1Q84 Group Read

We'll be starting 2012 with a group read of Haruki Murakami's newest book out in English, 1Q84, so place it on your Christmas wishlist if you haven't already. I acquired the book a few weeks ago and I'm already delighted by the tempting cover art (although I'm scared to tear the fragile dust cover). Who will be joining in?

END OF THE BOOK DISCUSSION HAS STARTED. PROCEED WITH CAUTION AFTER POST #38!! SPOILERS WILL BE PRESENT!

I'm in!

Planning on reading it, might as well bump it closer to the top of the list and join you :)

I'm in.

I wonder how specific the allusions to Nineteen Eighty-Four are? I may want to re-read Orwell first, since it's been many, many years since I read it.

From what I've read around the web it doesn't seem like he makes too many allusions to 1984 other than the stuff that most everyone knows. I don't think a re-read of 1984 would be necessary.

Along with comparing notes with others here I'll be interested to compare notes with a blog I like called "How to Japonese". In it, the blogger first did a liveblog when he read the book in the original Japanese and then again two years later when the translation came out. I'll be interested to see some of his thoughts on the writing in Japanese and his thoughts towards the translation. I personally haven't read Murakami in Japanese yet although I do own one of his books. I might have to read a few pages just to get an idea of his style in the original language. The blogger, although a huge Murakami fan, didn't enjoy 1Q84 so I don't know how it'll fare for me as I'm not a fan at all but I'm still eager to try it out.

Here are the two blog entries I'll be looking at that could be of interest to others:
Liveblog of the original Japanese:
http://howtojaponese.com/2009/05/29/1q84-liveblog/

Liveblog of the translation:
http://howtojaponese.com/2011/11/04/1q84-english-translation-liveblog/

I'm in!

I've already started - about 1/2 way through 1Q84. My copy is borrowed from the library so I have a limited time in which to read almost 1,000 pages. The size of the book means it doesn't fit in my purse so I can't carry it about with me and can only read it when home. I love the cover art work - grey background, black leafless tree, moon, moth, red "Q" and red brush strokes which may or may not mean something in Japanese.
I'm looking forward to discussing the book. In fact, I'm looking forward to finally finishing the book. It's been a long time since I've attempted such a long novel.

#4 - Don't bother rereading 1984, there's a few references to Orwell but it's not really relevant to 1Q84.

Count me in. I'm planning to start it this week and hopefully finish it before Jan 9 when I have to leave on a long trip, and have no desire to carry a thick tome with me.

socialpages -
Sounds like you have the UK edition to the book. The red brush strokes are numbers. The top character (with just one stroke) is the number 1, and the bottom character (with two strokes) is the number 2. So those strokes are indicating that your book has Books 1 and 2.

I created this image showing the UK cover, the Japanese cover and the US cover of the book for comparison.

Oh my.. I started reading this morning and I have to stop now because I need to go to work tomorrow. But 264 pages into the book and I'm totally hooked. I'm really enjoying this and if it continues in this fashion, it's going to tie for first place with Kafka on the Shore as my favorite Murakami works.

Interesting how the covers are different. Was this released as 2 separate volumes in Japan at different times? If so, I'm really glad the US publishers decided, like the UK, to release the book here as a single tome ...because I don't think I could wait months to read the 2nd volume.

Actually it was released in three tomes with books 1 and 2 released at the same time and book 3 released nearly a year later.

What I find interesting is that Jay Rubin translated the first two books of the English version (Jay Rubin is quickly becoming the designated Murakami translator) while another translator (Philip Gabriel) handled the third book. I wonder how seamless that transition is.

Thanks Lilisin for the explanation. I had another look at my cover and it has 3 red brushstrokes underneath the others, indicating that it contains Books 1, 2 and 3 - which it does. Out of the three covers, I like this one best. The Japanese covers look a bit plain, perhaps they rushed the books into print.

I am reading Book 3 now and didn't realise it had a different translator to Book 1 and Book 2 but that may because I'm getting close to the finish and reading a bit faster as all the different plot strands come together and the tension builds.

#11 My favourite Murakami novel is Kafka on the Shore too.

I've started it and I'm not warming up to it. The writing is not at par with the hype.

Glad you're enjoying 1Q84, Caro. As you know, I loved it. Does your edition have the reversed page numbers on the sides of the page? I thought I understood the thinking behind that, but am not sure.

