same male protagonist, a just-slightly-off (alternate?) universe, the ultra-particularist musical and literary allusions. In other words, '1Q84' still (and thankfully) has that signature Murakami feel to it, and if anything reads and flows better than any of his other works (though part of the credit here surely goes to his adept English translators). Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, '1Q84' sees Murakami in a deep process of reflexive engagement with the inner workings of his own brand of fiction. As I've always read him (and as this novel's titular allusion constantly reminds one), unlike Orwell, whose imagined 1984 is so obviously another world, an exaggerated reality that wears its symbolism on its sleeve, Murakami traffics in parallel universes that are nearly tangential to our own, where all possible meaning is left implicit at best. That is, Murakami's fiction doesn't transport its reader to some other place so much as it makes the reader's own world feel all the more surreal and illogical. This, I think, is the joy of reading Murakami, and in a certain sense '1Q84' is one long meditation on this theme.
Where '1Q84' falters is in how it artlessly handles this and its other motifs. Suddenly, for the first time I can remember in any of Murakami's works, everything is on the surface---all points of significance are now explicitly spelled out for the reader, walking her through every turn of the plot, as well as its interpretation. **Seriously, important passages of the book are literally repeated multiple times in bold** (lest the inattentive readers pass them over, I guess). This more than anything else is what ruined '1Q84' for me. Murakami's talent has always been his light touch, his willingness to leave things enigmatic and polysemous for the sake of mood. This novels removes all that, instead presenting a tedious series of "Did you see what I just did there"s---a sort of 'Murakami for Dummies', like having a Cole's Notes primer written into the very novel you're reading.
Yet '1Q84's faults extend beyond this main offence. In addition, as is obvious to anyone who so much as sees the book, this novel is *long*, which wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't also so slow-paced (and if so much of that space weren't taken up by needless thematic reiterations). The novel, I think, could've easily been condensed to one third its size and only been made the better for it. Furthermore, there's plenty to critique in the story's plot itself, which continually borders on sentimentality (though never, I think, quite crosses that line), feels in various ways unfocused (such as with its prolonged and seemingly aimless examination of Japanese organized religions), and even betrays subtle hints of sexism in its underwhelming portrayal of its femme fatale co-protagonist, as well as the novels' other female characters.
I know that somewhere under this mess is a good book: an intriguing meditation on the interplay between fiction and reality, a modern-day love epic, a touching story of father and son. '1Q84', however, is not that book.
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LibraryThing member DRFP
Taken as a whole, and not just book three, I've found 1Q84 a big disappointment. In all honesty, it's just a bit boring. Even if the three books were edited down I don't think that would make the novel any more exciting; the core of the story is empty and dull.
The whole way through 1Q84 I just kept
But this time it all felt so hollow. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is very similar (on a simple level: average guy looking for his wife whilst strange things happen around him) but 1Q84 lacks the underlying darkness and vague menace that runs through TWUBC. Murakami does a very good job in TWUBC of highlighting some rather sinister undercurrents in Japanese society. 1Q84 is devoid of that. Sakigake or the Little People just never really felt like actual threats or forces that needed to be countered.
This left a gaping void in the story, which meant I experienced 1Q84 as a novel full of average characters doing very boring things. It didn't bore me when Mr Wind-Up Bird spent time in the bottom of a well but it DID bore me in this novel when Tengo or Aomane spent so much time doing not very much.
And their relationship / feelings were something I had a hard time buying into. I could accept it from Aomane's side but Tengo seems to wake-up about halfway through the novel and suddenly remember that he's had a life-long crush on his former class mate. Up until that point he's fine having his adulterous relationship and admiring Fuka-Eri (even if he says he doesn't feel any sexual feelings towards her). But suddenly that all changes in a flash. That undermined another central part of the story for me.
The prose in 1Q84 seemed unusually lifeless too. The usual sparkle was missing and in its place was a whole lot of repetition (Fuka-Eri conversations were a special bore). Oh, and there was a whole load of needless sex and large wads of Chekov dumped in the story too, all of which seemed thoroughly self-indulgent (though, yes, that criticism mostly applies to books one and two, and not three).
1Q84 isn't terrible but I struggled to finish book three and came away with very little love for the novel (by contrast I had to skim the end of Kafka on the Shore I was so bored with the book - so it's not THAT bad). Is it just me then? It's true my favourite Murakami novels (and I've read all his works) are his earlier ones (AWSC, HBW, DDD). After Dark was fine but it was also very slight. I'm feeling unconvinced by Murakami's latest offerings and 1Q84 was a big disappointment after the expectations I had. This might well be the last time I get one of his novels in hardback at launch.
The whole way through 1Q84 I just kept
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thinking that the book felt someone else trying their hardest to write a Murakami novel. The references to classical music and jazz, the bits devoted to food, the ear fetish, the surreal touches - all the boxes were being ticked off. Even the central premised was there - average 30 something male lead caught up in a whirlwind of confusion - classic Murakami.But this time it all felt so hollow. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is very similar (on a simple level: average guy looking for his wife whilst strange things happen around him) but 1Q84 lacks the underlying darkness and vague menace that runs through TWUBC. Murakami does a very good job in TWUBC of highlighting some rather sinister undercurrents in Japanese society. 1Q84 is devoid of that. Sakigake or the Little People just never really felt like actual threats or forces that needed to be countered.
This left a gaping void in the story, which meant I experienced 1Q84 as a novel full of average characters doing very boring things. It didn't bore me when Mr Wind-Up Bird spent time in the bottom of a well but it DID bore me in this novel when Tengo or Aomane spent so much time doing not very much.
And their relationship / feelings were something I had a hard time buying into. I could accept it from Aomane's side but Tengo seems to wake-up about halfway through the novel and suddenly remember that he's had a life-long crush on his former class mate. Up until that point he's fine having his adulterous relationship and admiring Fuka-Eri (even if he says he doesn't feel any sexual feelings towards her). But suddenly that all changes in a flash. That undermined another central part of the story for me.
The prose in 1Q84 seemed unusually lifeless too. The usual sparkle was missing and in its place was a whole lot of repetition (Fuka-Eri conversations were a special bore). Oh, and there was a whole load of needless sex and large wads of Chekov dumped in the story too, all of which seemed thoroughly self-indulgent (though, yes, that criticism mostly applies to books one and two, and not three).
1Q84 isn't terrible but I struggled to finish book three and came away with very little love for the novel (by contrast I had to skim the end of Kafka on the Shore I was so bored with the book - so it's not THAT bad). Is it just me then? It's true my favourite Murakami novels (and I've read all his works) are his earlier ones (AWSC, HBW, DDD). After Dark was fine but it was also very slight. I'm feeling unconvinced by Murakami's latest offerings and 1Q84 was a big disappointment after the expectations I had. This might well be the last time I get one of his novels in hardback at launch.
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LibraryThing member bragan
This is the second Murakami novel I've read -- after Kafka on the Shore -- and I have to say, I still don't quite understand the appeal. Kafka was at least kind of weirdly compelling for its strange, dreamlike, intriguing-if-not-exactly-satisfying plot. But, well, this one also has a strange,
Despite all that snarkiness, this isn't actually bad. There really is something at least somewhat interesting in its bizarre imagery. And Murakami's prose is clean and readable and flows along just fine from page to page. (Credit to his English translator for that, too, by the way. I think this reads better and more naturally than a lot of books in translation do.) Still, by the end I just kind of... needed it to be over. And that's never a particularly gratifying feeling to end a novel with.
