A review by livlaw
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I can’t believe I managed to start and end this book in a month!

First up - all the classic criticisms of this - I totally get it. I really don’t like how Murakami writes women, specifically Aomame, and Tengo’s girlfriend in this book. It almost felt like a parody of ‘men writing women’. Which is gross. 

Aside from that, I was pretty gripped for all like 1300 pages of this book. The story was super engaging and I thought the perspective shifts moved it along at a surprisingly fast pace. 

I wish I had read this for school so I could spend longer analyzing specific themes and track them through the book (but as someone with a job and a life, I just dont want to make that time). 

In all, I can see why this is such a classic. What a way to start the year of reading!