I'm impatiently waiting for my copy to show up.

Yes, Joe, my copy has the reversed page numbers on the sides of the pages. I totally loved it. I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent but when I noticed it .. which oddly was about the point when Aomame coined the 1Q84 reference, I thought it could have been to represent the parallel universe?

Yes, that's what I thought, too. A visual cue that you're not in the same world you've known, but it's related.

Whoohooo... just finished reading 1Q84 .... amazing! I love, love, love it!

Everyone here seems to be a reading speeding bullet. I just reached 100 pages (weekends are not good reading times for me) and have only about 800+ to go.

I loved the detail of the reversed page numbers but I haven't noticed any rhyme or reason behind it other than for aesthetics. Otherwise it'd be a true testament to the effort the book designers put into this book to place the right order of reverse/non-reverse to each corresponding page.

I was amused in chapter 8 reading about Tengo's father being a NHK fee collector. I have definitely avoided that fee before playing the foreigner card. Highly amused. The blog I linked to in post 6 also commented on the same thing. Amusing how we're picking up on the same things.

Still waiting to see how Tengo and Aomame's stories connect. Curious.

I'm still going back on forth on the style. I come in with a previous bias against Murakami and I'm wondering if I'm right to think as such or I'm just being harsh. I can't tell. I think the plot and the curiosity of what will happen next is definitely pulling me through. But sometimes I feel like Murakami keeps adding one to two extra paragraphs to drill in some description. It seems like he's beating us down with descriptions to make sure we get it. And the butterfly room? Seemed like a lot of effort to describe it for not much of an effect. I'll have to wait and see if maybe it comes up again.

I on the other hand, love these extra paragraphs where he takes the time to describe, e.g. the butterfly room, in greater detail. For me, it makes me feel like I'm there in the room, able to see what else is around me, to get a sense of the ambiance and the aesthetics of the place. He sort of gives me a 3D view, reminding me that while the dowager and Aomame are definitely the central figures, we should not have so narrow a focus that we lose sight of the fragile beauty around us. I also think that the butterflies were a good contrast - the discussion of deliberately taking a life, even one considered justifiable, amidst the naturally short life of butterflies.

I finished it last night. I enjoyed it very much. It isn't as different from Murakami's other novels as I expected except, of course, in size.

The change to a different translator for part 3 is noticeable because the language becomes more informal and colloquial, less grammatical. For example, the word "ahold" (as in "Komatsu got ahold of Tengo by phone") appears several times in part 3.

I have mixed feelings about 1Q84. What will stay with me are Murakami's wonderful characters including the Dowager, Tamaru, Aomame and Tengu. I like the way Murakami mixes up reality and surreal incidents. Even though the book was a long one, I was never bored (bewildered perhaps but never bored).

I was more interested in the love story between Aomame and Tengu than what was happening with Fuka-Eri and the religious sect. I'm not sure why Murakami felt it was necessary in Book 3 to add in chapters from Ushikawa's point of view. He was a litle overdone for me (how many times is the reader told how ugly Ushikawa is?).

And I still don't understand who the "little people" are. Can anyone help?

4 stars.

Edited to remove spoiler

>23 socialpages:
Careful with the spoilers (who died at the end is kind of a spoiler after all)

Sorry I was assuming that everyone who posted had finished the book. Will be more careful in future. I have edited my post to remove the spoiler.

For those who haven't already checked it out, here is a link to Janicek's Sinfonietta (1st and 2nd movement).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=H3RKqvknVYc

The youtube comments are quite funny as every comment mentions how they came to the video due to 1Q84. I, like many of the commentators, had never heard of Janicek until this book. I feel like the second movement is much more reminiscent of the feel of the book.

First Orwell reference I've noticed was in chapter 10, a Tengo chapter, when discussing the two communities created by Fuka-Eri's father.

pg. 121 (American hardback edition)
"But utopias don't exist, of course, anywhere in the world. Like alchemy or perpetual motion. What Takashima is doing, if you ask me, is making mindless robots. They take the circuits out of people's brains that make it possible for them to think for themselves. Their world is like the one that George Orwell depicted in his novel. I'm sure you realize that there are plenty of people who are looking for exactly that kind of brain death. It makes life a lot easier."

I'm on chapter 15 now. Will be on the lookout for more Orwell references. Hoping to speed up my reading to catch up with those of you already done. Real reading speedsters, the lot.