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dreamlike, intriguing-if-not-exactly-satisfying plot -- featuring cults and mysterious tiny people and some kind of alternate world(?) with two moons in the sky, and a bunch of weird sex stuff -- but it kind of feels to me like the whole thing just gets muffled under the weight of so many unnecessary words that it can barely breathe. Because this thing is 1,157 pages, and while there may be novels that genuinely need 1,157 pages, this is absolutely not one of them. Hell, I can't help honestly, truly wondering if Murakami set himself the challenge of writing a novel that long and was just determined to make it happen by any means necessary. Which, in this case, involves things like frequent repetition of the same information or thoughts, and characters who make a habit of constantly repeating parts of whatever someone's just said to them. It's not quite an elementary school student writing "very, very, very, very, very" in order to hit a minimum word count on an assignment, but it sure brings that to mind, anyway. Also, he could probably have saved at least a hundred pages if he'd cut out all the obsessing over his characters' breasts, and I, for one, would have appreciated it.Despite all that snarkiness, this isn't actually bad. There really is something at least somewhat interesting in its bizarre imagery. And Murakami's prose is clean and readable and flows along just fine from page to page. (Credit to his English translator for that, too, by the way. I think this reads better and more naturally than a lot of books in translation do.) Still, by the end I just kind of... needed it to be over. And that's never a particularly gratifying feeling to end a novel with.
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LibraryThing member leo_depart
1Q84 is a grand endeavor, reaching from romance to mystery to crime to fantasy - well, your typical Murakami one could say. Weighing in at ~950 pages (or ~19300 locations, in my case) it is also dauntingly voluminous.
The book takes place in Tokyo 1984, hinting at and even citing George Orwell's
With a powerful beginning I was immediately drawn into the story: Great characters, amazing scenes with lots of parallel developments and meticulous intertwinings going on. I especially liked Aomame's "gateway" to 1Q84 - from a taxi through the emergency exit of the express way - as well as the description of her particularly brutal way to frown (!). I really enjoyed every single character, they were all well portrait with almost abysmal depths and both remarkable skills and handicaps. The little people are mystical beings who seem to have a strong but indirect power over 1Q84. They are beyond good and evil, evoke a passively threatening feeling but are portrait as comical, dwarf-like creatures - they even say "ho, ho".
There is a magic undercurrent throughout the book, a certain feeling of interconnectivity. Many symbols/concepts/actions appear throughout the individual stories slightly altered and lead to a feeling of synchronicity.
This all sounds pretty amazing, and it is, but unfortunately there is one major flaw and that is its sheer length. Murakami looses himself in annoying repetitions (almost as if he didn't remember he had already told something). On several occasions he explains things that would have been obvious to any conscious reader (especially when the plot gets more and more interlaced in the 3rd book), as if expecting his audience to be a bit on the slow side. He also seems to overuse sex scenes to keep his audience involved when there really isn't much going on for some time.
Nevertheless a great book, that would have been even greater if Murakami would have swung Occam's Razor just as effectively as Tengo did inside the novel.
The book takes place in Tokyo 1984, hinting at and even citing George Orwell's
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classic. The plot revolves around two main characters Tengo and Aomame, who, as children, had a substantial moment of intimate connection without being able to grasp it. They lost sight of each other but continued to cherish this moment (a simple touch of their hands) for 20 years. When Tengo starts to rewrite a mysterious story handed in for an award by the 17 year old Fuka-Eri and Aomame stealthily kills men for unpunished crimes against women they both are dragged into slightly shifted reality (1Q84), closely related to a religious clan (Sagikake) and the story (Air Chrysalis) which Tengo is rewriting. This world has two moons, an arcane and slightly comical force described as "the little people" and dualistic concepts of Perceiver/Receiver and Maza/Dohta as its fundamental logic. With a powerful beginning I was immediately drawn into the story: Great characters, amazing scenes with lots of parallel developments and meticulous intertwinings going on. I especially liked Aomame's "gateway" to 1Q84 - from a taxi through the emergency exit of the express way - as well as the description of her particularly brutal way to frown (!). I really enjoyed every single character, they were all well portrait with almost abysmal depths and both remarkable skills and handicaps. The little people are mystical beings who seem to have a strong but indirect power over 1Q84. They are beyond good and evil, evoke a passively threatening feeling but are portrait as comical, dwarf-like creatures - they even say "ho, ho".
There is a magic undercurrent throughout the book, a certain feeling of interconnectivity. Many symbols/concepts/actions appear throughout the individual stories slightly altered and lead to a feeling of synchronicity.
This all sounds pretty amazing, and it is, but unfortunately there is one major flaw and that is its sheer length. Murakami looses himself in annoying repetitions (almost as if he didn't remember he had already told something). On several occasions he explains things that would have been obvious to any conscious reader (especially when the plot gets more and more interlaced in the 3rd book), as if expecting his audience to be a bit on the slow side. He also seems to overuse sex scenes to keep his audience involved when there really isn't much going on for some time.
Nevertheless a great book, that would have been even greater if Murakami would have swung Occam's Razor just as effectively as Tengo did inside the novel.
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LibraryThing member moonglade
A very enjoyable book. Murakami blends a sort of Alice in Wonderland surrealism with a romantic narrative and even throws in elements of mystery and suspense. Some readers might point out the redundancy and the loose ends of the conclusion as faults in Murakami's story telling. In my view, however;
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Murakami is crafting a tale that mimics a dream and, as we all know, dreams are filled with recurring motifs and inexplicable, unsatisfying plots. Show Less
LibraryThing member figre
There is an amazing amount of description in this book about the food people eat – the decision what to have, the individual's preparation of the meal, the actual partaking of the food. I do not know if this is a particularly Japanese approach. If it is, then it falls on somewhat deaf ears for
First, when you pick up any book that is over 900 pages, the first thought is that, perhaps, a more scissor-happy editor might have been beneficial. (Are you listening George R.R. Martin? At least there are not seven books in the series with no idea when each will come out. But I digress.) There was a time or two when I found myself being pulled from the lush descriptions because they were becoming too much - going on just a little too long.
But second – and most importantly – I really don't care if there was too much. Readers of Murakami are used to this style. He weaves descriptions into the narrative in a way that makes us truly see the landscape, the instant, the action (the non-action) that is occurring. And it is this ability for him to wrap us in his special universe that makes him the great talent he is.
And bringing the reader into a special universe is very important for this story to work, because we are literally in a new universe – one with two moons and "fairies" and realities that are slightly skewed from our own.
The novel starts with Aomame stuck in traffic. She has an important appointment to keep – a meeting with a man she will kill with expertise, silence, and justification. (This plot point happens soon enough that I do not put this statement in the "spoiler" category.) She jumps out of the stalled cab – traffic immobile – to climb down a set of stairs that will lead down from the road to a subway which will get her where she needs to go much more quickly. However, as the cab driver says, "...after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little...But don't let appearances fool you. There's always one reality."
At the same time there is Tengo. He is a struggling author who is helping go through the editorial slush pile for entries to a writing contest. He has found a very strange piece that, while not completely ready, still gets his attention. He passes it on to the editor and, eventually gets involved in rewriting the piece – an involvement that entangles him with the strange young girl who is the author.
The paths of these two protagonists are followed as they become eventually entwined in a somewhat unlikely manner. And yet, with the full characterization of the many ...characters... who populate this novel, with the full descriptions of scenes and life, and with building of verisimilitude in a situation where you might not think it should exist, it all seems as likely as any of us taking a breath.
