Monday 20 February 2012

REVIEW: 1Q84 (BOOKS 1, 2 & 3)- Haruki Murakami


Ah, Murakami...the master of making the abnormal seem normal; the impossible, possible. i was desperate to read this book (or should I say these books) from the moment they came out in the bookshops. One of my favourite authors adapting Orwell's '1984'- one of my favourite books of all time- in his superbly surreal manner? Sounded like a match made in heaven.

The story begins in Tokyo, 1984, and revolves around the lives of two characters: Aomame, a fitness instructor with rather sinister extra-curricular activities, and Tengo, a maths teacher-come-wannabe writer who gets embroiled in a ghost-writing scandal. The lives of these two people seem to have followed very different directions since they held hands at elementary school- yet both still feel deeply affected by this event twenty years later.  After they are pulled into the new world of '1Q84' through different paths, both Aomame and Tengo deeply anger a dangerous cult called Sagiake; suddenly, the need for the two to find each other and escape back to 1984 is more desperate than it has ever been...

There are a few Orwellian references throughout the novel...the Little People are a play-on '1984's' Big Brother; Aomame checking the newspapers in Book One's opening scene, just like Winston's Smith does in the first part of 1984...the comparisons are endless, and fun to look out for. Despite all that, 1Q84 is definitely a story in its own right.

Conveying complete 'loneliness' in an interesting way can be a difficult task; after all, we learn much about key characters from how others react to them. However, this is an area where Murakami shines: both Aomame and Tengo are intensely lonely people, partly as a result of their childhoods. Though these two protagonists were vividly described, my personal favourites were the suspiciously aloof Fuka-Eri, and 'Bobblehead' Ushikawa...bit-parts with a big part to play in proceedings.

If I had to make one tiny criticism, it would be that Book Three should have been a little shorter. I understand the build-up needed before Aomame and Tengo's meeting, but I found myself getting a little frustrated with the slow pace. Of course, this is testament to how involved I was with the characters at the time, that I was so desperate for them to meet and escape- but I still stand that letting them meet a little sooner would have made for a punchier end, like in '1984'.

The latter is just a very minor criticism though- and it's only because I love Murakami so. When reading this novel, don't concern yourself too deeply with what is real and what is not...just follow the journeys of the characters, and you will soon reach your own conclusion.

An interesting fact to end on...'Q' and '9' are Japanese 'homophones' (kyū)...a clever way of Murakami showing us, just like Orwell did by setting his novel in the not-so-distant future, that the two worlds of '1984' and '1Q84' are not so far apart. Watch out for the author's ingenious manipulation of the novel's order of events, especially in Book Three; don't assume that time is always in a straight line...

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