persephone9000 's review for:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

3.0

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Murakami weaves a fabulous story in IQ84. As always, however, his pristine and exacting skill with the pen is marred by his insistence on mistreating the women he writes so beautifully. The masterfully constructed narrative is marred by Murakami just, like, being a creep. Why the underage sex? Why did so many women have to die violently? Why build up such a promising, interesting female character only to hitch her entire narrative to men and what men do? Male fantasies, male fantasies. I'm sick of men writing women for garbage and the male gaze. The cooking scenes are nice and I always appreciate the dissociative charm Murakami brings to the table. But I really don't give a shit about his weird ear kink or creepy underage-girl fetish.

Plus - why, after writing like the longest novel ever, with plenty of room for explanation, end it without tying up literally any loose ends? I understand leaving stuff to mystery; but it's not something I'm into. At a certain point it just feels neglectful. I'm sure I'm not alone in being frustrated about it, although I'm also sure a lot of people enjoy the mystery. Whatever. I did really like the two characters in this book, Tengo and Aomame. And of course, Murakami's ability to set a scene left me bewitched and feeling like I was really inside the book, in the world of IQ84. But the novel is too long and the payoff isn't worth it. Plus all the sexist stuff peppered in completely turned my stomach.

Yes, I finished the book, all thousand-odd pages. No, I would not recommend it.