I have already mentioned the strength of Murakami's style. But let me support it one more time. Sitting on a slide watching a full moon, the voice of a non-existent fee collector, the private detective, waiting with a father at the home while he lives his last days – these are just some of the images I cannot escape, even if I wanted to.
Nine hundred plus pages – and all of it powerful.
At its heart, this is a love story. However, it is one of the stranger ones you will read. (And, again, if you have read Murakami, it is exactly as strange as you would expect.)
Perhaps more importantly, it is quite simply one of the best books I have read in a very long time.
Yeah – there is a lot of talk about food. However, just like with the holidays, I'm willing to put up with a few too many meals in order to enjoy the full experience.
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the American reader. But it does speak to two very important things about this book (and, when you really get down to it, Murakami's style.)First, when you pick up any book that is over 900 pages, the first thought is that, perhaps, a more scissor-happy editor might have been beneficial. (Are you listening George R.R. Martin? At least there are not seven books in the series with no idea when each will come out. But I digress.) There was a time or two when I found myself being pulled from the lush descriptions because they were becoming too much - going on just a little too long.
But second – and most importantly – I really don't care if there was too much. Readers of Murakami are used to this style. He weaves descriptions into the narrative in a way that makes us truly see the landscape, the instant, the action (the non-action) that is occurring. And it is this ability for him to wrap us in his special universe that makes him the great talent he is.
And bringing the reader into a special universe is very important for this story to work, because we are literally in a new universe – one with two moons and "fairies" and realities that are slightly skewed from our own.
The novel starts with Aomame stuck in traffic. She has an important appointment to keep – a meeting with a man she will kill with expertise, silence, and justification. (This plot point happens soon enough that I do not put this statement in the "spoiler" category.) She jumps out of the stalled cab – traffic immobile – to climb down a set of stairs that will lead down from the road to a subway which will get her where she needs to go much more quickly. However, as the cab driver says, "...after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little...But don't let appearances fool you. There's always one reality."
At the same time there is Tengo. He is a struggling author who is helping go through the editorial slush pile for entries to a writing contest. He has found a very strange piece that, while not completely ready, still gets his attention. He passes it on to the editor and, eventually gets involved in rewriting the piece – an involvement that entangles him with the strange young girl who is the author.
The paths of these two protagonists are followed as they become eventually entwined in a somewhat unlikely manner. And yet, with the full characterization of the many ...characters... who populate this novel, with the full descriptions of scenes and life, and with building of verisimilitude in a situation where you might not think it should exist, it all seems as likely as any of us taking a breath.
I have already mentioned the strength of Murakami's style. But let me support it one more time. Sitting on a slide watching a full moon, the voice of a non-existent fee collector, the private detective, waiting with a father at the home while he lives his last days – these are just some of the images I cannot escape, even if I wanted to.
Nine hundred plus pages – and all of it powerful.
At its heart, this is a love story. However, it is one of the stranger ones you will read. (And, again, if you have read Murakami, it is exactly as strange as you would expect.)
Perhaps more importantly, it is quite simply one of the best books I have read in a very long time.
Yeah – there is a lot of talk about food. However, just like with the holidays, I'm willing to put up with a few too many meals in order to enjoy the full experience.
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LibraryThing member deborahk
Loved it!! Sad that it's over, even though I'm still now sure what happened. The best part is lugging around that beautiful and gigantic book for weeks on end. I told my mate -- this is not a book, it's a lifestyle choice.
LibraryThing member Harvee
1Q84 starts out being a crime thriller, one of my favorite genres, and I was quite surprised by this. It then also became a love story and remained so till the end. In between, fantastical and magical things and people appear - the Smurf-like Little People, for one, and the Air Chrysalis - devices
Tengo and Aomame both enter an alternate reality, 1Q84, when Tengo rewrites a book, Air Chrysalis, written by a teenage author, and when Aomame climbs down a long metal staircase from one level of the expressway to the next. In this alternate world that declares itself by the two moons hanging in the sky, they try to find each other, though they had not seen each other since age 10 in third grade.
On another level, 1Q84 takes aim at religious cults, controlling Big Brother-like organizations, in which children are physically and mentally abused and their members restrained psychologically. The book also targets men in general who abuse women and children. In one sense, this book is also a novel about avenging and about revenge.
In such a long and complex book, there is bound to be a lot more to discuss. For instance, Murakami follows the idea that time does not flow in a straight line. In 1Q84, time twists around, reality shifts, and the past can sneak up unannounced behind you. These are just a very few of the interesting themes I found. Since I haven't read any other reviews of the book, wanting to get my own reactions first, I welcome discussion and your input!
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that almost seem like children's fantasies. But this is no book for children. There is explicit sex and calculated murder, but also sympathetic looks into the hearts and minds of some of the main characters. Tengo in particular, is a very likable mathematician turned writer, whose relationship with his dying father adds a touch of pathos to the novel. His search for his grammar school classmate, Aomame, and her search for him, is the love story that fuels the novel. Tengo and Aomame both enter an alternate reality, 1Q84, when Tengo rewrites a book, Air Chrysalis, written by a teenage author, and when Aomame climbs down a long metal staircase from one level of the expressway to the next. In this alternate world that declares itself by the two moons hanging in the sky, they try to find each other, though they had not seen each other since age 10 in third grade.
On another level, 1Q84 takes aim at religious cults, controlling Big Brother-like organizations, in which children are physically and mentally abused and their members restrained psychologically. The book also targets men in general who abuse women and children. In one sense, this book is also a novel about avenging and about revenge.
In such a long and complex book, there is bound to be a lot more to discuss. For instance, Murakami follows the idea that time does not flow in a straight line. In 1Q84, time twists around, reality shifts, and the past can sneak up unannounced behind you. These are just a very few of the interesting themes I found. Since I haven't read any other reviews of the book, wanting to get my own reactions first, I welcome discussion and your input!
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LibraryThing member MaowangVater
Aomame first realizes that something is strange after she gets out of a taxi stuck in traffic on the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway Number 3 in April 1984 and climbs down the emergency stairway several stories to National Highway 246. She’s in a hurry to get to an important assignment. When she
Having successfully completed her assignment Aomame reports to her employer and then checks with a friend about when police uniforms changed. She’s surprised to hear that it was in 1981, after a violent shoot-out with a radical religious cult. She has no memory of this, so she goes to the local public library to read about it. Along with the news reports of the gun battle she also reads President Reagan speech referring to the joint Soviet-American moon base. She knows this never happened and wonders if has somehow entered a parallel world, that she is no longer in the world she knew in 1984, but is now is someplace she decides to call 1Q84. “Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Later her suspicions are confirmed when she looks up and sees that there are two moons in the night sky.
In alternating chapters with Aomame’s story is that of Tengo, currently working as a mathematics teacher in a Tokyo cram school, and writing fiction on the side. Tengo is approached by an eccentric editor, a judge in a literary contest, with a startling proposition. The contest has received a novella by a high school student. As he describes it, “The overall plot is a fantasy but the descriptive detail is incredibly real. The balance between the two is excellent.” The story has “real power: it draws you in,” but the style is rough and clumsy. With the clumsy style the work would never win the prize, but if Tengo secretly rewrites it, the editor assures him, it could be a huge success, artistically and commercially, and he’d see that Tengo gets his share of the profits, if not the fame.
