1Q84 Book Review

1Q84 Haruki Murakami

      I just finished this monster of a book, the whole three books that total a hefty 925 pages. Notes about the name, interestingly the phonetic Q in Japanese sounds like 9. So when the name of the book is said, you actually say 1984 in Japanese, regardless of the Q change. 

      This book follows two main characters Aomame (her name meaning green pea, which causes her annoyance throughout the whole book), the fitness teacher/assassin. As well as Tengo, the large oddity of a novelist/cram school teacher. The novel switches between their stories, from chapter to chapter. The characters are unique and have oddities that certainly defy commonality. The two step out of their normal lives for just a moment only to be dipped into a world that is increasingly dangerous and confusing. Trying through thick and thin to accept the reality or unreality of the situation. 

     While watching the characters circle each other in an ever closing spiral, meeting the side characters that have their own quirks and oddities, I get the feeling that many of the things I learn about most of the characters are frivolous and don't actually come to have meaning to the rest of the story. Yes, you could break down the various literary elements and derive meaning from them. They are interesting, but much of it seems like threads that are just made to hang out of the braid, swinging in the wind. There is a secondary character, Ushikawa, that the book has several chapters in his viewpoint. His entries seem frivolous and odd since the other side characters don't have chapters to themselves either. He does so little and seems fit to narrate about his background, it seems, to distract from the fact that in the present he is doing so little. 

       There is also something about how often all the characters assume something nonsensical without any evidence at all and succinctly imagine it as truth. The Ushikawa character does much of his "detective work" via this method of looking at things and picking one that he assumes is true, then running off with it. He does it most often, and is very frustrating for those readers who are looking for tangible lines between reasoning. Several other character just have the sense of "knowing" things, based solely on a feeling. It feels sloppy to have character move forward based on a series of thoughts alone, rather than any kind of evidence. "I think, therefore it must be true.", seems to be a common theme through the novel. 

       Many of the characters just flow in and out of the story without leaving much mark. The strange NHK man who terrorizes the people staying indoors, the nurses of the cat town, and Fuka-Eri's family just seem to slip in and away without any tangible change other than to take up the main character's time and page space. 

       

        There are indeed moments where I feel pestered with random bits from certain characters lives. I say this now that I'm finished reading. I feel the waste now, after the 900 pages. The characters who contributed words, but without purpose. To say it's just talk is precisely how it seems. Conversations that go no where, but sounds profound. The ending is simple and unadorned, the path clear. The rest of the characters that were left behind are nary a thought, which is unpleasant as they seemed to matter during the book.

        My thoughts of the book at the end differ greatly to how I saw it when I was reading it. The simpleness of the ending is a huge contrast to the complexity of the story that was created. The abandonment of all the characters we'd been taking the time to dissect and investigate. The frivolousness of so many things that are left back in the middle of the book and never talked about again. The incongruencies in actions of characters, how they seem to be in their own orbit without much destination. The side characters who hop in to have a profound conversation, then continue to do random things without much provocation. 

      In the end, I enjoyed reading it and got lost in the story. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to friends of mine though. Perhaps if they read it we could have a discussion, try to figure out the ideas about the ends that were left undone. If we did that however, we would be doing the same thing, creating assumptions and trying to figure out which one is more likely. There are very good moments throughout the books, but overall I would not ask someone else to read them, especially if they aren't familiar with his particular style of wandering story and characters. 

     Currently reading: Shades of Gray: A Sholan Alliance Novel (Lisanne Norman)

         This installment is more than 7 years past the previous one. Trying to figure out who people are and what is going on is pretty crazed. Read this series from the beginning, and if you don't like cliffhangers, stay away. Back to the grind for me. 

     Picture of the post: 

 Also Nanowrimo starts in a few days. Time to pick up Scape again and start weaving the rest of it.