1Q84 Group Read

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1Q84 Group Read

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1msf59
Editado: Set 22, 2012, 7:41 pm

2msf59
Editado: Set 22, 2012, 7:51 pm

Okay folks, clear the decks for October, we are going to have our hands full with this bouncing baby boy. Clocking in at just under a 1,000 pages, I think we'll commit the entire month to Mr. Murakami. This is the 3rd Group Read I've done on my favorite Japanese author. I think this is a ideal forum to enjoy this strange and enigmatic writer.

I hope we have prime attendance for this one, it should be a blast. If you are currently on the fence, jump down now and find a copy. Details forthcoming...

3Crazymamie
Set 22, 2012, 9:22 pm

Thanks for setting up the thread and for getting the group read together. I am excited because this is my first Murakami!

4msf59
Set 22, 2012, 9:37 pm

Go Mamie! Go Mamie! I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship with Mr. Murakami.

5Berly
Set 22, 2012, 9:52 pm

All set to talk about this one again! Now, if I can just find the book and the notes I took in class.... Loved it BTW! : )

6Smiler69
Set 22, 2012, 10:48 pm

Starred! The audio is *only* about 47 hours long. I'll get through it in 3 days, no sweat. NOT. I don't think I've listened to an audiobook of that length yet. Should be interesting. I have quite a few that are over 30 hours (all of the Dickens for sure), and a couple that clock in at around 40 hours like The Last Lion and The Crimson Petal and the White, Peter the Great and The Winds of War. But the only two audiobooks I have that are longer still than 1Q84 are Gone with the Wind (49 hours) and The Mists of Avalon (almost 51 hours). I haven't had the courage to start on any of those super long recordings yet, but Murakami should break the ice nicely.

7jnwelch
Set 23, 2012, 2:28 pm

Looking forward to the discussion, as this is one I've read. An audio book - I'm curious to hear how that goes, Ilana, as I read it in print.

8drachenbraut23
Set 23, 2012, 2:34 pm

I will be lurking, to see how your discussions go. I have read it a few month back and very much enjoyed it. Not as complex as Kafka on the Shore. I was really upset when it was finished, it gripps you so much that you don't notice the 1000 pages. :)

> Smiler 69 - don't worry - no difference to the short audiobooks. I have listened/read to 1Q84 and very much enjoyed it. Who is narrating your version? My one was narrated by Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor and Mark Boyett.

9drneutron
Set 23, 2012, 5:49 pm

I've put this thread on the group wiki.

10msf59
Editado: Set 23, 2012, 6:24 pm

Thanks Jim! Are you going to join us?

Ilana- I also have Team of Rivals scheduled for November. Another monster. This one is also 40 hours plus, I believe and I will be doing the audio for that one.



This is the 3-volume set I'll be reading, which I think will be perfect. It's just over 300 pages per book.

11cameling
Set 23, 2012, 7:42 pm

I've already read this and loved it ... so I'm going to gatecrash your GR and join in on the discussions periodically.

12jolerie
Set 23, 2012, 8:05 pm

Once I finish up with my current read, I will be start my copy of 1Q84. The 3 volume set is so much smarter than the one giant, twist your wrist, version that I have on my shelf. :)
Looking forward to my first Murakami!

13kidzdoc
Set 23, 2012, 11:55 pm

I also read 1Q84 earlier this year, so I'll follow along and comment now and then.

14vivians
Set 24, 2012, 2:09 pm

Thanks for setting this up Mark - I plan to join. I have the audio as well as the print copy so will be trying a combination - never tried that before but it seems reasonable given the length!

15benitastrnad
Set 24, 2012, 2:21 pm

I have had this book for over a year and will be reading it with this group. I have already started and am 100 pages into it and finding it to be the usual unusual Murakami book. One thing that helps in reading any Murakami is that the chapters are broken up into short sections.

16avatiakh
Set 24, 2012, 3:55 pm

I pulled these books off the shelf this morning in readiness for next week. I have Bks 1&2 in one volume and bk 3 in a separate one.

17wookiebender
Set 27, 2012, 7:15 am

Yay! Murakami! I have my copy, looking forward to starting it!

18ronincats
Set 27, 2012, 11:15 pm

I bought 1Q84 for my Kindle at the beginning of the year when Caro raved over it. I'll start at the beginning of October, as I have two series books to finish by then, which I have put in jeopardy by getting engrossed in Massie's Catherine the Great, which is fairly hefty in its own right.

