I guess I can now write this review since I've settled down from doing a victory lap around my house as a result of completing this steaming pile of hot garbage. Maybe before I totally slam the book, I should say what I did like but to be honest there was very little to like. The plot wasn't bad. The love story & connection between Tengo & Aomame was somewhat cute. I could roll with all this. What blows my mind is that Murakami felt he needed 900+ pages to drag this whole shebang out. Th More...

I just finished 1Q84 and already I've begun to notice strange peculiarities in the world around me. As I closed the book and stood up, I looked around my shabby apartment. Same walls, same badly painted walls, same James Dean poster, but something seemed off. Something infinitesimal. The walls seemed closer or were they further away? And James, wasn't there a cigarette clasped between your lips before? Now you're just staring off into space with that amazing, casual air of indifference. I shut m More...

Tengo did as he was told. He began pumping slowly.

These two sentences, on the second to last page of this 924 page novel, is a neat summary of Murakami’s methods in 1Q84. Tengo has spent the novel longing for Aomame and they have just been reunited after twenty years. ‘Pumping’ refers to the action of Tengo’s penis in Aomame’s vagina.

Underlying Murakami’s general approach to writing is an element of dictation, of simply transcribing the spontaneously generating narrative coursing through his he More...

Sean

I must confess that this is my first bold step into the world of Haruki Murakami. After roughly four weeks, my journey through the world of 1Q84 has come to end. I was unfamiliar with this author until this massive yet stunningly beautiful book showed up on the new releases table at the bookstore. I then learned that this author (famous in Japan but relatively unknown in America) titled this book as play on George Orwell’s 1984 (one of my favorites). So I decided to brave the 984 pages.


1Q84

T More...

If you aren't already enamored with Murakami's writing, I recommend not reading 1Q84 - unless what you want is a treasure hunt for some simple Japanese recipes. 1Q84 is actually a test to see how much Murakami fans are willing to put up with. And the test is a tough one.

The first part of the book is nothing short of what you expect from Murakami. But towards the middle it really begins to sag with tedious, mundane descriptions. One reviewer called it memory-insultingly repetitive and that's not More...

My Sunken Book Review

My real review, my Sunken Book Review, complete with unreliable Maps and Legends (not to mention Narrators), is here:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...

Only go there if you are a child who likes to be spoiled.

It's like a treasure hunt in a secret room.

Or a pirate ship laden with booty.

The Little People have tried unsuccessfully to sink it without trace.

They managed to sink it, but I have traced it again.


My Superficial Book Review

Have you ever been intoxicated by a book? More...

This book is possibly the best book I have read of all times. It has everything that anyone would want in a book because it is composed of a little of every genre. The book has so many symbolisms and imageries that no one can figure it all out in the first read.

The book is like all of Haruki Murakami's past books where it is about self discovery of the main character. This time it is about how two long lost lovers find each others to the point that they were meant for each other. The book is ab More...

It's so much easier when books leave me with a very clear idea of what I want to say about them. It's much more difficult when I don't find that one hook that I want to rant about or laud to the skies.

I'm sort of in that position with 1Q84. I enjoyed it, as I always enjoy Murakami, while being at the same time slightly befuddled about it. His books are a little like reading dreams - weird as all get out, with dream logic that makes sense in context, but make me feel foggy and unsure about what h More...

WARNING: This review turns into a hugely disparaging rant about how much I disliked the book. I may still read other works by the author but found this particular one so terrible that I must vent my frustration. If you loved this book then please don't take offence!

1Q84 is undoubtedly the biggest literary let-down I have ever come across. The synopsis and plot outline sound fascinating, the reviews have been glowing - am I (trying to) read a different 1Q84 than everyone else?

Apparently not, ju More...

Still mulling it over but below is the jumble of my initial thoughts.

Cons...

"There’s a kernel of compelling story buried somewhere in 1Q84, but digging through the layers of tone-deaf dialogue, turgid description, and unyielding plot just isn’t worth the strain."--Christian Williams

* Reflective dialog that does nothing more than parrot gets tedious.
* Tension expands like a rapidly inflating balloon only to escape like a quiet moment of flatulence at the end.
* Desperately wanting for tighter edit More...

So, Love transcends dimensions...

And something interesting:

This is my 9th Haruki Murakami and for me, this book is not really different from those earlier eight. The two alternating narrators (1 for each chapter up to the end of Book 2), Tengo and Aomame reminded me of the interspersing but parallel stories he used in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (2 stars). Maybe to make this book a bit different (Wiki says he wrote this for 4 full years), he added the third narrator, Ushikawa whose role seemed to be the most interesting only because More...

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is wonderful, familiar Murakami-land... taken to new levels. The story, the characters, the themes, everything both separately and taken together is incredibly satisfying. There are cults, children, and a permeable boundary between "reality" and the supernatural. There is everything Murakami fans expect and want from their Murakami-plus. The love story is touching, the characters more than usually well-drawn, and the plot/s interesting. It drags a bit occasionally in the More...

I bought this shortly after New Year's. I can tell you from what bookstore I bought it. I could point out approximately (but not exactly) the rack from which I selected it. I remember the person who accompanied me at the time. I don't know exactly what I was wearing—but it was probably a sweater of some sort with a t-shirt underneath, worn but serviceable dress pants and well polished brown or black shoes. I know that my clothes were fitting well, and were not too snug, because my recent efforts More...

I read this in my usual Murakami-reading rhythm- very fast. In a week I was done and ready to reflect on whatever the book left me with.