Here is a brief one minute video about 1Q84 in Japanese. It starts with the camera panning over the chapter index in the Japanese version of the text with Janicek's first movement playing. Then it shows a woman and man. The woman reads the passage where Aomame explains what the Q in 1Q84 means. The man reads a passage where Tengo looks up in the sky and observes the two moons. I thought some here might be interested in hearing what those passages sound like in Japanese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORegIFrz6VU&feature=related

Here is a lecture from Haruki Murakami in English. Although it's not about 1Q84, it's still fairly interesting. His English is really great. He praises the English translator and then talks about the importance of sound as he first reads a passage in Japanese and then rereads it in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o0vNXF8iVU&feature=related

Second Orwell reference from chapter 18 which already has a reference within the title of the chapter itself.

Pg. 236 (US edition):
"George Orwell introduced the dictator Big Brother in his novel 1984, as I'm sure you know. The book was an allegorical treatment of Stalinism, of course. And ever since then, the term 'Big Brother' has functioned as a social icon. That was Orwell's great accomplishment. But now, in the real year 1984, Big Brother is all too famous, and all too obvious. If Big Brother were to appear before us now, we'd point to him and say, 'Watch out! He's Big Brother!' There's no longer any place for a Big Brother in this real world of ours. Instead, these so-called Little People have come on the scene. Interesting verbal contrast, don't you think?"

Indeed, interesting.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't realize that Janicek was a real composer until you posted that link.

It is taking me awhile to get through the book; I don't have tons of time for reading right now. I caught the Orwell reference in Ch. 10, too, but I've also been on the lookout for them.

Is Murakami always this descriptive? I don't mind the descriptions of the butterfly house so much as the descriptions of what everyone is wearing. It is a pet peeve of mine - unless it moves the plot forward or sets a character, who cares what they are wearing!!!

Murakami's one of my favorite authors, but I had mixed feelings like socialpages. I also liked the characters and the weirdness and I couldn't stop reading, but in the end it was way to repetitive. It would have benefited from a good trimming.

I didn't like the love story - we barely get to see the characters interact. I've had this complaint about some other books. The author states that the characters are in love or soul mates, but if we never see them together, how can I judge?

I hope this book sparks some Janacek interest. He's one of my favorite composers. I really disagreed with Aomame thinking that his music isn't recognizable on the first page - I think he has a very distinct style. The opening of Sinfonietta stuck in my head pretty quickly. I'll be interested to see what everyone else thinks of it.

Also noticed that Murakami seemed to have more literature/classical music references in this one compared to past novels. Usually he's associated with Western pop culture - here he alludes to Dickens, Proust and Sibelius besides the Orwell and Janacek.

I was quite irritated with my Harvill & Secker cloth edition which misspelt Janáček by placing the haček over a white space before the "c" instead of "on top of it".

I started reading 1Q84 yesterday.

I noticed that as well! On the very first page too! Was remarkable to see such a blunder right on the first page of the first chapter.

Another thing that has been bugging me is the translation of Aomame's weapon. They keep saying that it's an ice pick but that sounded bulky to me so I looked it up in the Japanese version and there's no mention of ice or picking. Just a long needle, like a long acupuncture needle. Wonder where the translator got the ice pick idea from. Also, every time she grabs her bag (without the ice pick inside), we are told that it's without the ice pick inside. I get it, I get it! Sometimes she grabs her bag and the ice pick is not inside! It happens. I forgot to check if the Japanese version does this as well.

Otherwise the plot has been fun and I am actually enjoying reading this book.

Also, for those curious, the Little People in the book are written as the English "Little People" in the Japanese as well so that's as direct a translation as you get.

I'm reading this slowly (with books in between) so I haven't come round to the Little People yet, just the reference to them. I wonder if they are the same as the "TV People" in his stories of the same name or if they are similar to the INKlings creatures in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

>30 jfetting: - I think he does tend to do descriptions of clothes/places/food etc. I usually don't mind because his books go pretty fast, but I thought there was too much in this book.

>33 lilisin: - Maybe they were incorrectly remembering Trotsky? I didn't notice the multiple mentions of the needle in her bag, but I thought he had a tendency to do this throughout the book. Murakami describes Tengo's single memory of his mother early on and he recollects it multiple times in the book. Instead of just quickly alluding to the memory, Murakami describes it again and again. There were other things like this - will think of some more.