19msf59
Editado: Set 28, 2012, 6:58 am

It looks like we will have an excellent group. I know some of you have already started, which is great. I won't be starting until Monday or Tuesday.

Is this your first Murakami? If not how many have you read?

This will be my 7th, with 3 or 4 more waiting in the wings.

20calm
Set 28, 2012, 7:12 am

I'm in - there is a copy available for me to pick up when I get to the library, probably at the beginning of next week.

It won't be my first Murakami as I have read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and still have Norwegian Wood on my TBR pile.

Really looking forward to this:)

21wookiebender
Set 28, 2012, 8:43 am

I've read six other Murakami books - my favourite would be The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but I also liked Kafka on the Shore very much.

Dance, Dance, Dance, Sputnik Sweetheart both have good star ratings in my catalogue, as does his non-fiction Underground. I was least fond of Norwegian Wood, I like I prefer the craziness of his other more surreal novels to that one.

22benitastrnad
Editado: Set 28, 2012, 5:08 pm

I have read Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, and After the Quake. My favorite is Kafka. I agree with Wookie in that my least fave is Norwegian Wood. I think that the reason is that it is not surreal, or out there, like the others are. It is more a statement about a time in Japanese history, and I had trouble identifying with the characters. I understand that many Japanese think that it is his best work and say that he managed to capture that point in time and the general feeling of the student movement. At any rate, it is book that made him a superstar author in Japan. I can also say that I would like to see the movie version of Norwegian Wood. It was made in Japan and perhaps it could shed some light on the book for me. I would like to read Wild Sheep Chase at some point in the future and have Blind Willow Sleeping Woman and South of the Border West of the Sun as well as one of his books of short stories in a recorded version - all of which I intend to read - someday. All-in-all, I think that Murakami will be a Nobel winner sometime in the near future. They can't keep ignoring him for much longer.

My book club is discussing Wind-Up in October. Since I had already read it I opted to read 1Q84 instead. Wind-up had so much history in it that I didn't know about. In general I know about WWII and the Japan/Chinese side of it, but this book had much in it that I didn't know. For instance, the Japanese pioneers who "settled" in Mongolia and northern Manchuria. I noticed that Murakami talks about this in 1Q84 as well. Now I am wondering if there are any connections with the previous books.

23msf59
Editado: Out 3, 2012, 5:17 pm

"Things are not what they seem"

Blow that trumpet and bang that gong, I finally started the behemoth. Although, I am reading the softcover 3-volume edition, which is much easier on the old wrists and if you drop it, it won't crush a foot. I've read the 1st couple chapters and Murakami has drawn me into his funhouse.
I love his creepy description of Aomame: "...Aomame resembled an insect skilled at biological mimicry. What she most wanted was to blend in with her background by changing color and shape, to remain inconspicuous and not easily remembered."
Oh, yeah and she has a malformed ear.

What does everyone make of this line: "...he had the eyes of a early-waking farmer."?

24benitastrnad
Out 3, 2012, 7:13 pm

Keep an eye on that ear.

25AnneDC
Out 3, 2012, 7:33 pm

I'm joining in! I actually started this back in January, got four chapters in and had to set it aside. I am really looking forward to picking it back up. In fact, maybe I will skim over the beginning later tonight.

26jolerie
Out 3, 2012, 10:34 pm

I'm about halfway through the book. Only about 400 pages left....
So far, I'm really quite enjoying this oddball of a book.
Does anyone have the HB version of the book where the pages number move up and down the pages and alternate between between being backwards and not?? I'm wondering the reason to why they purposely chose to present it that way?

The only hiccup in the book so far was the one line near the beginning of the book that went something along the lines of..."he smiled a smile that you would find at the back of an unopened drawer...." What the heck does that mean??? Almost is TOO poetic that it doesn't actually make a lot of sense to me...haha!

27msf59
Out 3, 2012, 10:40 pm

Valerie- You are doing great! I just started, so I have a long long way to go. I have the softcover versions and it does have the page numbers and title, inverted on the opposite page.
Funny, I had that line bookmarked to mention too! Maybe, a smile that rarely sees the light?

Anne- Good to see you over here! Glad you are jumping back in.

28avatiakh
Out 3, 2012, 11:22 pm

I read the first sentence when I moved it on to my 'reading next' stack today.

29msf59
Out 4, 2012, 8:12 am

What?? Kerry! Kerry! Kerry!

