1Q84: Book 1

my favorite murakami so far...everything about it is so strange and weird. for some reason the unanswered questions and seemingly meaningless events really work; murakami leaves you with so many strange images that 1Q84 feels like a dream instead of a piece of literature.

En märklig läsupplevelse, jag är aldrig säker på vad jag läser men det finns ingenting som kan stoppa mig från att fortsätta. Nu blir det del 2

liked:
-the writing style.

disliked:
-the sexualization of female characters (including a queer romance that just came off as a total man's fantasy, and grown men having sex with prepubescent girls...)

-no exploration into aomame's queerness. felt disingenuous and so inauthentic

there is definitely a way to write an engrossing fantasy about cults and an interesting alter universe kind of setting WITHOUT having weird and gross descriptions of problematic sex scenes with minors. i doubt this would get published today and if so, it would have to be intensely edited to omit several problematic scenes that don't add whatsoever to what makes the book any good...after soooo many pages i found this book to be quite a disappointment.

This book was wild. The writing was enigmatic. The storyline was excellent until the climax/denouement. Also, I can't help but struggle (probably on a cultural level) at the reactions of certain characters to their circumstances. Nobody every got irate when I thought they should have. In fact, most “setbacks” or mere inconveniences were handled with a quiet stoicism that I felt was unlikely to be universal across all characters; though it was so in this story. Nobody is that accepting of their circumstances, even (or especially) when they have no control.

By far, it is Murakamish enough. Enjoyed thoroughly.

مرة أخرى , يأخذنا موراكامي لعالمه المجنون , نسير على غير هدى , ولا نعلم ما الذي رسمه المبدع في هذا العالم لإبهارنا .
رواية مجنونة كجنون كاتبها , أبطالها قاتله رجال مأجورة , روائي يبحث عن نفسه , أناس صغار , و عالم بقمرين في سمائه.
يصعب عليّ في العادة الكتابة عن هذا النوع من الكتب , فكل معلومة يمكن أن تعتبر حرقاً للأحداث , لذلك , سأكتفي بالقول أنها رواية فانتازيا رائعة , بحبكة تجعلك تفكر فيها حتى حين انشغالك عنها بأمور أخرى , و شخصيات فريدة غريبة تبقى معك وتخترق أعماقك فضولاً و إعجاباً بها .

هذه الرواية هي الجزء الأول من ثلاثية , لهذا السبب أيضاً يصعب علي الكتابة عنها بإسهاب قبل إنهاء الأحزاء الباقية .

لمحبي الفانتازيا , و الخيال والجنون , أرشّح هذه الرواية و بقوة .

Mas que livro!!!!! Tenho tantas ideias para processar e ordenar antes de qualquer crítica... Há de me levar algumas horas!
Enfim, supeeeer recomendo, de verdade!!

There is something about the story, the characters, the way the book is written and the way the story unfolds that kept me up and wanting for more..
i just cannot explain what it is! The concepts and story themselves are simple but reading them is like being taken into another dimension - one where two moons exist, perhaps.. one where each character is essentially “normal” and could be here on our side but has something about it that makes it not quite real.
It was a really good surprise :)
Already starting the second :)

Мураками в своем репертуаре, все как я люблю: сильные женщины с тоской во взгляде, спокойные и невозмутимые мужчины, юные девочки со склонностями к суициду и темные силы, всех касающиеся. В первой книге разворачиваются сразу несколько историй, от каждого персонажа ведет нить, которая потом встанет на свое место в материи повествования и все будет понятно. Когда-нибудь потом, потому что это только первая книга.
Словом, круто, как всегда, но читать осторожно - если употреблять много Мураками, от него можно устать и заболеть)

A religious cult. A man ceaselessly knocking on doors to collect fees for tv usage. The Little People. Two moons. A dowager. A private investigator. A bodyguard. A ghostwriter. Nine hundred and twenty-five pages of strangeness.

I could write fifty pages about this book and you'd still have no clue what this book is about. I read the whole thing and I have no idea what the whole book was about.

I liked it. But I don't know if you'd like it or not. I suspect you would either love it or hate it.

Lately I've been on a mission to discover new writers, and this is the first of those books.
Separated into 3 books with one overall story (I would be more inclined to call them 3 parts - perhaps it was originally published as 3 separate books) 1Q84 begins in what appears to be our world, then Aomame transitions to the world she takes to calling 1Q84. My feelings are mixed on this book, the overall story was engrossing but the pacing and writing were chaotic. At times Haruki Murakami was almost poetic in his descriptions, yet at other times he was perfunctory enough that I was shocked out of reading. Because of this it took me almost 3 weeks to read, days would go by where I was just not in the mood to get back into it.

Full review posted at:
http://www.mattsrespite.com/2012/01/1q84-book-review.html

Very intringuing book. Was a bit too long, some chapters were not necessary. Still a good book