#35 The repetition of Tengo's memory of his mother annoyed me too. Another repetition that irritated was the description of Fuka-Eri's large perky breasts.

>36 socialpages: Yes, there seemed to be a bit of a breast obsession in this book, wasn't there?

>35 DieFledermaus: I noticed a lot of repetition, too. He even used the same language in the repeated parts, too. I caught myself a number of times thinking "Wait, I already read this sentence, didn't I?" and then went back and found that it wasn't the exact same sentence, but pretty close.

I just finished the book last night; it took me almost a month, and I ended up really enjoying it. It was the first book I've read in years that I had to flip to the end to see who was still alive.

One question, for those who finished the book: what is the point of the air chrysalis that formed over the corpse at the end of the book? What is in that one?

I was wondering if there was a set date when we could start to discuss possible spoilers? There are a few things about Ushikawa that I wanted to discuss, but I can't without giving away too much info for those who haven't finished.

On a side note, I love the Janacek reference. I only have good memories when I think of his music, especially Sinfonietta and Pilgrimage of a Little Soul.

Since it's been a month already I'll have the spoilers start now. The rest of us can just come back to the thread when we're ready. I wouldn't want to deprive those of you who have finished the book from discussing it and it seems like so many have finished it already. I've added a note in the first thread stating that end of book discussion has begun.

SPOILERS ABOUT THE END OF THE BOOK START NOW. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

END OF THE BOOK SPOILERS BELOW

SPOILERS BELOW

020. 1Q84
Finished reading: 31 January 2012

Cross posted from Club Read 2012



I rarely read literature outside my fields of interest, and to stop my book glut would prefer not to buy more books, but was swayed by the enjoyable group experience on LT and bought the hardcover edition of 1Q84, Book 1, 2 & 3 in one volume by Haruki Murakami for the January group read. Unfortunately, I have not been able to share my views and ideas on this book very much, because my Internet connection has fallen away, and I can now only get on line a few hours and not every day, until the network administrator comes back from his holiday in March.

In one of the classes I teach, Study Skills, I ask students what they see when they look in the mirror, to which they usually answer that they “see themselves”, which is followed by my wise-crack that that is not true. The image in the mirror is a reflection. (I try to teach them that “reflection” is useful, because you can find out what’s wrong with yourself, your hair, your face, etc). Unfortunately, I cannot ask my students to read the 925 pages of 1Q84, although it would be a very good way of practicing their critical thinking skills.

Occasionally, I have to explain to students that the image in the mirror is not “you,” because “you” cannot exist in two places at the same time, and what’s in the mirror is not reality, and it is different. When you look in the mirror, your right hand becomes your left hand. We do not really notice that with too much awareness, because we are so much used to it.

For the most part of 1Q84 we do not think about that, until in the final chapters Aomame discovers that the advertising bill board of the “tiger in your tank” is mirrored. (Unless, like me you read the Harvill Secker hardcover edition, which has mirrored page numbers on alternate pages.) I can no longer recall whether there are any references to the way the human eye works, where reality is mirrored upside-down on the retina, but I believe there are. As a characteristic feature of literary prose, 1Q84 holds up a mirror to show us something about modern Japanese society. I have previously, elsewhere written that I am reluctant to read and interpret foreign literature, as I believe that some of it is hard to understand outside the Japanese context, and may be felt differently or more strongly by Japanese readers.

The mirroring effect is worked out in various ways in 1Q84, turning things upside down, in-and-out, etc. So what is long becomes short, and what is good becomes bad, what is normal becomes strange, and what is strange becomes the norm. For example, the main plot is incredibly short and simple, something like “boy falls in love with girl and they live happy for ever after”. In our, real, world thick books are written about that, but in 1Q84 this comes about in just a few short chapters at the end of Book 3. In 1Q84 our sympathy is with Aomame and Tamaru, two characters who are cold-blooded ruthless killers, while we are tempted to believe that Ushikawa, Buzzcut and Ponytail are the villains, even though in all their words they are the most humane characters, respecting life etc. In our world, men are the sexually active partner, and would take the initiative, in 1Q84 the men are paralyzed and raped by sexually immature girls, or seduced by women hunting for men (Aomame and Ayumi). The reference to Orwell’s Nineteen-eightyfour can also be understood as an effect of mirroring: The horror of fiction in Orwell’s novel, has become the horror of reality. Our modern reality, or at least all that we (can) accept as normal in our reality or the fictional worlds of Aomame, is a horror in itself, as surely it would be to the generation of our parents (or at least, people (or characters) in the age category of the parents of Aomame, Eriko, and Tengo.

