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A review by davechua
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
2.0
Finished Book 1. Not quite engrossing and shares many similarities with other Murakami books. Main female character is an assassin with a fondness for bald men (!!). Will take a break and get back to it in 2012.
Done with Book 2. Story seemed tighter but gradually gave way as well. Female characters seemed to be build from manga archetypes. There are some some lovely moments, such as a mini-story about the town of cats, but so much fluff to wade through with typical Murakami characters that are just full of longing. The two main characters pine for each other after a brief encounter when they were 10. Highly self-conscious writing, such as when characters talk about how a gun is used after it's introduced because of dear Chekov. Worst of all, only tangentially related to Orwell's 1984.
Book 3 was even more disappointing. The book now adds another viewpoint; a suspicious character who we are constantly reminded looks ugly and it not accepted in Japanese society. Also, the plot slows to a crawl, as both characters seem content to hideout. Plot threads are left dangling, and the prime focus is the supposed relationship between the two main characters, who held each other's hand briefly when they were 10.
I really wanted to like this book. Anybody who devotes their time to read such a huge tome would. In fact, there were interesting components; a doomsday cult led by a charismatic leader, a mysterious alternate Japan, shady gangster types, a matriarch determined to take revenge for the cause of abused women but Murakami drifts off to focus on the thin love affair between the two leads. There are wonderful moments, such as the story about a town of cats, or Tengo's Sundays wandering with his father to collect television subscription money, and bits of wonderful description, but those are few and far between. Instead what we get is some fairy tale about little people, and characters that are two-dimensional and quite unconvincing. Naturally, this being Murakami, there are little snippets of information, often utterly unconnected to the main story, but placed just to hopefully keep the reader interested. (I imagine these segments being read by Stephen Fry on QI; it helps).
I wanted to know more about the cult and I thought they would play more of a part in Book 3, when the threads started to come together. But sadly, they stay apart, and the whole book just drifts off towards a cringe-inducing conclusion. Overall, a vast disappointment.
Done with Book 2. Story seemed tighter but gradually gave way as well. Female characters seemed to be build from manga archetypes. There are some some lovely moments, such as a mini-story about the town of cats, but so much fluff to wade through with typical Murakami characters that are just full of longing. The two main characters pine for each other after a brief encounter when they were 10. Highly self-conscious writing, such as when characters talk about how a gun is used after it's introduced because of dear Chekov. Worst of all, only tangentially related to Orwell's 1984.
Book 3 was even more disappointing. The book now adds another viewpoint; a suspicious character who we are constantly reminded looks ugly and it not accepted in Japanese society. Also, the plot slows to a crawl, as both characters seem content to hideout. Plot threads are left dangling, and the prime focus is the supposed relationship between the two main characters, who held each other's hand briefly when they were 10.
I really wanted to like this book. Anybody who devotes their time to read such a huge tome would. In fact, there were interesting components; a doomsday cult led by a charismatic leader, a mysterious alternate Japan, shady gangster types, a matriarch determined to take revenge for the cause of abused women but Murakami drifts off to focus on the thin love affair between the two leads. There are wonderful moments, such as the story about a town of cats, or Tengo's Sundays wandering with his father to collect television subscription money, and bits of wonderful description, but those are few and far between. Instead what we get is some fairy tale about little people, and characters that are two-dimensional and quite unconvincing. Naturally, this being Murakami, there are little snippets of information, often utterly unconnected to the main story, but placed just to hopefully keep the reader interested. (I imagine these segments being read by Stephen Fry on QI; it helps).
I wanted to know more about the cult and I thought they would play more of a part in Book 3, when the threads started to come together. But sadly, they stay apart, and the whole book just drifts off towards a cringe-inducing conclusion. Overall, a vast disappointment.