30avatiakh
Out 4, 2012, 2:08 pm

Mark, couldn't resist posting that! I read the first chapter last night and the ending with Aomane about to descend the ladder felt quite 'Alice in Wonderland' like.

31Crazymamie
Out 4, 2012, 2:25 pm

Valerie and Mark - I marked that line, too!! I think you have the right idea, Mark - things at the back of an unopened draw are not thrown away, but for all intents and purposes they have been discarded. I think the smile does not get much use.

32msf59
Out 4, 2012, 4:43 pm

I'm getting ready to start chapter 7. I did notice the appearance of a cat in chapter 5. A cat that can let itself out and close up afterwards. For you newbies joining us, Murakami has a strange fascination with felines.

Kerry- I like the 'Alice in Wonderland' comparison. I did not think of that. Aomame is quickly turning out to be quite the character, especially with bald and well-endowed men.

Mamie- What do you make of the line at the bottom of msg #23?

33Crazymamie
Editado: Out 4, 2012, 10:30 pm

Mark - I think that the line "...he had the eyes of a early-waking farmer." means alert and thoughtful - an early-waking farmer would be thinking through what he had to do for the day and organizing his time, kind of going through his lists mentally and checking things off.

34msf59
Editado: Out 6, 2012, 8:29 am

Okay, I'm getting ready to start chapter 14. I know, it's barely a drop in the bucket but I'm chugging along. Here's some prime (IMHO) Murakami moments:

"Quietly, so as not to wake the butterfly"- I love that chapter heading!

"Hundreds of butterflies flitted in and out of sight like short-lived punctuation marks in a stream of consciousness without beginning or end."

"Q is for 'question mark'. A world that bears a question."

"I have to adapt to this world-with-a-question-mark as soon as I can."

"Constipation was one of the things she hated most in the world, on par with despicable men who commit domestic violence and narrow-minded religious fundamentalists."

I do not care for constipation either but I wouldn't put it in the same category as those two.

Lastly, as a man I did not care for all the testicles-bashing. Ouch. Come on, give me a break!

35benitastrnad
Editado: Out 6, 2012, 10:36 am

#34
What is it with you men? Can't you admit that there might be a vulnerability someplace? Thank goodness there is some equalizer or we women would be in more trouble than we are currently.

#26 - I have the hardcover version of the book that has the page numbers reversed. I read someplace that there was a reason for doing this but will have to try to find it because I wondered about it as well.

Have you noticed that Aomame and Tengo have the ears in common? Also that both seem to slip time? Tengo easier than Aomame. Like most Murakami books there are so many references to music. I have heard the Januseck Sinfonetta in concert and it is a beautiful piece of music. Rather martial in tone, but bright and even spritely in places it also commands attention. I find it interesting, but not surprising that Murakami would use it. However, reading this makes me want to go to the Murakami web site and find what version of the piece he uses in this novel and buy it. But if I did that with every novel of Murakami I would have a music library the size of Milwaukee!

I also noticed early on that this novel seems to have a myriad of connections with Manchuria and Mongolia as well as the events of the 1930's in the Japanese Chinese part of World War II. These are themes that I found dominated Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. This makes me want to go read Barbara Tuchman's Stillwell and the American Experience in China just so I would have a better grasp of the history behind the story. Or perhaps we could have found an LT'er with an expertise in this area of Japanese/Chinese history and done a tutored group read like was done for Wolf Hall earlier this year. I for one would like to know more as until I read WBC and this one I had no idea that the Japanese were actively engaged in a resettlement program in Mongolia and Manchuria in the 1930's. Just knowing this helps me understand the Japanese position at the beginning of WWII much better.

36jolerie
Editado: Out 6, 2012, 10:56 am

I've tried to look up the reasoning behind the switching page numbers and couldn't find anything concrete.

Some possible explanations:

1. It indicates the switching between the parallel worlds. (That doesn't seem to be the case to me, but it was one theory put out there).

2. It supposed to be a "mirror" effect, similar to the twin moons of 1Q84 or "Cat Town".

3. Something to do with Aomame's asymmetrical boobs. (Haha, that didn't make any sense to me either, but hey it's out there!)

I've never read any of Murakami's other books, but I'm guess the common theme that runs through all his books are, music, cats, and books...

Only about 150 pages left...what a marathon!

Mark, you'll be relieved to know that there is definitely more testicle talk in the later chapters, but not necessarily all about bashing them. ;)

37jnwelch
Out 6, 2012, 11:15 am

I never did figure out the inverted, switching page numbers, other than as a general reference to the alternate worlds. I'm glad that's a discussion in this thread.

