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Product Description
Review
A Globe and Mail Best Book
“1Q84 goes further than any Murakami novel so far, and perhaps further than any novel before it, toward exposing the delicacy of the membranes that separate love from chance encounters, the kind from the wicked, and reality from what people living in the pent-up modern world dream about when they go to sleep under an alien moon.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Murakami’s fiction has grown increasingly relevant to our understanding of the world today, and this time his craft is more refined than ever. . . . This novel—mired in death and fetish, leavened with humor—may become a mandatory read for anyone trying to get to grips with contemporary Japanese culture.”
—The Japanese Times
“‘Things are not what they seem.’ If Murakami’s ambitious, sprawling and thoroughly stunning new novel had a tagline, that would be it. . . . Orwellian dystopia, sci-fi, the modern world (terrorism, drugs, apathy, pop novels)—all blend in this dreamlike, strange and wholly unforgettable epic.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“You'll find genuine wisdom and emotional depth in 1Q84. Mr. Murakami has gone further here to develop the sensations of loss and isolation.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Murakami really does stand alone . . . Which other author can remind you simultaneously of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and JK Rowling, not merely within the same chapter but on the same page? Viewed through the ‘postmodern’ lens, his exemplary blend of a light touch and weighty themes, of high literature and popular entertainment, ticks every box. Posh and pop, sublimity and superficiality, history and fantasy, trash and transcendence: they switch positions and then fuse as the metaphysical speculations of an Ivan Karamazov meet the death-defying adventures of a Harry Potter.”
—The Independent (UK)
Praise for Haruki Murakami:
"Murakami is like a magician who explain what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers... But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's a rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves."
— The New York Times Book Review
Book Description
The year is 1984. Aomame is riding in a taxi on the expressway, in a hurry to carry out an assignment. Her work is not the kind that can be discussed in public. When they get tied up in traffic, the taxi driver suggests a bizarre 'proposal' to her. Having no other choice she agrees, but as a result of her actions she starts to feel as though she is gradually becoming detached from the real world. She has been on a top secret mission, and her next job leads her to encounter the superhuman founder of a religious cult. Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange disturbance that develops over a literary prize. While Aomame and Tengo impact on each other in various ways, at times by accident and at times intentionally, they come closer and closer to meeting. Eventually the two of them notice that they are indispensable to each other. Is it possible for them to ever meet in the real world?
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best New Novel Published in English Last Year,
By
This review is from: 1Q84 (Hardcover)
Haruki Murakami returns to the surrealistic, magic realism fiction of "Kafka on the Shore" in his genre-bending "1Q84", ably translated by his long-time translators Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, collaborating with them on what is quite possibly the most impressive novel published in the English language last year. Murakami playfully bends genres and literary conventions in "1Q84", which could be viewed as a psychologically dark homage to George Orwell's "1984", but should be regarded instead as a vivid fictional exploration into the totalitarian nature of fanatical religious cults, and the nature of one's own existence. "1Q84" succeeds admirably as an elegant example of alternative history science fiction crossed with pulp detective crime fiction, in creating a parallel Japan where the rules of existence depend exclusively on illogical means. Into that parallel existence, a young woman, Amomame realizes that she has emerged into "1Q84", noting discrepancies in her knowledge of Japan's recent history as well as the unexpected appearance of two moons in the nocturnal sky. A long-lost friend from her youth, struggling novelist Tengo, recognizes the subtle changes in reality too, as he revises the enigmatic debut novel of a teenager, who, like himself and Amomame, have escaped from highly secretive, quite fanatical, religious cults. As he realizes that the novel may possess some semblance of reality, Tengo not only searches for the meaning of his own existence (as well as the teenager's), but finds himself propelled by unforeseen events over the course of the year that will intersect with Amomame's own destiny. Readers unfamiliar with modern Japanese culture may be confounded by Murakami's descriptive, almost visionary, prose; but that's a minor complaint in what is otherwise one of the best novels I have read regarding the nature of one's own personal identity and emotional ties to both family and friends. Nor does the seemingly excessive length of the tale itself should give potential readers a reason to ignore this great work of fiction; in composing the intricate, tightly woven sagas of Amomame and Tengo, Murakami has offered readers a compelling work of fiction that should be viewed favorably by most.
1.0 out of 5 stars
From a huge fan,
By Jason Bradbury (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1Q84 (Hardcover)
I'm a huge Murakami fan, I've read all his books. 1Q84 gets 1 star from me. If it was 400 pages shorter, it would be a decent book. Murakami just repeats himself over and over and over and over again. He describes the main characters(Tengo and Amoemame) childhoods way too many times. And it seems that every other chapter he's describing Amoemame's small breasts and in the other chapters he's describing how big Fuka Eri's breasts are.It's a weak book with weak writing.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real vs.Surreal,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: 1Q84 (Hardcover)
Best-selling Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has served up a real tour de force in his latest novel, 'IQ84'. This sensational Kafkaesque plot equals everything that Murakami has done to date in books like 'Kafka on Shore' and 'Norwegian Wood' and more. By creating a parallel Japanese equivalent to the Orwellian 1984 nightmare scenario, he takes his readers inside the inner recesses of the minds of his main characters, Aomame and Tengo, as they work through some very complex and intricate personal challenges from living in two interchangeable worlds. As we climb inside the psyches of two seemingly unrelated people, we quickly learn that a parallel world emerges to test our sense of what is real versus surreal. In this psychological thriller, these two very different and seemingly unrelated people move towards each other through the strangest of circumstances that are worked out through this other dimension in their lives that they are now desperately turning to: their random emotions that come with a protracted search for genuine love. We learn very quickly that this journey will be wrought with all kinds of disturbing and sinister perils such as loneliness, sexual and physical abuse, murder, fear, and loathing. There will be moments of personal triumph and inspiration followed by despair and inadequacy as Aomame and Tengo try to work themselves out of the dilemmas of their past into the promises of a more secure future anchored on real affection for others. The problem here is that as the story reflects a complex society like Japan, the characters have to extricate themselves from the ugliness of their own identity crisis in order to start building relationships that are authentic, which begs the question: what is real? Is it the world that the murderous Aomame has slipped into with her desire to kill misogynistic men, or is it her subconscious fantasy of longing to be in the arms of a lover who treats her with respect? Likewise, with Tengo, is it the desire to be accepted as an acclaimed author in the literary world, or is it the more personal need to discover his roots that will become the ultimate expression of who he is? To that end, there are plenty of spicy moments involving a cornucopia of human emotions, philosophy, religious beliefs and bizarre situations tormenting the souls of his characters. For those who complain about the length of the novel, I can only suggest that Murakami needs those pages to work through the many predicaments that face his characters. One has to read it to the end to find if they ultimately intersect.
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