1Q84

Japan's Haruki Murakami writes a surreal novel for the intellectual reader with a touch of fantasy. The story is neither completely lucid nor byzantine, so I would say it's semiabstract. Haruki may be the leader of a new genre. It's almost like he didn't write the novel for the hoi polloi, but for the artsy reader. (Not that I'm an artsy reader.) The story is basically strong; but after 900 pages, the ending leaves many unanswered questions. That was disappointing, since I became very interested in many of the characters and wanted closure. Maybe, there will be a second book to answer my linguistic inquiries. But overall, I found the novel uniquely absorbing with strong character development.

The story is set in Japan, mostly in the Tokyo area during the year 1984. Our heroine, Aomame (Ah-oh-mah-meh), who has the strange vocation of a sports trainer and a part time assassin, is dropped off by a taxi on a traffic jammed expressway. She climbs down the elevated expressway via a strange stairway to a lower level. Once on the ground, her world is about to change. On her way to an assassination, she notices slight differences in policemen's uniforms and pistols. Later Aomame notices that she missed news events and the big one: Our moon suddenly has a companion! It's a smaller green moon. She realizes that she has entered a somewhat altered world. Our heroine calls it 1Q84 (the Q for question).

Our hero in the novel is Tengo Kawana, a teacher and a nascent author, who as a ten year old went to school with Aomame. He rewrites a novel for a mysterious seventeen year old named Fuka-Eri. The book, Air Chrysalis, becomes a bestseller, and causes major problems with the religious group Sakigake. The group hires a Mr. Ushikawa (a vile, but enjoyable character) to dissuade Tengo from further involvement in the book. He refuses, and this sets off a strife between Sakigake, Tengo and Fuka-Eri. Aomame gets embroiled in this trouble with Sakigake via an assignment from an arcane dowager and her bodyguard Mr. Tamaru. How all this comes together is a monumental accomplishment by the author. Other characters worth mentioning are Leader, Buzzcut, Ponytail and Professor Ebisuno. Character creation seems to be a strong suit of Haruki Murakami. I can't remember when I liked so many characters in a novel; I would probably have to go back to Charles Dickens's David Copperfield.

So as you can tell, I liked the novel a lot, but was disappointed with the closure of some of the characters. Do I think this novel deserves a exsibilation or a standing ovation? I think somewhere in between. I'm taking into consideration that this book was translated from Japanese to English by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, whom I'm sure did a yeoman's job. Also a big factor is that in Japan this book was a trilogy. I think if you are a literary geek, you must read at least one Haruki Murakami novel, and this one is a good option.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Murakami's most famous novel is Norwegian Wood. He is a former winner of the Franz Kafka, Jerusalem and Kiriyama Prizes. He has written twelve novels and numerous short stories and essays. The British daily newspaper The Guardian calls him "among the world's greatest living novelists".