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A review by unsponsoredbookreviews
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
3.0
1Q84 is a pretty daunting piece of literature to attempt, weighing in at a meaty 1150 pages for the paperback edition. The novel was actually broken up into three books in the original Japanese version, which is pretty standard per their publishing culture from what I understand, and makes a lot of sense due to the relative story structure presented. Murakami alternates chapters between two main perspectives for the majority of the book, with a third perspective added in for the third book. The perspectives seem distinct and unrelated for a good portion of the book before being slowly pulled together by similar elements and relations and by the end it really ends up being a carefully constructed balancing act of plot points and new revelations for the characters.
Now that I got the general structural elements out of the way, I want to get into my issue with 1Q84. Murakami remains one of my favorite living authors, perfecting his unique magical realism genre mixed together with modern American/Western-tinged stories based in Japanese settings. He is truly unlike any other author I have read. 1Q84 baffles me a bit though, the general sprawl of the novel does not lend well to his style of storytelling. The different perspectives often end up having redundant information being given over to the reader. Repetition of imagery and a slow deliberate pace further compound this issue. I'm not sure what benefit this book was given by being 1150 pages. He has many better novels and stories that were enhanced greatly by their general brevity. I'm going to paraphrase a line from the book, "it feels like butter spread to thin upon a piece of bread". There is not enough story there to spread out for the length and it leaves a feeling of lack.
I did not get a sense of a greater message or purpose in the book either, which was disappointing as it felt like there was a lot to play with that was left on the table. The fantasy element was very narrowly used, and what was used was really beaten into the reader by the end. By the end there were quite a few questions left unanswered, both on a plot basis and from a mythology basis. I can deal with unanswered questions as purposeful leave outs, but I mostly just left unsatisfied here.
With all that said, I would not recommend this as your first Murakami book. Read "A Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" or "A Wild Sheep Chase" if you are just starting out. If you like his style after reading some of his other books you can take a look at 1Q84 and find there are things to enjoy about it. His simple, but detailed and thoughtful prose is still in play along with some interesting characters that really pop off the page.
Now that I got the general structural elements out of the way, I want to get into my issue with 1Q84. Murakami remains one of my favorite living authors, perfecting his unique magical realism genre mixed together with modern American/Western-tinged stories based in Japanese settings. He is truly unlike any other author I have read. 1Q84 baffles me a bit though, the general sprawl of the novel does not lend well to his style of storytelling. The different perspectives often end up having redundant information being given over to the reader. Repetition of imagery and a slow deliberate pace further compound this issue. I'm not sure what benefit this book was given by being 1150 pages. He has many better novels and stories that were enhanced greatly by their general brevity. I'm going to paraphrase a line from the book, "it feels like butter spread to thin upon a piece of bread". There is not enough story there to spread out for the length and it leaves a feeling of lack.
I did not get a sense of a greater message or purpose in the book either, which was disappointing as it felt like there was a lot to play with that was left on the table. The fantasy element was very narrowly used, and what was used was really beaten into the reader by the end. By the end there were quite a few questions left unanswered, both on a plot basis and from a mythology basis. I can deal with unanswered questions as purposeful leave outs, but I mostly just left unsatisfied here.
With all that said, I would not recommend this as your first Murakami book. Read "A Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" or "A Wild Sheep Chase" if you are just starting out. If you like his style after reading some of his other books you can take a look at 1Q84 and find there are things to enjoy about it. His simple, but detailed and thoughtful prose is still in play along with some interesting characters that really pop off the page.