Reluctantly Tengo is persuaded to go along with this plan, and begins rewriting this strange fantasy about a small girl growing up in radical religious cult where Little People emerge from the mouth of a dead goat. It’s set in a world with two moons. Then slowly, steadily, and eerily Tengo’s story draws ever closer to Aomame’s.
Like his characters, Murakami writes a story of real power blending the techniques of magic realism, surrealism, and traditional fantasy. It draws the reader in and sustains interest and desire for over nine hundred pages as the author brings his two main characters slowly out of their separate isolation and together. It is an amazingly successful novel.
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reaches the bottom and crosses Route 246 she notices the strange thing: a policeman in an unusual uniform. Aomame watches policemen carefully. One of her regular assignments for her employer is to murder wife beaters, and she’s on her way to kill one now. Having successfully completed her assignment Aomame reports to her employer and then checks with a friend about when police uniforms changed. She’s surprised to hear that it was in 1981, after a violent shoot-out with a radical religious cult. She has no memory of this, so she goes to the local public library to read about it. Along with the news reports of the gun battle she also reads President Reagan speech referring to the joint Soviet-American moon base. She knows this never happened and wonders if has somehow entered a parallel world, that she is no longer in the world she knew in 1984, but is now is someplace she decides to call 1Q84. “Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Later her suspicions are confirmed when she looks up and sees that there are two moons in the night sky.
In alternating chapters with Aomame’s story is that of Tengo, currently working as a mathematics teacher in a Tokyo cram school, and writing fiction on the side. Tengo is approached by an eccentric editor, a judge in a literary contest, with a startling proposition. The contest has received a novella by a high school student. As he describes it, “The overall plot is a fantasy but the descriptive detail is incredibly real. The balance between the two is excellent.” The story has “real power: it draws you in,” but the style is rough and clumsy. With the clumsy style the work would never win the prize, but if Tengo secretly rewrites it, the editor assures him, it could be a huge success, artistically and commercially, and he’d see that Tengo gets his share of the profits, if not the fame.
Reluctantly Tengo is persuaded to go along with this plan, and begins rewriting this strange fantasy about a small girl growing up in radical religious cult where Little People emerge from the mouth of a dead goat. It’s set in a world with two moons. Then slowly, steadily, and eerily Tengo’s story draws ever closer to Aomame’s.
Like his characters, Murakami writes a story of real power blending the techniques of magic realism, surrealism, and traditional fantasy. It draws the reader in and sustains interest and desire for over nine hundred pages as the author brings his two main characters slowly out of their separate isolation and together. It is an amazingly successful novel.
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LibraryThing member shadowofthewind
Most of the time reading Murakami is like being led through a jungle, seeing amazing bizarre surreal sites that often lead nowhere. I’ve read two of his three major works (Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle). These books have strange and bizarre imagery that make no sense. A man who
In 1Q84, Murakami is more clear and determined to tell his story. He leaves just enough of the surreal to drive the plot, but not so much that he turns down blind alleys. There is always a point in his books where you are left with the feeling “get on with it already!” It’s a major part of his technique (especially in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle). It is a puzzle. Murakami drops piece after piece. The reader must put together a spinning three dimensional puzzle to unlock the secret inside…it’s a love story.
Aomame is an assassin stuck in traffic. She needs to make her hit on time and in order to do so, must do something out of the ordinary. She climbs down an emergency escape off the freeway and in doing so, climbs into another world. A world with two moons, little people, and Air Crysalis. She unknowingly pulls someone else with her. Tengo is a math teacher at a cram school. He is also an aspiring writer. His editor gives him the chance of a lifetime. Edit and re-write a very strange story by a 17 year-old girl. They are in the same world together pulled there by Aomame because of a connection long ago that has always stayed with them. Will they both be able to figure out that connection and cure the loneliness in their hearts?
The story takes place in 1984 and it’s assumed that there is some signficance with Orwell’s 1984. It’s hinted around a bit and used as a jumping off point for conversations, but it isn’t as important. What this story really is about is loneliness and true love. Each character emphasizes this reality. All Tengo’s father knows is being and NHK collector. He is cold. But Tengo’s heart is warmed that he kept something very precious for him, reminding him that he was loved. Aomame has meaningless one night stands in an attempt to feel something. She is also an assassin. It gives her this feeling of being disconnected, like an angel or god-like, but not human, not feeling. The dowager gives her some connection, but she feels the loneliness herself when Aomame is away. Almost as if she is drained of spirit.
Throughout the story are connections between Aomame and Tengo. Janacek’s Sonofietta, their backrounds, and other mysteries demonstrate the connection. This is the puzzle for the reader to solve. I was very annoyed at the start of Book 3 because t seems that Murakami slows the plot WAY down. He introduces another character for seemingly no purpose other than to slow things down. His secret is revealed at the end in an amazing way!
I will always remember the connection at the end. I will never look at a playground slide or the moon in the same way again.
When I finish a book like this, I really like to sit and remember it, not wanting to start something new. It’s almost like a mourning of the book, with the review as a eulogy. It’s something for me to remember long after I’ve moved on to other books. I think this one will stay with me for a while.
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talks to cats meets Colonel Saunders who skins cats alive and then eats them. In another, men are tortured to confess by being skinned alive. They are often long books and when starting one you never know where it will take you. Sometimes you feel lucky that you made it to the other side, forever changed. His characters are often lost, trying to find themselves or some sort of meaning to their life. The philosophy dispensed from past works stays with me always. I was excited when he was coming out with a new work, but when I realized it was a 1,000 page enigma I got the feeling that I was about to go to the bottom of the ocean and not come back up. In 1Q84, Murakami is more clear and determined to tell his story. He leaves just enough of the surreal to drive the plot, but not so much that he turns down blind alleys. There is always a point in his books where you are left with the feeling “get on with it already!” It’s a major part of his technique (especially in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle). It is a puzzle. Murakami drops piece after piece. The reader must put together a spinning three dimensional puzzle to unlock the secret inside…it’s a love story.
Aomame is an assassin stuck in traffic. She needs to make her hit on time and in order to do so, must do something out of the ordinary. She climbs down an emergency escape off the freeway and in doing so, climbs into another world. A world with two moons, little people, and Air Crysalis. She unknowingly pulls someone else with her. Tengo is a math teacher at a cram school. He is also an aspiring writer. His editor gives him the chance of a lifetime. Edit and re-write a very strange story by a 17 year-old girl. They are in the same world together pulled there by Aomame because of a connection long ago that has always stayed with them. Will they both be able to figure out that connection and cure the loneliness in their hearts?
The story takes place in 1984 and it’s assumed that there is some signficance with Orwell’s 1984. It’s hinted around a bit and used as a jumping off point for conversations, but it isn’t as important. What this story really is about is loneliness and true love. Each character emphasizes this reality. All Tengo’s father knows is being and NHK collector. He is cold. But Tengo’s heart is warmed that he kept something very precious for him, reminding him that he was loved. Aomame has meaningless one night stands in an attempt to feel something. She is also an assassin. It gives her this feeling of being disconnected, like an angel or god-like, but not human, not feeling. The dowager gives her some connection, but she feels the loneliness herself when Aomame is away. Almost as if she is drained of spirit.
Throughout the story are connections between Aomame and Tengo. Janacek’s Sonofietta, their backrounds, and other mysteries demonstrate the connection. This is the puzzle for the reader to solve. I was very annoyed at the start of Book 3 because t seems that Murakami slows the plot WAY down. He introduces another character for seemingly no purpose other than to slow things down. His secret is revealed at the end in an amazing way!