The younger people are, the more likely and more able they are to accept the idea of other, virtual or alternative realities, to the effect that they can no longer distinguish between them, and reality and fantasy, fact and fiction become a fluid continuum. Reality is seen to mimic fiction, or fiction to mimic reality, and the boundaries become unclear. Fuka-Eri has all the outward characteristics of a Manga character: big eyes, big boobs and pretty stupid (Do Manga characters look like real people, or are real people trying to look like Manga characters?) The near pornographic depiction of Fuka-Eri just tickles every Japanese salary-man’s fantasy. Just like Ayumi’s kinky sex games.

Fiction is never reality, so both Aomame’s 1984 and Aomame’s 1Q84 are both fictional worlds, and even in the novel they are almost the same. Unfortunately, as with the mirror, many readers nowadays believe that the ordinary fictional worls (Aomame’s 1984) is identical to our reality, and therefore strange story elements, which would otherwise be hard to believe in can only be set in an alternative world. Suspense is based on the reader’s willingness to keep reading and accept the story as relatively plausible. In the case of 1Q84 plausibility is enhanced by labeling the novel as “Magical Realism” or “Science-Fiction,” or painting two moons in the sky. The reader now knows that this is “not real”.

A hundred years ago, a rabbit hole was a plausible conduit to a different realm, the way for Alice to reach Wonderland. Oddly enough, that would be a bit awkward now: it is hard to imagine Aomame descending into a rabbit hole. The emergency stairway on the elevated highway works very well, supposedly because you seen them a lot in Japan, whereas Japanese readers have less experience with rabbit holes. However, a few chapters further into the book the reader’s patience is tested by asking them to accept the mouth of a dead goat as a conduit for creatures from yet another realm to emerge into the world of 1Q84.

Actually, our inability to accept these creatures, the “Little People” is what is more surprising. Referring to James Frazer’s The Golden Bough the readers is asked to accept what mankind has accepted for thousands of years, namely the existence of other creatures in other realms, even explicitly the “Little People.” They are the stuff par excellence of myth, folk lore, fairy tales and religion. It is our secularized, modern society which is peculiar, in the sense that we can no longer accept these creatures, beings, gods.

Religion or beliefs are an important motive in 1Q84. In the context on the novel, different sets of beliefs are explored. What the beliefs and ideals of the parents’ generation have in common is that they are based on ideologies of the creation of a better world in the future, as Janáček’s Sinfonietta is usually understood to herald the birth of New Man. Sakigake, forerunners or perhaps even avant-garde started as a communist ideological community and morphed into a religion. The Society of Witnesses awaits the end of this sinful world, after which the chosen few can start anew. In the absence of a religion or belief, duty can fill that void, as in the case of Tengo’s father. But the beliefs of the younger generation are selfish or escapist.

It is hard to identify or sympathize with any of the characters in 1Q84. I would say the author most sympathizes with Ushikawa. In 1Q84, not unlike our own world, the smart and beautiful are sometimes selfish, while the less good-looking or ugly have a heart of gold. Part of Ushikawa’s problem is that he does not believe in himself, or believes himself to be ugly and that that is why nobody likes him. The most optimistic passage describes how good he feels when somebody is friendly to him.

Both in the case of religion and personal, individual beliefs, the overarching theme seems to be that our beliefs shape our reality. The brain works quite naturally with hypothesis. An image of what we think is normal is stored in the brain; each new day we get up and test the hypothesis that the new world, at sun up is the same as we last saw it, before sun down. Nobody can know the whole world, and test the hypothesis to the full. Aomame discovers that something is amiss very fast (the police uniforms), but in the newspaper archive she sees that there are many other things she never heard about. It takes other characters in 1Q84 much longer to discover that there are two moons, and the suggestion is that the majority of people have not (yet) found out.

Perhaps we all live in a strange world that isn’t ours, but we haven’t found out yet, because we do not know what are the tell-tale signs to identify that horror world. There are no alternative or parallel worlds to escape to. The only thing to do is change reality through our beliefs.

