REVIEW: 1Q84 BOOK 1 BY HARUKI MURAKAMI, JAY RUBIN AND PHILLIP GABRIEL

Title: 1Q84

Author: Haruki Murakami,  Jay Rubin and Phillip Gabriel (Translators)

Published: October 25th 2011 by Knopf

Book Description:
The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. 

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s—1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book that I will review here which is not a young adult one. If you are not familiar with Haruki Murakami, he is a famous Japanese author whose works have been translated to many languages. He is famous for his works which are thought-provoking, quirky and out of the box story telling which amazes everyone who reads his work.

I started reading his works way back 2009 and I really did not have the oppurtunity to read again his works since it takes up a lot of time reading them. His books are usually long for this case the entire Book 1-3 is 925 pages long.

For my convenience sake I want to do a 3-part review dividing it with each book. I don't want to forget some of my opinions by rushing it in one go. So here is Part 1 which concentrated on the events of Book 1.

The year is 1984 and the story focuses on Aomane and Tengo. Story opens with Aomane's part and throughout the book it alternates with Tengo's. First chapter starts with weird happenings right away. Aomane is able to enter the world of 1Q84 in just the first couple of chapters. I think it is a smart thing not to drag details of entering the other world and no worthless details are written. It's a good thing that even though chapters are long, it is still pretty concise.

The thing I like about this first book is that we are able to see the background and personality of the different characters, not just Tengo and Aomane. Haruki was able to enrich details without them being boring (not like in LOTR where I think there were a lot of boring details)(sorry LOTR fans). I like how imaginative the story telling is. I think that is one element that you can always find in Haruki's Book. 

My impression about Aomane is that she is a typical independent woman who is holding herself like a businesswoman. She presents herself well in public and has that confidence about herself. This is pretty much your first impression on her. But this is just a layer that will be peeled as you go onwards with the story. This is what draws me to her. The layers of her personality where you get more as you go deeper.

On the other hand, Tengo is your character who has a stable life but still doesn't know really what he wants in life. He is a little bit out of the place and little bit lost in some ways. He has an average impact at first read. He was a little bit boring in this first book for me.

So onwards with the other parts of Book 1. We are also introduced to some characters and I really like the part played by Fuka-Eri here. She is that one weird character in the book wherein you either like or hate. Sort of a polarizing effect. I like how mysterious her character is. Even though you learn about her past story in this first part, she is still fairly interesting in the next books.

Reading from the description, I know at some point their paths would combine (Tengo and Aomane) but in this first book only a few of the puzzle pieces are placed. Book 1 is like 2 books combined with their story being independent to each other. Although independent I think there is still some perfect harmony with their stories.

All in all after reading Book 1, it made me more hungry to read Book 2. It never really disappointed me.

I give it 5 whales.