I will always remember the connection at the end. I will never look at a playground slide or the moon in the same way again.
When I finish a book like this, I really like to sit and remember it, not wanting to start something new. It’s almost like a mourning of the book, with the review as a eulogy. It’s something for me to remember long after I’ve moved on to other books. I think this one will stay with me for a while.
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LibraryThing member JohnnyPanic13
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
So when I try to mentally place a book reading experience along that spectrum from enjoyable to painful, one of the things I ponder is “would I recommend this book, and if so, to who?”
And when I start thinking back over this book, one of the first things I run into is
It’s not a bad book, though I did find myself pushing through large sections of it and even skimming entire chapters. When delving into a character's backstory the author had the tendency to repeat himself. And a lot of those deep dives into the the characters history and personality didn’t really play out in the course of the story. Its possible I missed something subtle and beautiful by doing so, but I start quickly skimming those passages whenever I got to them.
I don’t know how this was marketed over the rest of the world, but the copy I picked up had plenty of references to Orwell’s 1984 in the promotional blurbs. One little bit that bothered me was the phrase “...a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s…”
First, it’s not a dystopian novel. You would have to stretch that term pretty far to get it to fit this book. This book is pretty much the world of 1984 exactly. There are a few alterations, but none of them carry the book into the realm of “dystopia”.
Second other than the title and a couple mentions within the book, there are not many parallels to be drawn between this and Orwells 1984. I just looked over the little publicity blurbs on the book. There are 5 mentions of Orwell total. In the book there is one, maybe two references. But there are a lot of literary references in this book. That goes into the “things I enjoyed” category. Many times the characters referenced some other work and then went off on a little digression on it. I didn’t recognize all the works. But enjoyed it when I did. So the 1 or 2 “1984” references weren’t central.
It’s been a couple of years since I read 1984. But I’ve read it twice. I’m not an expert, but I remember most of the elements. There were not strong parallels.
Other things that bugged me.
The female characters. Yay for strong female characters who are touch with their sexuality. But that’s not what I got out of this book. Ladies, tell me if I’m wrong, but there were more random sexual urges that yanked the female characters out of the plot so they could satiate their cravings.
Male characters. SO so sooooo dull. None of the characters, male or female, evolved. They were the same in the end as they were in the beginning. The character of Ushikawa, introduced about ½ through the book, was the worst. I still don’t understand what purpose he played in the story. For a character that didn’t really move the story along in any meaningful way, a lot of time was spent delving into his personality. I’m always annoyed when the author tells you what you should think about a character. Ushikawa was a prime example. We are told so many times how capable and smart and tenacious he is. But none of it plays out in the story.
And oh lord the ending. No spoilers, but that was one of the worst endings I’ve read in a while.
And finally, the sexuality in the book bothered me. I’m not a prude. And I don’t have a problem with sex in a book, even if it’s graphic. As long as it’s got a place in the story. The sex in this book isn’t graphic. Well, not too graphic. But it’s just… weird. Not kinky. Weird.
For a book that references Chekhov's gun a handful of times, there are a lot of unnecessary elements in this novel.
For a book that I didn't enjoy that much, I’m not going to bother opening that discussion. But I’m curious if other people got that same sense. I’ll check the message board.
by Haruki Murakami
So when I try to mentally place a book reading experience along that spectrum from enjoyable to painful, one of the things I ponder is “would I recommend this book, and if so, to who?”
And when I start thinking back over this book, one of the first things I run into is
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that i wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone. I wouldn’t tell people to drop it and step away if they were caressing it in a bookstore. But I wouldn’t give them a knowing wink and say “ohhh… you’re gonna enjoy that one. ...if you know what I mean. *wink wink*”It’s not a bad book, though I did find myself pushing through large sections of it and even skimming entire chapters. When delving into a character's backstory the author had the tendency to repeat himself. And a lot of those deep dives into the the characters history and personality didn’t really play out in the course of the story. Its possible I missed something subtle and beautiful by doing so, but I start quickly skimming those passages whenever I got to them.
I don’t know how this was marketed over the rest of the world, but the copy I picked up had plenty of references to Orwell’s 1984 in the promotional blurbs. One little bit that bothered me was the phrase “...a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s…”
First, it’s not a dystopian novel. You would have to stretch that term pretty far to get it to fit this book. This book is pretty much the world of 1984 exactly. There are a few alterations, but none of them carry the book into the realm of “dystopia”.
Second other than the title and a couple mentions within the book, there are not many parallels to be drawn between this and Orwells 1984. I just looked over the little publicity blurbs on the book. There are 5 mentions of Orwell total. In the book there is one, maybe two references. But there are a lot of literary references in this book. That goes into the “things I enjoyed” category. Many times the characters referenced some other work and then went off on a little digression on it. I didn’t recognize all the works. But enjoyed it when I did. So the 1 or 2 “1984” references weren’t central.
It’s been a couple of years since I read 1984. But I’ve read it twice. I’m not an expert, but I remember most of the elements. There were not strong parallels.
Other things that bugged me.
The female characters. Yay for strong female characters who are touch with their sexuality. But that’s not what I got out of this book. Ladies, tell me if I’m wrong, but there were more random sexual urges that yanked the female characters out of the plot so they could satiate their cravings.
Male characters. SO so sooooo dull. None of the characters, male or female, evolved. They were the same in the end as they were in the beginning. The character of Ushikawa, introduced about ½ through the book, was the worst. I still don’t understand what purpose he played in the story. For a character that didn’t really move the story along in any meaningful way, a lot of time was spent delving into his personality. I’m always annoyed when the author tells you what you should think about a character. Ushikawa was a prime example. We are told so many times how capable and smart and tenacious he is. But none of it plays out in the story.
And oh lord the ending. No spoilers, but that was one of the worst endings I’ve read in a while.
And finally, the sexuality in the book bothered me. I’m not a prude. And I don’t have a problem with sex in a book, even if it’s graphic. As long as it’s got a place in the story. The sex in this book isn’t graphic. Well, not too graphic. But it’s just… weird. Not kinky. Weird.
For a book that references Chekhov's gun a handful of times, there are a lot of unnecessary elements in this novel.
For a book that I didn't enjoy that much, I’m not going to bother opening that discussion. But I’m curious if other people got that same sense. I’ll check the message board.
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LibraryThing member JolleyG
Even though this book was hard to put down, it still took me a few weeks to read all 925 pages. It has been said that the book might have been improved by some editing, since there are passages where the writing seems to ramble or is repetitive, but I couldn't decide whether or not that rambling
I am not going to go into the details of the plot, since there are plenty of reviews that have already done that, but I wanted to share some bits that I found of interest in the book.
One of the main features of the story is the double moon, which can only be seen by certain of the characters in the book - those who are living in 1Q84 and not 1984. And this is fine, however this double moon does not seem to go through the normal phases of the moon. Whenever the characters look up, the moons are always there, day after day, week after week. One time there was a mention of the moon being on the wane (towards the end of the book, naturally), but usually the double moon is always there whenever they go looking for it.
Murakami is a music aficionado, and I liked reading the book with my computer nearby so that I could find the music referenced and play it in the background as I read. I even found that obscure song by Ryu Sakamoto (the composer/singer of "Sukiyaki") entitled "Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi wo," which is only referenced in the book by a brief translated lyric. It wasn't one of Sakamoto's better songs, as hinted at in the book.
Murikami is also interested in food and its preparation. There are many detailed descriptions of what people are eating, and on pp. 362-363 there is even enough information that one could follow the instructions and prepare the dish oneself: shrimp stir-fry.
