Gunnar Sivertsen answers “i am struggling to finish reading this...”

Joshua Lee asked this question about 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3):

i am struggling to finish reading this damn book. I can't stop due to the promise I made this year: Once start, finish the book. Haruki is an over valued writer.This is my thinking after reading several works of his. Am I only one thinking as this?

Gunnar Sivertsen - I don't think he is an overvalued writer. However, in "1Q84" his characters were not well defined, and I say that partly because I'm now reading his…more- I don't think he is an overvalued writer. However, in "1Q84" his characters were not well defined, and I say that partly because I'm now reading his latest book, "Killing Commendatore"; the characters in this book are much better drawn; it is a more writerly book. However, what I liked about "1Q84" was the story line; on the surface it struck me as being more like a crime fiction, where you don't necessarily need to know much about the characters. On a deeper level, I regard "1Q84" as a multi-layered story where two dominant forces are pitted against each other - love versus malevolence. These two forces can be read as deeply personal, or they can be seen as somehow 'cosmic'. The scene of the battle is both set in this world but also in the world created by Tengo in his book, with two moons. - I've written a summary of my perception of the book under the question, "After you finished reading "1Q84", did you feel that you understood what the book was about?"(less)

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