I hadn't thought about it, but I agree with Valerie. As I recall, testicles get better treatment as the book goes on.

38jolerie
Editado: Out 6, 2012, 11:27 am

Oh, and another interesting discovery!

The first number switch occurs on page 21/22. 1+9+8+4=22.
Every other switch happens at 38 page intervals, although I have no clue what the importance of 38 is. The fact that Tengo is a mathematician, I wonder if Murakami is having some fun with numbers. That probably makes more sense then the boob theory. :)

39benitastrnad
Out 6, 2012, 1:12 pm

There are lots of connections between music and math. Murakami is a music person so I wonder if the intervals have something to do with music. I will try to remember to check with one of our music students and see if there is some significance to the number 38 and music.

40msf59
Out 6, 2012, 2:40 pm

Benita- "Can't you admit that there might be a vulnerability someplace?" Oh, I have no problem admitting I'm vulnerable down yonder! And I'm glad a woman has that option. Since I am a proper gentleman, I should never have to worry about that.

How far along are you? I'm starting chapter 16.

Valerie- Yes, Aomame's poor "asymmetrical boobs", and her nether regions are described as a "trampled soccer field" or something like that. Not sure what that means.
Oh goodie, more "testicle talk" coming!

Joe- " testicles get better treatment as the book goes on." Amen, my friend. Amen!

41Crazymamie
Out 6, 2012, 2:42 pm

Pretty sure the "trampled soccer field" was referring to her pubic hair, Mark! Just saying...

42benitastrnad
Editado: Out 6, 2012, 2:52 pm

Some time ago my book discussion group read Great Railway Bazaar and in that book Theroux raises the question about the Japanese and their sexual habits after going to a theatrical performance and finding it to live on-stage sex. He thought that perhaps this openness about sex was because the society was so repressed in other ways. Every time I read about sex in Murakami's books I think about that chapter in a book about a train trip. Perhaps Theroux is on to something and it does make me wonder.

43jolerie
Out 7, 2012, 2:39 am

DONE. :D *collapses at the end of the finish line*

44msf59
Editado: Out 7, 2012, 3:03 pm

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm reading the 3 volume set and just finished book 1, just under 400 pages. I'm enjoying it but it hasn't blown my socks off yet! I think I was more impressed with the trippy world of The wind-Up Bird, at this stage, although I still have a long long way to go.

Benita- I remember reading that section in Great Railway Bazaar. You made a very good point.

Valerie- Hooray! You are the first!

Does anyone else see the similarities between Aomame's irregular breast-size and the 2 different moons?

Has anyone heard of the Gilyak people, prior to reading this? I had not. Fascinating ethnic group.



45benitastrnad
Out 8, 2012, 11:33 am

I started reading before you and I am not yet finished with book 1. What gives?

The two moons thing is interesting. I know that several authors use the two moons as a symbol for something, but am not sure what. Guy Gavriel Kay has two moons in almost every book he writes and sometimes that one fact is the only thing that makes his books fantasy. I certainly thought that about his Under Heaven as it seemed like it might be magical realism in a few places, but other than that it was straight historical fiction. In that book the only time two moons was mentioned was in a poem. But it was there.

I also found it interesting that in this first "book" there haven't been any major cats. Instead there is a dog - A dog trained to hate men except for the bodyguard. Where are the cats? After Kafka and Wind-up I expected to see cats.

I had not heard of the Gilyak people, but I did know about the dispute over Sakhalin Island. The Japanese claim it because geologically it is part of the same chain as the rest of the Japanese Islands. I also knew about it because at the end of WWII the Russians attacked it and the Japanese claim it as an invasion of the Japanese homeland. I also knew about the colonization of it with Japanese people. I did not know that many of them were actually Korean. I suspect I will learn more about this as I read more in the book.

46msf59
Editado: Out 8, 2012, 10:03 pm

I agree with you Benita. The cats are MIA so far!

I'm closing in on the halfway mark. I should be past it tomorrow.

Quick question: I'm reading the 3-volume edition. The chapters start over in the 2nd volume. Is this how it is in the hardback too?

Hope everyone is coming along okay!

47jolerie
Editado: Out 8, 2012, 11:27 pm

Yup, the chapters start over in the HB version as well, but the page numbers continue.

ETA: Don't worry. The cats come out eventually....