As hard as it is to follow up Edwin's great review, here's a quote I flagged while reading the book. This is from page 175 of the US edition:

"Still, it was not their different facial features that made it difficult for Tengo to identify with his father; rather, it was their psychological makeup and tendencies. His father showed no sign at all of what might be called intellectual curiosity. True, his father had not had a decent education. Having been born in poverty, he had not had the opportunity to establish in himself an orderly intellectual system." (emphasis added)

I don't think I can agree with this, except in cases where the poverty is so extreme that it leads to malnourishment and impairment. I doubt that intellectual curiosity has anything to do with economic standing. The poor may have less time for mental pursuits, and they may be less able to express themselves, but they are as likely or not to be intellectually curious as the wealthy. It's in the opportunity to satisfy that curiosity that the difference lies. Tengo's father would have been the same if he had been born a billionaire.

An interesting passage, on page 175 of the Harvill Secker cloth edition.

I had expected that there would be much more discussion on 1Q84 here, but, I suppose everyone is still very busy reading. I did not discuss much because I finished reading it so fast 4 + 2 + 1 days for the three books respectively, and I could not get on line.

There are various ways to discuss this passage. From a socio-economic / political point of view, its does unfortunately often seem that people from working class backgrounds are less motivated to elevate themselves, and seem to lack the most elementary means to do so (with some individual exceptions). Working class people often share a number of social and cultural graces, sometimes even "more decent" than upper-classes, but they generally have a contempt for bookish learning. This is often because ideas about books and learning are not part of their awareness.

Another perspective, would be from an educational point of view. The passage seems to point to disposition, in which case the suggestion would be that some people are less intelligent than other people (a view I do not endorse). But it is possible to argue that some people belonging to lower social strata have a more limited vocabulary, fewer experiences and hence, fewer connections in the brain, etc which are determinators for intelligence.

However, to understand the passage, cited by Steven, one should read at least the paragraph before and the five paragraphs following it. The highlighted sentences do not refer to an objective contemplation of life. They are part of Tengo's subjective struggle to find his place in the world.

The idea of alienation which permeates the novel as a whole, also operates in the character of Tengo. The comments are probably an exaggeration to create a rift between "Tengo's nature" and "his father's nature". On a limited scale, the conflict could represent a kind of generation gap, while on a bigger scale it represents the overall theme of alienation, the sense of not belonging in this world.

I am sure that are many other very interesting strands in the novel.

I'm almost done with the book and so hope to join the discussion soon.

There's a very cool website called The Composites where literary character descriptions are put into police composite sketch software.

He did Aomame's picture last week, if you scroll down a couple of pictures you can see how Murakami might have pictured her.

The Composites.

I finished the book last night and decided that I greatly enjoyed the book.
Here are the last direct references to Orwell that I noted while reading. Did people expect the book to be more Orwell-ian? Was it as expected?

Pg. 257 (US edition):
"At some point the future becomes reality. And then it quickly becomes the past. George Orwell depicted the future as a dark society dominated by totalitarianism. People were rigidly controlled by a dictator named Big Brother. Information is restricted, and history is constantly being rewritten. The protagonist works in a government office, and I'm pretty sure his job is to rewrite words. Whenever a new history is written, the old histories all have to be thrown out. In the process, words are remade, and the meanings of current words are changed. What with history being rewritten so often, nobody knows what is true anymore. They lose track of who is an enemy and who an ally. It's that kind of story."

Pg. 389:
"If I may be allowed to quote from George Orwell's great classic, however -- or, rather, from his novel as a great source of quotations -- it is very close to what he called a 'thought crime'. By an odd coincidence, this year just happens to be 1984. Shall we call it a stroke of fate?"

Edwin, your review is fantastic and I have thumbed it favorably. I also cannot follow up after such a wonderful review. I just have random thoughts that came up as I read and I'm looking forward to discussing specific parts of the book further if people are ready and haven't already moved on to a new read.

The book is exactly how you describe, Alice in Wonderland meets 1984, with an added emphasis on asymmetry. Everything in this book seems to have a partner that opposes or mimics it but it is never at the same level. From the asymmetry of Aomame's breasts to the two moons sitting side by side, one brilliant and bright, the other a smaller murky green sphere. The maza and dohta; the two religious groups that come from one but split into two opposing thought processes; Tamaru vs Ushikawa. The parallels are endless.