There is something in this book for lovers of philosophy too. Especially on pages 247-248, the heroine questions the meaning of life: "Did it benefit the genes in any way for us to lead such intricately warped, even bizarre lives?" And on p. 441 there is a discussion of truth and beliefs.
The book in general was a great read with good characters, easily visualized description, a fascinating plot, and mystery and suspense. However, those 925 pages build up quite a big expectation for a fabulous ending, and Murakami seems to lose impetus by the time he gets there. Aomame states that the only reason they had to go through all that goes before in the book is so that she and Tengo can meet? Is that all it was about??? Then why should I care? So the ending seems rather weak and anticlimactic. However, the book was divided into three numbered parts, so I found it curious that on page 926 there is simply a big number 4. Is that a hint of another book to come? Perhaps the book that Tengo is writing as the book ends?
Good writing isn't about ending a book well, necessarily, and I'm not such a fussy reader that I demand good endings. As long as the rest of the book satisfies (and it does) then I'm fine with it. I can imagine my own ending.
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and repetitiousness didn't serve some kind of purpose in setting the mood.I am not going to go into the details of the plot, since there are plenty of reviews that have already done that, but I wanted to share some bits that I found of interest in the book.
One of the main features of the story is the double moon, which can only be seen by certain of the characters in the book - those who are living in 1Q84 and not 1984. And this is fine, however this double moon does not seem to go through the normal phases of the moon. Whenever the characters look up, the moons are always there, day after day, week after week. One time there was a mention of the moon being on the wane (towards the end of the book, naturally), but usually the double moon is always there whenever they go looking for it.
Murakami is a music aficionado, and I liked reading the book with my computer nearby so that I could find the music referenced and play it in the background as I read. I even found that obscure song by Ryu Sakamoto (the composer/singer of "Sukiyaki") entitled "Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi wo," which is only referenced in the book by a brief translated lyric. It wasn't one of Sakamoto's better songs, as hinted at in the book.
Murikami is also interested in food and its preparation. There are many detailed descriptions of what people are eating, and on pp. 362-363 there is even enough information that one could follow the instructions and prepare the dish oneself: shrimp stir-fry.
There is something in this book for lovers of philosophy too. Especially on pages 247-248, the heroine questions the meaning of life: "Did it benefit the genes in any way for us to lead such intricately warped, even bizarre lives?" And on p. 441 there is a discussion of truth and beliefs.
The book in general was a great read with good characters, easily visualized description, a fascinating plot, and mystery and suspense. However, those 925 pages build up quite a big expectation for a fabulous ending, and Murakami seems to lose impetus by the time he gets there. Aomame states that the only reason they had to go through all that goes before in the book is so that she and Tengo can meet? Is that all it was about??? Then why should I care? So the ending seems rather weak and anticlimactic. However, the book was divided into three numbered parts, so I found it curious that on page 926 there is simply a big number 4. Is that a hint of another book to come? Perhaps the book that Tengo is writing as the book ends?
Good writing isn't about ending a book well, necessarily, and I'm not such a fussy reader that I demand good endings. As long as the rest of the book satisfies (and it does) then I'm fine with it. I can imagine my own ending.
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LibraryThing member JBarringer
If you like clumsily drawn anime with awkward, unnatural dialogue and very flat characters, telling the sort of story that includes lots of unnecessary details, 900 pages-worth of mostly unnecessary detail and deadly-dull repetition, you might like this book. A teenager writes a fantasy novella,
And the central story might even be a decent one, exciting and engaging and worth rereading, but very much like the novella in this novel, this novel is clumsily told, horribly paced, etc., and would have benefited from some serious revision.
But, some people love the tedious, primitive, classic anime that embodies all I most dislike in that film genre, so some people will also love this book, perhaps for all the reasons I found it dull and annoying.
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badly, and a publisher arranges to have a ghostwriter rework the story into decent prose. Then, the 'super-shady' bit, the novella is entered in a new-writers' contest as the teen's work, which in a way it still is. Ethical gray area, sure, but since it turns out the teen might be dyslexic and may have additional learning disorders, a ghost-writer might be seen as simply an adaptation to compensate for her disability and allow her to compete fairly in the writers' competition. For most of the book, the ghost-writer, Tengo, is constantly looking over his shoulder for some sort of publishing-world goon squad or something, which seem s a bit silly. Too many spoilers? Oh no. The bulk of the plot is a different plot-line altogether. And the central story might even be a decent one, exciting and engaging and worth rereading, but very much like the novella in this novel, this novel is clumsily told, horribly paced, etc., and would have benefited from some serious revision.
But, some people love the tedious, primitive, classic anime that embodies all I most dislike in that film genre, so some people will also love this book, perhaps for all the reasons I found it dull and annoying.
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LibraryThing member ljhliesl
All books are one book: the rubber plant in both this and Blue Castle. All books would be even more one book but that the detail has to be in common between the current book and another not more than two or three back. Also, Aomame likes hers but Valancy doesn't like the one she's responsible
---
I should maybe wait a few days for the venom to subside. Nah. I really liked Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Norwegian Wood. Now I'm afraid to approach Wild Sheep Chase. It wasn't high up the queue but now I've got to reset my Haruki Murakami meter and remember World and Wood more than this.
It started well and I am not afraid of a 1000-page book. Very early on, this passage warned me: "There was something about the [cab] driver's way of speaking that bothered her, as though he were leaving something important unsaid" (6). Okay, I thought, I'll pay attention to things unsaid. I was pleased to find out, without a spoiler, why the Q: the Japanese word for "nine" sounds like the phonetic letter Q, so 1Q84 should suggest a world (or time) slightly askew. That made sense. The characters showed up and established themselves and action built up and the book progressed well for its first few hundred pages. I figured "If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there's salvation in life. Even if you can't get together with that person" (192) was important if smarmy. "That's what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories" (293) is more my speed, and "What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past" (308).
By page 509, though, I had become impatient. "If she's so important to you, why have you never looked for her until today?" Good question, and one that lacks a decent answer, then or ever.
The detail began to annoy me because none of it led anywhere or contributed to anything. I'll always give the benefit of the doubt to a metaphor about a pebble in a shoe (526) because of Godspell's "By Your Side" (in which the pebble is called Dare) and Human League's Dare with the song "Open Your Heart." Sadly, the descriptions and sidelines began to feel like sand in my shoe, weighing me down. Unless you're making it yourself or your jacket restricts your ability to climb a tree or the color of your shirt illustrates your personality, for me to know your every stitch of clothing is unnecessary. I understood the translator's need to restate some foods for non-Japanese readers, but the foods of breakfast and the ingredients of dinner don't matter.
You can't have this much emphasis on a cabbie -- his music, his telling Aomame to watch for things out of whack -- and then give even a minor character a husband who drives a cab (809) and have that not mean anything. Unless, of course, you're packing your book with meaningless detail and putting a ballpoint pen in the minor character's hair at almost every mention.
Another couple of hundred pages and I had lost all patience. "Somehow, through a gap in the thunder and rain, the darkness and the murder, a special kind of passageway opened, through some logic I can't understand" (712). You're not the only one who can't understand the logic, lady.