48AnneDC
Out 9, 2012, 9:15 am

I'm closing in on the end of the first book. This is my first Murakami and I am really enjoying it. I love the way the two narratives start to intersect in places.

On page numbers--in Chapter 16 Tengo has a dream where the pages of a musical score are scattered by the wind and he has to gather them and rearrange them in order. It made me think of the odd numbering. Maybe Murukami is suggesting that the narrative was reassembled in the wrong order, or that narrative sequence is somewhat arbitrary.

49benitastrnad
Editado: Out 9, 2012, 6:05 pm

I have read several Murakami books and the idea of history and collective memory is one thread that runs through most of his books. on page 257 of my copy (I have the hardbound behemoth) of 1Q84 I found this quote. Tengo is speaking. "Our memory is made up of our individual memories and our collective memories. The two are intimately linked. And history is our collective memory. If our collective memory is taken from us - is rewritten - we lose the ability to sustain our true selves."

In Wind-up Bird Chronicle, there is long section about the Japanese in Mongolia and northern Manchuria. In this book part of the story includes the Japanese on Sakhalin Island. The story of the settling of both of these areas by the Japanese in the early part of the 20th Century has been repressed in Japanese history. In fact there was quite a furor in Japan a few years ago when a new high school history textbook downplayed the war against China. Part of the story in Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was the fact that some of the people who were involved in Mongolia could not tell their story because the history of those events had been repressed. I wonder how this thread about Sakhalin Island will play out in this book? Will it develop the same way that the thread in WUBC did?

Mark - was it a year ago that we did the group read of WUBC? Or longer? I think somehow you have done a group read of a Murakami book almost every year. But I might be wrong.

50vivians
Out 10, 2012, 10:22 am

This is my first Murakami and my first contemporary Japanese novel. I'm just at the beginning of Book 2 and find myself trying to grab every moment I can to listen to it. Too bad work gets in the way.

I'm fascinated by the way Western culture plays such a significant role so far in both narratives. Whether it is music (Janacek and others), literature (Chekhov's Sakhalin Island and also his quote about using a gun), even popular culture (Sonny & Cher references!), the characters are well acquainted with our culture.

Both Tengo and Aomame are so skillfully and gradually exposed - I really love the way he has the readers learn to know these characters. Any recommendations for which Murakami should be next on my list?

51jnwelch
Editado: Out 10, 2012, 11:01 am

>50 vivians: I love them all, but Windup Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore are particularly amazing. His short stories are excellent, too, and I'm especially partial to After the Quake.

52benitastrnad
Out 10, 2012, 9:53 pm

#50
I think that Kafka on the Shore is the best of his novels that I have read so far. I liked Windup Bird Chronicle, but so far think that I would rank 1Q84 a higher than it. The one novel of his that I have read that I did not think was outstanding was Norwegian Wood and it is the book that made him a literary star. I think that it is very "Japanese" in its outlook with more cultural references to the turbulent times of the student riots in the late 60's and early 70's. That is a period of Japanese history about which I am a little less knowledgeable and so perhaps therein is the reason the book didn't work as well for me as it would have to somebody from Japan. I do want to watch the movie version of the book as perhaps this would help me to understand the book a little better. I too liked the short story collection After the Quake.

I found another reference to that collective memory and the rewriting of history thing. On page 293 of my hardbacked copy there was this reference when Ayumi says to Aomame about historic massacre "The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even forget what they did. They can turn away from things they don't want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They can't turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child. That's what the world is, after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories." I think this is a clear reference to what is going on in Japan with the controversy about whitewashing history.

53msf59
Out 11, 2012, 8:29 am

"Time for the cats to come"

Well, we got our wish. Not only a cat but a "Town of Cats". Another creepy, surreal detour by Murakami.

Question: I know sex plays a role in Murakami's work, but has he ever been this graphic? A know the (male) Japanese are known for their sexual fetishes, but this is pretty disturbing imagery. He also seems to have a fascination with large boobs. Well, I do too, so never mind.

I love this:

"Everything ended in silence. The beasts and spirits heaved a deep breath, broke up their encirclement, and returned to the depths of a forest that had lost its heart."

54msf59
Out 11, 2012, 8:41 am

Benita- This is my 3rd Murakami Group Read. I started with Norwegian Wood, which I liked much more than you, plus it was 300 pages. That's a bonus, right? My 2nd was The Wind-Up Bird, which compares to this one on several levels, although I preferred the 1st half that one and so far, prefer the 2nd half of this one.
Thanks for sharing the Ayumi quote. I liked that one too!