When I first pictured the Little People, although they were described as looking human, I couldn't help but imagine the Kodamas in the movie Princess Mononoke. Below is a link to a 10 second clip of the creatures from the (beautiful) animated movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmvS4mzWUkQ&feature=related

Imagine those picking threads from the air and building an air chrysalis.

Speaking of which, as someone else wondered above, I also wondered what/who might be in the air chrysalis built using Ushikawa as the new portal. It's an interesting thought as we know Fuka-Eri's maza came from the dead goat.

For me it made sense for Murakami to write this book what with the extensive research he put in to write Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, his nonfiction work on the sarin gas attacks in 1995 Tokyo by the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo.

On that note, another wonderful nonfiction on Aum Shinrikyo that I highly highly recommend for any interested in looking more into this kind of topic is Ian Reader's (a great Japanese scholar) Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo. A very interesting read.

Kudos to the translators. I did notice a slight change in style in book 3 -- the sentences felt shorter and a little less composed (the good kind of composition) -- but I'm not sure if I'd have noticed it if I hadn't known that there was a different translator for book 3.

I was hoping the following topic could be of interest to discuss.

It has been said that Haruki Murakami is not as praised in Japan because "they" (literary critics?) feel he writes more for the Western audience. After having read 1Q84, can you see why this statement might be made? Could 1Q84 have worked in a non-Japanese world? Did this book feel Japanese to you? Please share your thoughts.

I'm not sure if Murakami was not well praised by critics in Japan or whether they consider him writing for the Western audience. 1Q84 could be easily set in another country as it was set in the "modern" world. I think the story was universal enough although the Japanese flavor was there in the background. Murakami translates from English and was heavily influenced by writers (and musicians) in that language. Even the pop culture and writers he referenced in this novel (Chekhov, Proust, Dickens) are not from Japan. He could easily have formulated phrases or idioms in English and write them in Japanese. At least that's what his translators are saying in interviews.

http://catranslation.org/blogpost/jay-rubin-j-philip-gabriel-translating-murakam...

http://www.sfbg.com/2012/04/11/found-translation

Interesting articles. Having read bits and pieces of the original Japanese, I thought the translation to be very well done and I felt that Murakami is much easier to translate than some of the other Japanese authors out there. Although "air chrysalis" would have posed a problem for me as a translator which is something they mention.

I'm interested in the fact that the first article mentions a possible Book 4. Although the book does end I guess you could see where another book could be written what with the air chrysalis attached to Ushikawa.

My guess is that Book 4 is a prequel, covering the period January to March 1984, since Book 1 started on April. It will probably focus on Tamotsu Fukada (Leader) and the happenings inside of the Sakigake cult, with flashbacks on the violent incident in Lake Motosu and the breakup of the agricultural commune into two factions.

4/5 stars

My review:
http://www.librarything.com/work/11797257/reviews/81523512

I read this in only 4 days! I’m not going to go into the plot as it would really take too long and can be found in a multitude of other places; I’ll just give my thoughts on the novel. I found 1Q84 to be extremely engaging. This is only my second Murakami; the first one I read was After Dark, which I also was fascinated by and will probably read again someday. Most readers of my blog know that I’m not big on sex and violence in my reading. Though this book certainly has those elements, I wasn’t bothered by it as much as usual. In fact, in some ways, I thought the some of the violence (not the domestic, though) was a little comical in a Kill Bill sort of way. And some of the sex scenes made me laugh, too — the book was nominated for a Bad Sex Award, after all.

What else was in those 900+ pages that was so engrossing for me? Thoughts on philosophy, religion, free will, music, books, and a Town of Cats just to name a few. There were also minute details of the characters’ days — how they prepared their meals, how they exercised, what they read or wrote. Normally I’m bored to death with details like these in books, but not so here. Why the difference with a Murakami book? I honestly don’t know. He’s just a fascinating author with an amazing talent for drawing his readers into his world.

The book does end somewhat with a conclusion, but after reading 900+ pages of a novel, most readers would expect all the loose ends to be tied up. Not so here — not remotely. Does this bother me? Not really. I guess I enjoyed the journey too much to worry about the destination. I did read in a Murakami interview that there might be a Book 4, or even a Book 0 (prequel). I will definitely be reading that novel if there is one. In the meantime, I’m glad my cats and I have several Murakami’s to curl up with and read together.

I just read an interesting and short article interviewing Gabriel about his role and process of translating.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/how-haruki-murakamis-1q...