Now I began to nitpick about grammar: was it this sloppy in the original? Clouds "scudded swiftly" (774) -- is it possibly to scud slowly? Do the Japanese have some way to meddle with as and like? There were more sentences in which Winston tasted good like a cigarette should than I could stomach. But hm, the time setting of 1984, the character Winston in 1984, my trying to explain the like/as confusion with a slogan from the '50s ... By golly, that does make a lot of sense!*
Someone recommends reading In Search of Lost Time. Because in 1Q84 you've lost 1984, get it? See? Here's a hammer, see? You're sure you get it? Although Murakami tells the reader exactly what layers a character is wearing and tells the reader that the character is wearing all these layers because it's cold out, he doesn't explain the recommender's joke about madeleines maybe having "a positive effect on the flow of time" (974). Maybe it's fair for Murakami to assume that his Western readers will get the reference, and even for his Japanese ones, but I think it's elitist.
Now I was impatient. Not only food detail but redundancy: "Then he went to a soba noodle shop and ordered a bowl of soba noodles with tempura" (763). "Ushikawa considered going to the discount electrical goods store in front of the station and buying an electric space heater or electric blanket" (769).
This bit did make me laugh: "Most of the daytime programs appealed to housewives and elderly listeners. The people who appeared on the programs told jokes that fell flat, pointlessly burst out laughing, gave their moronic, hackneyed opinions, and played music so awful you felt like covering your ears. Periodically they gave blaring sales pitches for products no one could possibly want" (764).
I couldn't decide if this passage suited this book or "Car Talk" better.
Murakami set this 2010 book in 1984 I think only because of 1984. No internet for research, no mobile phones for more direct communication, newspapers still viable, but it could have as easily been set up to the mid 1990s and he still could have worked the 9/Q pun into any of those years. Whatever. What makes no sense is an apartment building with only one door, no backdoor, no fire exit, and apartments without peepholes in their front doors. Not that I know anything about residential safety code in Japan now or 30 years ago.
Several elements are left hanging [spoiler alert]:
* This is from Bloom County when Milo and Opus go to spring Bill from a cult. A member explains the religion to Opus, who in his loveably open-minded way responds, "By golly, that does make a lot of sens-- " whereupon Milo hisses at him from the bushes to snap out of it. That, OMFB, is what I learned in college. (That strip ran when I was in high school but I read the books at UConn. A lot.)
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for.---
I should maybe wait a few days for the venom to subside. Nah. I really liked Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Norwegian Wood. Now I'm afraid to approach Wild Sheep Chase. It wasn't high up the queue but now I've got to reset my Haruki Murakami meter and remember World and Wood more than this.
It started well and I am not afraid of a 1000-page book. Very early on, this passage warned me: "There was something about the [cab] driver's way of speaking that bothered her, as though he were leaving something important unsaid" (6). Okay, I thought, I'll pay attention to things unsaid. I was pleased to find out, without a spoiler, why the Q: the Japanese word for "nine" sounds like the phonetic letter Q, so 1Q84 should suggest a world (or time) slightly askew. That made sense. The characters showed up and established themselves and action built up and the book progressed well for its first few hundred pages. I figured "If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there's salvation in life. Even if you can't get together with that person" (192) was important if smarmy. "That's what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories" (293) is more my speed, and "What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past" (308).
By page 509, though, I had become impatient. "If she's so important to you, why have you never looked for her until today?" Good question, and one that lacks a decent answer, then or ever.
The detail began to annoy me because none of it led anywhere or contributed to anything. I'll always give the benefit of the doubt to a metaphor about a pebble in a shoe (526) because of Godspell's "By Your Side" (in which the pebble is called Dare) and Human League's Dare with the song "Open Your Heart." Sadly, the descriptions and sidelines began to feel like sand in my shoe, weighing me down. Unless you're making it yourself or your jacket restricts your ability to climb a tree or the color of your shirt illustrates your personality, for me to know your every stitch of clothing is unnecessary. I understood the translator's need to restate some foods for non-Japanese readers, but the foods of breakfast and the ingredients of dinner don't matter.
You can't have this much emphasis on a cabbie -- his music, his telling Aomame to watch for things out of whack -- and then give even a minor character a husband who drives a cab (809) and have that not mean anything. Unless, of course, you're packing your book with meaningless detail and putting a ballpoint pen in the minor character's hair at almost every mention.
Another couple of hundred pages and I had lost all patience. "Somehow, through a gap in the thunder and rain, the darkness and the murder, a special kind of passageway opened, through some logic I can't understand" (712). You're not the only one who can't understand the logic, lady.
Now I began to nitpick about grammar: was it this sloppy in the original? Clouds "scudded swiftly" (774) -- is it possibly to scud slowly? Do the Japanese have some way to meddle with as and like? There were more sentences in which Winston tasted good like a cigarette should than I could stomach. But hm, the time setting of 1984, the character Winston in 1984, my trying to explain the like/as confusion with a slogan from the '50s ... By golly, that does make a lot of sense!*
Someone recommends reading In Search of Lost Time. Because in 1Q84 you've lost 1984, get it? See? Here's a hammer, see? You're sure you get it? Although Murakami tells the reader exactly what layers a character is wearing and tells the reader that the character is wearing all these layers because it's cold out, he doesn't explain the recommender's joke about madeleines maybe having "a positive effect on the flow of time" (974). Maybe it's fair for Murakami to assume that his Western readers will get the reference, and even for his Japanese ones, but I think it's elitist.
Now I was impatient. Not only food detail but redundancy: "Then he went to a soba noodle shop and ordered a bowl of soba noodles with tempura" (763). "Ushikawa considered going to the discount electrical goods store in front of the station and buying an electric space heater or electric blanket" (769).
This bit did make me laugh: "Most of the daytime programs appealed to housewives and elderly listeners. The people who appeared on the programs told jokes that fell flat, pointlessly burst out laughing, gave their moronic, hackneyed opinions, and played music so awful you felt like covering your ears. Periodically they gave blaring sales pitches for products no one could possibly want" (764).
I couldn't decide if this passage suited this book or "Car Talk" better.
Murakami set this 2010 book in 1984 I think only because of 1984. No internet for research, no mobile phones for more direct communication, newspapers still viable, but it could have as easily been set up to the mid 1990s and he still could have worked the 9/Q pun into any of those years. Whatever. What makes no sense is an apartment building with only one door, no backdoor, no fire exit, and apartments without peepholes in their front doors. Not that I know anything about residential safety code in Japan now or 30 years ago.
Several elements are left hanging [spoiler alert]:
- Fuka-Eri and Aomame are clearly the same person or the two parts of a whole as the Little People explain. That's how Tengo could impregnate Aomame. Does Fuka-Eri exist in the normal world?
- What happened to Kyoko Yasuda?
- How did Fuka-Eri know Ushikawa was surveilling?
- If Aomame and Tengo go up the stairway into 1984 and leave 1Q84 behind them, is Aomame still pregnant?
* This is from Bloom County when Milo and Opus go to spring Bill from a cult. A member explains the religion to Opus, who in his loveably open-minded way responds, "By golly, that does make a lot of sens-- " whereupon Milo hisses at him from the bushes to snap out of it. That, OMFB, is what I learned in college. (That strip ran when I was in high school but I read the books at UConn. A lot.)
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LibraryThing member DoingDewey
This book was so long and so strange that I’m not even sure where to start telling you what it was about, but I’ll do my best. The story involves two main characters and we alternate between their view points. Aomame is an assassin and Tengo is a writer. As the story progresses, they get pulled
Like my summary above, the synopsis I read before starting 1Q84 told me what the story was about but gave me no idea what the story was going to be like. I think the best genres labels to describe the book are “literary” and “magical realism”. The writing reminded me of both Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. Like Ray Bradbuy, Murakami shares strange and incredible things as though they’re normal. He also matches Bradbury’s ability to craft sentences so beautiful I just want to read them out loud. Like King, I felt a build up of a suspense through the many mundane details, a certainty that something wasn’t quite right below the surface. Since I like both King and Bradbury, I consider this high praise and well deserved. The writing was superb.