Vivian- I'm so glad you are able to join us. This might not be the best place to start with Murakami but I'm so happy you are enjoying it.
And yes, his books are loaded with Western culture, of course filtered through his distinctive Asian lens. I particularly love his factuation with music.

Joe- I'm also a fan of After the Quake. I NEED to read more of his SS work.

55benitastrnad
Out 11, 2012, 12:58 pm

It is not that I disliked Norwegian Wood, it is more that I failed to understand why it was such a sensation in Japan. It is good, but enough to make an author a superstar? Of course, Murakami is quite a character and that adds to whole package. I believe that is what he might be referring to in this book when Komatsu talks about all the things that will make Fuka-Eri a sensation in the media. I read someplace that the public intruded into Murakami's life so much that he had to sell his jazz club in Tokyo. He felt that the public was coming just to see him, and hope that he was there, rather than to hear the music. I will have to look this up and see what more I can find out regarding his jazz club.

56msf59
Editado: Out 11, 2012, 1:05 pm



I had never seen a Zelkova tree! Nice!

I'm nearly finished with Book 2. Yah!

57jnwelch
Out 11, 2012, 1:25 pm

I'm with Benita on Norwegian Wood. It was fine, but why was it such a hit in Japan? To me it's the weakest of his novels. I liked Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The Wild Sheep Chase and the other novels a lot more. Norwegian Wood is his least complex work, but it resonated hugely with young Japanese.

58msf59
Editado: Out 11, 2012, 2:32 pm



"But this bright moon, hanging in the early-autumn night sky, had sharp, clear outlines and introspective warmth characteristic of this season. It's calm, natural glow had the power to soothe and heal the heart like the flow of clear water or the gentle stirring of tree leaves."

"The Moon was as taciturn as ever. But it was no longer alone."

59benitastrnad
Out 11, 2012, 5:35 pm

#58
I just started book 2. Even when I start reading a book before you I end up behind you. I am enjoying this book and know that I will finish it, but it may take me more than the month of October to do it.

I noticed that the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature was announced to day. Once again it was not Murakami. Why? This is an author with an international following, so he obviously has an influence world wide. Maybe he is too popular?

60benitastrnad
Out 12, 2012, 6:52 pm

I got some time to read during lunch today, but since I only get 1/2 hour on Friday's I only got one more chapter read. Unless this book picks up this is not going to be what I consider Murakami's best work. In my opinion he spends far too much time telling us about sexual exploits and is too concerned with testicles in this book. The minute descriptions of what Tengo does everyday are especially galling. (as in a constant detail of somebody doing nothing and then repeating it.) Do I care what he eats for breakfast. Couldn't Murakami just tell me that Tengo went to a restaurant and had breakfast instead of telling me that he had toast and a hard boiled egg, and then when it came to the table he ate it? I like Tengo as a character but the portions of his story are so detailed as to be excruciating. I want to scream to just get on with the story. In contrast Aomame's story seems to move along at a little faster pace.

61msf59
Out 15, 2012, 6:48 am

Hey, everyone! Sure quiet over here. I hope everyone is so busy reading Murakami that they don't have a free second to spare.
I crossed the mighty 1,000 page mark and I have a 130 pages left. Yes, this author does take his time but I have to say I'm rarely bored with it.

Benita- Murakami LOVES his mundane details. He does this in all his books. It's just part of his style. He does back off the sex and testicle talk in the later parts of the book, if that's any consolation.

How is everyone else coming along?

62benitastrnad
Editado: Out 16, 2012, 9:58 am

At last cats - I got to the chapter about the town of cats, and where Aomame meets Leader.

I read about 50 pages this weekend and ran across a funny thing. The character Ushikawa (I think that is his name) translated it means Bull River. As soon as I read the description of him I realized that he was a character in Windup Bird Chronicle. Then yesterday my book discussion group met. We were to discuss Windup Bird Chronicle and one person mention the weird character "Bull River" and how weird he was. Since I had read WBC last summer with Mark I had opted to read 1Q84 instead. I told the group that this same character was in 1Q84. I wonder what the significance of this is?

I thought that it might be geographical, but according to Wikipedia there are five Bull Rivers. All of them in the Western Hemisphere. However, since this same character appears in two Murakami books I think he will continue to turn up.

