Haruki Murakami 1Q84 Discussion Thread - There's always only one reality.

[GrayGhost81]

[img width=440 height=652]http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/1Q84.jpg[/img]

1Q84 is a novel by Haruki Murakami written in three volumes in Japanese between 2009-2010 and released in English 2011.

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.

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.

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Singlebanana and I started reading it this week and have agreed that it would be cool to discuss it publicly as we read through it and encourage any interested RFGeneration members to join us!

There is no deadline nor checkpoints for this. The complete novel is over one thousand pages long. The great thing about a book discussion is that you can clearly note where you're pulling your spoilers from, before putting them in spoiler tags of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Q84

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10357575-1q84

http://www.amazon.com/1Q8...;sr=8-1&keywords=1q84

So grab a copy and dive in!

Note: This novel contains explicit sexual and violent material and is recommended for a mature audience.

[img width=340 height=250]http://www.khaleejtimes.com/images/HARUKI612015.jpg[/img]

[SirPsycho]

RFGen book club meeting #1.

[techwizard]

looks like i don't own it but i placed a hold at the library, hopefully it comes in soon. a few copies are due to be returned around the start of may, but they might show up sooner. in the meantime i think i'll read 1984 by George Orwell as it seems like a good prerequisite to this.

[GrayGhost81]

I'm halfway through Chapter four. Murakami has been criticized for being overly verbose and leaving in a lot of superfluous dialogue, but being that my favorite author is Ayn Rand, I'm right at home with his style.

I'm enjoying the bouncing back and forth between the two main characters for each chapter so far. It makes me want to keep reading when a chapter ends.  Well that and that they're both pretty interesting already. Aomame's story thread is already filled with sex and action so that I want to see what happens to her next especially.

[singlebanana]

And let's not forget Tengo and his lactose dream fainting.....

[techwizard]

just got an email telling me my hold is ready for pickup at the library! sooner than expected, but i'm about 2/3 of the way through 1984 already so hopefully i'll have that finished by tomorrow at the latest.

[GrayGhost81]

Awesome Jaime!

I can't put this book down. It is pretty much as strange as advertised, but I was really afraid it would be a tough read. On the contrary, I'm finding myself flying through it.

[GrayGhost81]

Man, this book is great. It is so odd and mysterious that when people ask me what it is about, I don't even know where to begin. I'm to the point now where some possibly significant plot threads are starting to form, but if everything before that was all (or some) for naught, it wouldn't matter as it is simply written in a way that makes whatever it is being written about interesting to read. That's a testament to the translation work as well of course.

I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up at a flea market last week, even though it was beat to shit, and further that Rich happened to be reading it already which spurred me to jump in.

Rich where you at?

How about anyone else? I know Ray and Jaime were working on procuring their copies. Anyone else going to jump in with us?

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Still planning on going to the book sale on Saturday to see if they have it...

[singlebanana]

I just hit Chapter 4 last night, so there was a big revelation in 3 as to what Aomame's occupation is. Wow, delivered the only way someone like Murakami can do it. I'm hooked. The book's out in my car so that I can read during lunch.

[techwizard]

i had it in my hands at work last night but forgot to bring it home, oops. oh well, still have another 60 pages or so in 1984 anyway so i'll probably start it tomorrow when i'm back at work.

[GrayGhost81]

In my mind I'm imagining a white canvas on which two different color paint blobs are dropped. Tengo is a blue blob, Aomame is red (the colors have no significance, just trying to put you in my mind's eye). As the story unfolds, both paint blobs spread out in all different directions across the canvas and in some places, the two different colors cross paths and blend with each other. The main blobs (you might say the points of impact on the canvas) are, however still completely separate.

As much as I love our two main characters, I think Fuka-Eri is so effectively intriguing that I'm finding myself looking forward to Tengo's chapters in the hopes that he will be interacting with her.

I have added a disclaimer to the OP in regards to how explicit the novel is. Though I don't think anyone here will have an issue, Murakami pulls no punches with regards to sexual or violent material.

[singlebanana]

In my mind I'm imagining a white canvas on which two different color paint blobs are dropped. Tengo is a blue blob, Aomame is red (the colors have no significance, just trying to put you in my mind's eye). As the story unfolds, both paint blobs spread out in all different directions across the canvas and in some places, the two different colors cross paths and blend with each other. The main blobs (you might say the points of impact on the canvas) are, however still completely separate.

As much as I love our two main characters, I think Fuka-Eri is so effectively intriguing that I'm finding myself looking forward to Tengo's chapters in the hopes that he will be interacting with her.

I have added a disclaimer to the OP in regards to how explicit the novel is. Though I don't think anyone here will have an issue, Murakami pulls no punches with regards to sexual or violent material.

That is such an apt description of this novel and a technique Murakami has implored before. There are indeed two separte tracts, one red and one blue, and at times they will mingle and make purple. The characters may not ever contact directly, but they will interact among the fringes. In one of our podcasts, I mentioned "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," a novel I was reading during that time. In that, Murakami uses a similar technique, though one character is based in a cyber, film noir world of non-fiction, and the other exists in a fantastical world thought (maybe) to be a part of the human mind/conscious. I think it's neat to get these sort of alternating chapters, but it really challenges the author to keep both stories intriguing so that you are not just trying to slug through one section to get the character's story you like better. With my background, I tend to find the Tengo story a little more interesting and agree that the mysterious Fuka-Eri really keeps the pages turning. I'm a little over 100 pages in and progressing a bit slower than normal....

[Shadow Kisuragi]

That description really reminds me of portions of Cloud Atlas, which was fantastic in its own right. Aomame, in Japanese, is a large soybean/pea - not sure if that helps with character development at all, but it struck me as an intentional choice, and Japan has a cultural fixation with soybeans.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip to the book sale due to my college work falling behind too far, so I wasn't able to pick up a copy. I may still try to find one online from Amazon, or make a trip out to the library (which is ~12 miles away).

[techwizard]

that does sound very similar to cloud atlas which i found to be amazing as well. if this is anything like that then i'm excited to get started! had a pretty busy weekend so i didn't get a chance to start yet but i will, finishing up 1984 tonight so i'll probably start 1Q84 before bed.

edit: finished 1984! really enjoyed that but man that last part was brutal.