"isserleylovesbooks:  Haruki Murakami's 1Q84: dreaming away slowly.  The novel has two seperate protagonists whom we follow in turn. Aomame is a young physical instructor who, after a bewildering episode involving a taxi and a guardrail, realizes she has entered a parallel world. She calls it '1Q84'.  Meanwhile, her old classmate Tengo, now a maths teacher, rewrites a powerful but raw story that was submitted to a literary contest by an emotionally blunted seventeen-year-old. The edited story, Air Chrysalis, becomes an instant best-seller. Tengo now draws unwanted attention.  Recently I received an Ask asking what I liked about 1Q84 (since I mentioned it in a book challenge post on my personal blog). The lovely person posting personally wasn't a fan, because of the slow-pacedness of the story. So here is my answer, in review form! Biases before reading For one thing, I had been looking forward to this for a LONG time. The wait was made more excruciating by the fact that a Dutch translation had been available for quite some time before we even made our pre-order. Really, publishing gods? A Dutch translation before the English one? SHAME. I'm a devout Murakami fan, so there's bias number two. So as I read I must say I wasn't as wowed as I was by, for example, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. The chapter-by-chapter alternation between two completely different worlds and narrators is more instantly fascinating. And yes, the story takes some burrowing into. However, I still really enjoyed reading 1Q84, and I believe it does have that Murakami magic. The characters, for example, were complex and interesting, as I have grown to expect from the author. As protagonists we have lonely Aomame and discontent Tengo, who are connected by a childhood experience neither believes the other would have thought significant. Aomame is so honest and uncompromising, Tengo so caring in a searching way. I love it when characters aren't bent on being liked, and Aomame certainly was a lovely brand of loner.  I enjoyed the unworldly Fuka-Eri and the glimpses of her story, as we can read it Tengo's description of her story, Air Chrysalis. It was interesting trying to figure out who and what she was, exactly. No spoilers, though! As for the plot, it doesn't race, but I enjoyed the creeping parts [a ton of spying on apartments] just as much. The stagnant parts were slow because the corresponding timelines were stagnant for the characters, as well. I have no issue with that, but it does require a certain commitment on the part of the reader not to give up.  Typical Murakami loveliness As a prototype of the lovely language, there is this quote, the full context of which is:  Tengo saw admiration in the eyes of several of his female students, and he realized that he was seducing these seventeen- or eighteen-year-olds through mathematics. His eloquence was a kind of intellectual foreplay. Mathematical functions stroked their backs, theorems sent warm breath into their ears.  In addition to wonderful feats of lingual genius, there are the typical Murakami creations, both subplot-wise as the general context. The world of 1Q84 is the exact mix of impossible and realistic that it continues to fascinate. I adore the way Murakami's brand of magical realism (like Márquez') is so subtle - it gets you hooked in a way the obvious doesn't. As usual, 1Q84 contains a number of interesting side-stories or in-story anekdotes, such as the backstory of the older woman Aomame is hired by. One of my favorite characters in the book is Ushikawa, a detective hired to investigate Tengo after he rewrote Air Chrysalis. He's not immediately likeable, but as I said before, I kind of like that. Interestingly, we first meet him through the distrusting eyes of Tengo, who feels hunted and naturally rather dislikes him, but after a while Ushikawa becomes a point-of-view character and overall, rather fascinates. He has one of those storylines that make you say ""well, that could not have gone any other way"". I like tragic inevitability now. Tragic inevitability is cool. As a relatively minor character, bodyguard Tamaru is quite interesting. The bond he develops with Aomame is fascinating because it's founded on mutual professional respect, but evolves into a personal caring. And no, there's no romance involved. And yet! One thing that got on my nerves was (what I perceived as) the overly detailed clothing descriptions. Often, they seemed repetitive and unnecessary and honestly, who even cares what brand his jacket was?  However, as pet peeves go, that's a pretty small one for such a long story. And who knows: maybe some fashion enthousiasts out there are now very grateful for Murakami's detail. As to the pace: Yes, it was slow. Yes, it could have been more terse and condensed. Should it have been? Personally, I very much enjoyed it the way it is. That said, it's the kind of book that you should schedule large chunks of time for, because once you're in, you're in. I'm absolutely re-reading it whenever I'm home sick for a few days. Because of its size (and prettiness) it's less useful as a ""take with me"" book.  Overall: Definitely enjoyable, recognisably Murakami and a plot that, while slow, does draw you in entirely. For: Fans of magical realism who have some time on their hands and don't mind staking out in an alternate universe for some time."
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