Our book group meets at a local coffee shop and we were sitting outside by the front door. One person walked past to go into the coffee shop and he paused, then said he was disappointed that Murakami had not won the Nobel this year. We were surprised and had a short discussion about the popularity of Murakami among the coffee shop intellectual crowd. It was fun, but also fun to see that this is an author who has a wide audience.

The book discussion group and I had a fun time talking about the reoccurring themes in Murakami's work. We spent a great deal of time on the meaning of history and memories to an individual and to society.

63benitastrnad
Out 16, 2012, 9:59 am

Things are finally starting to move along. I am now on about page 450 and finally some action. I hope to be able to read during my lunch hour today.

64benitastrnad
Out 17, 2012, 7:00 pm

I am about 500 pages into this book and beginning to wonder about it. It seems to me that sex is everywhere in this book and that so far it doesn't have much reason to be there. I just finished the part where Tengo and Fuka-Eri did their thing and I am sure that it has to have some meaning in the book somewhere. I know it is just the middle of the book but this book seems to be going nowhere at a very slow pace.

65benitastrnad
Out 17, 2012, 10:52 pm

1. Is anybody besides me still reading this behemouth?

2. I was so bothered by the treading through mud feeling that this book is giving me that I looked up some book reviews of it in an attempt to try to understand what this book is about. In the New York Review of Books I found a reviewer who had this to say about the idea of parallel worlds and Murakami's style.

"In this book, Murakami, who is nothing if not ambitious, has created a kind of alternative world, a mirror of ours, reversed. Even the book’s design emphasizes that mirroring: as you turn the pages, the page numbers climb or drop in succession along the margins, with the sequential numerals on one side in normal display type but mirror-reversed on the facing page. At one point, a character argues against the existence of a parallel world, but the two main characters in 1Q84 (Q=”a world that bears a question”) are absolutely convinced that they live not in a parallel world but in a replica one, where they do not want to be. The world we had is gone, and all we have now is a simulacrum, a fake, of the world we once had. “At some point in time,” a character muses, “the world I knew either vanished or withdrew, and another world came to take its place.”

This idea, which used to be the province of science fiction and French critical theory, is now in the mainstream, and it has created a new mode of fiction—Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City is another recent example—that I would call “Unrealism.” Unrealism reflects an entire generation’s conviction that the world they have inherited is a crummy second-rate duplicate.

The word “realism” is a key descriptive term that readers often apply to certain works of literature without any general agreement about what it actually means. After all, if we cannot agree about what reality is, then why should we agree about what realism is, either? The entire topic dissolves quickly because its scope becomes too large and its outlines too indefinable to be particularly useful. Much of the time, we can talk about fiction without having to take a stand on what is real and what isn’t, although we do sometimes say that this or that event or character is “implausible” or “fantastical,” thereby rescuing truth-value for the plausible and the everyday.

Murakami’s novels, stories, and nonfiction refuse to make such distinctions, or, rather, they display, often very bravely and beautifully, the pull of the unreal and the fantastical on ordinary citizens who, unable to bear the world they have been given, desperately wish to go somewhere else. The resulting narratives conform to what I have called Unrealism. In Unrealism, characters join cults. They believe in the apocalypse and Armageddon, or they go down various rabbit holes and arrive in what Murakami himself, in a bow to Lewis Carroll, calls Wonderland. They long for the end times. Magical thinking dominates. Not everyone wants to be in such a dislocated locale, and the novels are often about heroic efforts to get out of Wonderland, but it is a primary destination site, like Las Vegas. As one character in 1Q84 says, “Everybody needs some kind of fantasy to go on living, don’t you think?”

1Q84 is a vast narrative inquiry into the fantasies that bind its dramatis personae to this world and the ones that loosen them from it."

This morning I was aggravated by this book because it seemed to me to "feel" much like Norwegian Wood. The casual almost gratuitous constant mention of sex reminded me so much of Norwegian Wood where there was this feeling of alienation but not really, so that as a reader I ended up thinking that these people were so ambivalent that they would be stuck in a grey world for all of their lives. After reading that quote from the New York Review of Books review I realized that I was might be right and that ambivalence and alienation were what that book was about. It is probably also what 1Q84 is about as well.

66CGlanovsky
Editado: Out 19, 2012, 10:54 am

Mensagem removida pelo autor.