One obvious thing is, the more the book expands its universe* the more it loses its intensity.
Objectively speaking, it gets to that point where it's like a balloon, inflating, getting filled with more (hot) air. So there are a few places where the narrative is clunky.

But I am generous. Making a critique does not mean being malicious, as so many comment-leavers More...

This book is a bit too excessive; like most other people I think it could have had at least 300 pages removed without affecting the story. At times it gets really repetitive; like the author has thought the reader has already forgetting information about Aomame or Tengo. 1Q84 is the story of two people who meet and fall in love in school and then, many years later spend the entirety of the book trying to find each other again. As the story obviously isn’t as simple as that; it is fair to say it More...

This is the first new Murakami book since I started reading Murakami.

--

About six months after I finished this book, and I've just lowered the rating. Why, why have I done this? 1Q84 was a Murakami marathon, and by the time I finally finished it, I think I was experiencing a runner's high. Now I've started to notice all the associated aches and pains.

Like, why was this marathon so long? It was certainly a lot longer than 26 miles, and even then, I am pretty sure I ran a bunch of those miles twic More...

“According to Aristophanes in Plato's The Banquet, in the ancient world of legend there were three types of people.
In ancient times people weren't simply male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everyone in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided More...

Phew. Reading this book is like being in a bad marriage but you can't decide if it's actually bad or not. It started out fantastic. I was engrossed in it and couldn't wait to get home from work every day to just cuddle up with the book in hand. Somewhere along the way, I lost a bit of interest and started thinking about the other unread books in my list. I was tempted to cheat but persevered and gave it my full attention. Some days were great, some days were bad. Some so bad that I skimmed. Ther More...

Begone, ye overblown romance: to the M's with ye, and there ye shall stay.

No more will I be forced to read about the "ample breasts" of mysterious, mute women; never again will I be witness to "sexual encounters" that are just a "concept," not the actual bumping of uglies that occurs when a man puts his penis inside of a woman's vagina.

Banished will be the sporty assassinatrix who winds down by having one-night stands with bald-headed men; the stocky writer who oscillates between mathematics an More...

Updated, April 2012. Long theory explained in the spoiler section in the middle...

The odd thing about this book is that whether I like it or hate it hinges on a particular point of interpretation, one that I'm not really sure is meant to be dissected the way I'm doing. As such, I literally can't tell if this is a good book operating by rather obscure and crafty methods, or a bad, actually rather reprehensible book, operating by more straight-forward means. The fact that it's Murakami, someone I' More...

5 Stars
Haruki Murakami may well be the most technically gifted story teller in the world today. I am such a huge fan, and love every minute that I spend in his imaginative worlds. His works bend genre lines, and twist between fantasy, science fiction, historical literature, and fairy tale in nature. He writes novels that transport the reader to places that they have never been before. This book 1Q84, is no exception. It is a love story that transcends time and space and questions reality itself. More...

I'm going to definitely review this in full when I get up tomorrow. This was the best book that I've read all summer, and possibly of the entire year.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

---

Okay okay so let me try to some up my feelings about this book in the most coherent way possible. LKSDjfasghdjldskjgsdhfjsdghehsldkjfdsf

Kidding aside, this book was absolutely fantastic. Original, mysterious, attention-grabbing, and it held on to you until the end. Also the prose was like poetry in prose form, if that even m More...

Major theme:
The decisions you make, however small, have the possibility to affect your life dramatically.

Moral of the story:
Make the decision to read this book. Because it is wonderful. It is whimsical and magical. It is lovely and tender. It is wise and it is silly.

Seriously.

Don't be afraid of it's size. Granted, if this is your first Murakami I would recommend starting with Norwegian Wood or maybe Dance Dance Dance.


I Just finished.

Have butterflies.

I always debate whether to read other GR rev More...

"Reading a Murakami book is like diving into the ocean only to discover that you have always been a fish. Things suddenly start making sense"

The author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1949. He grew up in Kobe and graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo. After college, Murakami owned a small jazz bar in Tokyo for seven years. His first novel, Hear the Wind Sing (1979), won him the Gunzou Literature Prize for budding writers. Several books followed winning various literature prizes.
In 1991, Murakami spent four yeas in the United States with his wife, where he taught at Princeton. After the Hanshin earthquake and the poiso More...

(4 stars) I didn't know what to expect from 1Q84 as there was so much hype and I didn't believe it could live up to its expectations, especially as I'd grown quite disillusioned as a Murakami fan in recent years due to a string of uninspired books (Kafka on the Shore; Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman; After Dark). So I was skeptical to enter the world of 1Q84, until I realized that my concern and hesitation about this book were unfounded and I allowed myself to savor the experience.

What an exciting More...

I'll preface this review by saying I have not read a lot of Murakami. I'm really only comparing this book to The Wind Up Bird Chronicle while keeping in mind the opinions of a lot of friends (all very good readers, mind you) who have.

1Q84 seems to me like Murakami's "radio single". I mean this in a good way. I'm not, by any means, saying that he sold out to make this book accessible. He didn't. It's Murakami, through and through: a koanish, surreal fantasy filled with classical music, food prepa More...

So, at the age of 10, two children went on a crazy acid trip about an alternate reality where there are two moons in the sky, magical midgets use the mouths of dead goats as doorways to a fun party, cocoons capable of growing infertile copies of people are woven out of thin air, and it's possible to impregnate people from miles away. 20 years later, these children come out of their acid trip unscathed and ready to move on with their adult lives.

... Okay, so that isn't really what this book is More...