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niamhflora 's review for:
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I despise this book. Whatever literary merit I thought it might have disappeared when I got to page 800 and realised I still had 500 pages left to go. This coming from a certified large book enjoyer. Or at least I was until now. It feels like almost nothing happened throughout this novel and the genius writing I was promised never decided to reveal itself to me.
Though it wouldn't have saved the book, I'm convinced 1Q84 could have been half the length if every female character didn't have the exact weight, size, and texture of their breasts examined in prose every single time they showed up.
I can see how Murakami's dreamlike, mysterious approach to magical realism could work across a much smaller word count. However, when placed on a canvas this large it seems to inspire such endless repetition and mundanity. This is surrounded by constant narrative dead-ends, the purpose of which seems to be purely the elongation of the novel.
This book also suffers from having a dual POV where one side is incomparably more interesting than the other. Due to Murakami's apparent inability to view women as people separate from their tits and his obsession with over sexualised juvenile lesbian experiences, Aomame is an oddly written character. But despite this, her sections are far superior to Tengo's. She has a fun relationship with Tamaru and the Dowager and she's actively aware that she's in an alternate reality whilst preparing to kill a cult leader. Objectively fairly interesting. Tengo on the other hand... He's apparently good at everything (especially as a child, his many school achievements are documented almost constantly). Then he dithers about writing a book for a while, teaches maths, makes dinner (described each time in minute detail), fucks his older girlfriend (if I have to read the words 'older girlfriend' one more time I swear to God), and repeatedly describes a 17 year old girl's boobs, perfect ears and 'fresh vagina'. I began to actively dread his chapters as they came up.
I could go on but I fear I'd never stop
I've tried to understand what people see in this novel and i'm often too easily swayed by reviews but not a single positive review of this book has made me look upon it any more kindly.
P.s.
Frankly I do not see much if any connection to Orwell's 1984.
Though it wouldn't have saved the book, I'm convinced 1Q84 could have been half the length if every female character didn't have the exact weight, size, and texture of their breasts examined in prose every single time they showed up.
I can see how Murakami's dreamlike, mysterious approach to magical realism could work across a much smaller word count. However, when placed on a canvas this large it seems to inspire such endless repetition and mundanity. This is surrounded by constant narrative dead-ends, the purpose of which seems to be purely the elongation of the novel.
This book also suffers from having a dual POV where one side is incomparably more interesting than the other. Due to Murakami's apparent inability to view women as people separate from their tits and his obsession with over sexualised juvenile lesbian experiences, Aomame is an oddly written character. But despite this, her sections are far superior to Tengo's. She has a fun relationship with Tamaru and the Dowager and she's actively aware that she's in an alternate reality whilst preparing to kill a cult leader. Objectively fairly interesting. Tengo on the other hand... He's apparently good at everything (especially as a child, his many school achievements are documented almost constantly). Then he dithers about writing a book for a while, teaches maths, makes dinner (described each time in minute detail), fucks his older girlfriend (if I have to read the words 'older girlfriend' one more time I swear to God), and repeatedly describes a 17 year old girl's boobs, perfect ears and 'fresh vagina'. I began to actively dread his chapters as they came up.
I could go on but I fear I'd never stop
I've tried to understand what people see in this novel and i'm often too easily swayed by reviews but not a single positive review of this book has made me look upon it any more kindly.
P.s.
Frankly I do not see much if any connection to Orwell's 1984.