Although I can’t disagree with those who say 1Q84 was longer than it needed to be, I think I liked that about it. I loved the quotes from other stories that seem like the author’s way of telling you something about his story. I loved the beautiful descriptions of people and places and feelings, the incredibly apt analogies. I loved the way everything was interconnected. I loved the way hearing the most intimate thoughts and dreams and memories of the characters gives you a much deeper connection than you can usually get with fictional characters. And I loved that all the characters were so unique. What prevented this from being a five star review for me was the abruptness of the ending. There’s a lot of build up to one particular event, which passed by too quickly and left me with the feeling that this already-long novel still needed a sequel. I have, however, read several reviews that suggest this is not one of Murakami’s best works, so I’ll definitely be looking to read more by this author.
This review first published on Doing Dewey.
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closer and closer together by events that initially seemed unrelated but which turn out to have a deep connection. The book involves questions of destiny and pre-determination, parallel worlds and some surprising magical elements.Like my summary above, the synopsis I read before starting 1Q84 told me what the story was about but gave me no idea what the story was going to be like. I think the best genres labels to describe the book are “literary” and “magical realism”. The writing reminded me of both Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. Like Ray Bradbuy, Murakami shares strange and incredible things as though they’re normal. He also matches Bradbury’s ability to craft sentences so beautiful I just want to read them out loud. Like King, I felt a build up of a suspense through the many mundane details, a certainty that something wasn’t quite right below the surface. Since I like both King and Bradbury, I consider this high praise and well deserved. The writing was superb.
Although I can’t disagree with those who say 1Q84 was longer than it needed to be, I think I liked that about it. I loved the quotes from other stories that seem like the author’s way of telling you something about his story. I loved the beautiful descriptions of people and places and feelings, the incredibly apt analogies. I loved the way everything was interconnected. I loved the way hearing the most intimate thoughts and dreams and memories of the characters gives you a much deeper connection than you can usually get with fictional characters. And I loved that all the characters were so unique. What prevented this from being a five star review for me was the abruptness of the ending. There’s a lot of build up to one particular event, which passed by too quickly and left me with the feeling that this already-long novel still needed a sequel. I have, however, read several reviews that suggest this is not one of Murakami’s best works, so I’ll definitely be looking to read more by this author.
This review first published on Doing Dewey.
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LibraryThing member alluvia
After trying and failing to get into the much-acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, I took a risk on obtaining such a hefty Murakami novel, but I am SO glad that I did.
Unlike my prior experience, the Murakami "dreaminess" didn't float off into malaise or inaction. Instead, Murakami expertly kept that
I found myself cancelling things so I could read further, always a sign of an exceptional book. I failed to watch any television for at least a week while I stayed in the world of 1Q84.
Highly recommend and considering reading again.
Unlike my prior experience, the Murakami "dreaminess" didn't float off into malaise or inaction. Instead, Murakami expertly kept that
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sense of mystery and magic in a completely unexpected balance with a page-turning, exciting story and nitty-gritty, living breathing characters. These are characters who trip on things and leave a mess, but who also entertain complex and unexpected personal credos or dream singularly original dreams. I found myself cancelling things so I could read further, always a sign of an exceptional book. I failed to watch any television for at least a week while I stayed in the world of 1Q84.
Highly recommend and considering reading again.
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LibraryThing member marcelrochester
Bk 1: Yes I'm so right, yes (though the reveal isn't that hard to guess). Beautifully establishes a mood, setting, and characters. It feels like set up for more great things to come. Bk 2: This New Age-y ish is very Christopher Pike. It's also kinda like Christopher Pike trilogies in which there is
Book 3: Um the references to Proust are interesting because NOTHING EFFING happens in here. Our heroine mostly hides around and our hero mostly just writes and reads. Incredibly dull, and the writing doesn’t seem as good either…possibly due to a translator switch. How is Book 1 so much better? Stuff actually happened. Oh, and there are some major questions that are either A) quickly answered then swept under the rug with no fanfare or B) ignored. Great, thanks, Murakami. Erg. And why is there a 3rd pov when he ALSO doesn’t do anything at all? To make it seem more interesting, to distract from the nothingness of the other 2 characters? Also, we never find out what becomes of the teen girl, and the ambiguity of the ending is not powerful because if it was clear at least I would have been somewhat satisfied instead of being cheated of feeling like this was even worth reading. Arg. There is mild buzzing about a possible 4th book; maybe plot can come into play again?
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generally enough strong material for one book, but it's stretched out to three.Book 3: Um the references to Proust are interesting because NOTHING EFFING happens in here. Our heroine mostly hides around and our hero mostly just writes and reads. Incredibly dull, and the writing doesn’t seem as good either…possibly due to a translator switch. How is Book 1 so much better? Stuff actually happened. Oh, and there are some major questions that are either A) quickly answered then swept under the rug with no fanfare or B) ignored. Great, thanks, Murakami. Erg. And why is there a 3rd pov when he ALSO doesn’t do anything at all? To make it seem more interesting, to distract from the nothingness of the other 2 characters? Also, we never find out what becomes of the teen girl, and the ambiguity of the ending is not powerful because if it was clear at least I would have been somewhat satisfied instead of being cheated of feeling like this was even worth reading. Arg. There is mild buzzing about a possible 4th book; maybe plot can come into play again?
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LibraryThing member Kingray
This author is brilliant and keeps you guessing from chapter to chapter.
LibraryThing member mthelibrarian
My second treasure of the year so far. I listened to this on audiobook and probably will want to re-read parts on e-book or paperback when it comes out. I loved the two moons, alternate reality aspect of the book and coming to life of a novel-within-a-novel. Early parts rotated between two
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narrators, and I found that I was never ready for one chapter to end. It was quite suspenseful in that way, and part of the mystery was figuring out how the narrators' stories connected, which is not immediately apparent. My one quibble with the audio narration was in the different pronunciation of one character's name by two of the three narrators (not a main character, fortunately). I had adjusted to the female narrator's pronunciation and found myself annoyed by the later pronunciation. At first I thought it was purposeful and based on the character, but I later decided it was a difference in translation from the Japanese name. I am not sure of the spelling of the name, having not seen the printed version yet. The novel was published as 3 separate novels in Japan, and I am glad to have all 3 combined in the American version. Like the "Hunger Games" or "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" trilogies, "1Q84" begs to be read all together. To have this be my first Murakami novel is wonderful; I will treasure it, and will read more of his work (some of which already awaits in my home library)! Show Less
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2013)
Audie Award (Finalist — 2012)
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Quarterfinalist — 2012)
The Economist Best Books (2011.11)
British Book Award (Shortlist — 2011)
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Longlist — Fiction — 2012)
CBC Bookie Awards (Nominee — 2012)
Bad Sex in Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2011)
Man Asian Literary Prize (Longlist — 2011)
Ignotus Award (Winner — 2012)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Fiction — 2011)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2011)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction — 2011)
Library Journal Top Ten Book (2011)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (2011)
Original publication date
2009 (vol 1-2)
2010 (vol 3)
2011-10-25 (1-3) (English)