67msf59
Out 19, 2012, 12:31 pm

Benita- Sorry, I didn't mean to abandon you. Sometimes just keeping up on my own thread, hogs a nice chunk of my time.
Thanks for all the useful info. I hope you hang in there and finish it out. Personally, I think it gets better in the 2nd half, ending with a very satisfying conclusion. Besides the sex, I don't see many comparisons with Norwegian Wood.

I finished it a couple days ago and really enjoyed it. 4 stars from me.

I love the Tamaru character! And think we should have a Tamaru Fan-Club!

Does CGlanovsky (post 66) not like us?

68vivians
Out 19, 2012, 2:15 pm

Finally finished! My audio recording had an interesting dialogue at the end between the two translators (one for book 1 and 2 and the other for book 3). They spoke a lot about their interest in Japanese literature and their actual methods of work. They also both referred to the reclusive nature of Murakami and their general inability to use him as a resource (he often ignored their questions and rarely responded to specific queries to clarify his writing.) I was surprised that it could be so difficult dealing with a living author.

I did enjoy reading it despite my impatience at times with the repetition. I think the characters will stay with me, as will the image of the two moons. I was frustrated with the character of Fukada ("Leader") and thought that his transition from intelligent, thoughtful academic to religious fanatic was not sufficiently explained (except via the Little People mystery).

69Crazymamie
Out 19, 2012, 8:33 pm

I'm still reading, Benita - I'm about half way through, and this is my first Murakami so I cannot compare it to his others. I am liking it so far, but at times the dialogue feels a bit wooden to me. Still, an intriguing story and very readable.

70ronincats
Out 20, 2012, 3:52 pm

I finished last night, but this is the first time I've had internet access since Tuesday. The first part moved very slowly for me, also. The prose seemed almost telegraphic at times, but actually, I enjoyed hearing what Tengo was cooking--it made me hungry!

Why is Aomame referred to throughout by her familial name instead of her personal name? I didn't realize this until it was giving the names of her other family members.

I'll be very interested in discussing the entire book when more people have finished.

71msf59
Out 20, 2012, 10:11 pm

Vivian & Roni- Congrats on finishing! I agree that it's not always perfect but there was an almost hypnotic drive to continue. Like Murakami puts the reader in a trance.

Mamie- I think some of the dialogue and the prose is meant to be mundane. It's his style in many of his books!

Come on, guys! We are at the 3 week mark!

72msf59
Editado: Out 21, 2012, 9:36 am

**Here is my review. There are no spoilers.



“It’s a Barnum and Bailey world,
Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believe in me…”

Okay, we begin in Tokyo, 1984. A taxi ride on a busy expressway. A young woman named Aomame, climbs out of the vehicle, walks the narrow shoulder and descends an emergency set of stairs. She has now entered 1Q84. An alternate world, where things look the same but on second glance, are not. Here, two moons hang in the sky.
Now, we meet Tengo, a quiet aspiring young writer and math teacher. He is asked to take on a ghost-writing project, which leads him into a few dark mysterious corners.
The parallel paths of this couple, is our journey, twisting through a labyrinth of magic, suspense, sex and murder, where both worlds and both young lives are on a fated collision course.
This is not always an easy read. In the usual Murakami fashion, it is filled with the most mundane details but the author’s unique narrative style, is almost hypnotic as it pulls the reader along for a thousand pages, ending in a very satisfactory manner.
Fans of Murakami should be pleased. Newcomers might want to stay off that emergency set of stairs and start one of his earlier novels instead.

73AnneDC
Out 25, 2012, 12:05 pm

Yahoo I just finished!

Nice review, Mark. I'm a Murakami newcomer myself but the the only thing I found possibly daunting about 1Q84 as an entry point was the length (!). Other than that, I found it an enjoyable introduction to Murakami and I plan to read more.

74benitastrnad
Out 25, 2012, 7:15 pm

I am on page 670 and will be going home to read tonight. I hope to finish this one this weekend. It is a good book, but it took way too long to get going. So far I don't think this is Murakami's strongest work. But it has been interesting.

75benitastrnad
Out 29, 2012, 10:01 am

Still plodding away on this book. I have reached page 800 so perhaps will finish by the end of the month. All of you guys have been right about the book picking up the pace at the end. That makes it much easier to read.

76msf59
Out 29, 2012, 8:06 pm

Go Benita! Go Benita!

77benitastrnad
Out 30, 2012, 10:55 am

Last night I was sitting in the Birmingham airport and reading this book. A young man came and sat down on the end of the same bench. I was waiting for my Mom to arrive so was looking up and watching the steps from time-to-time. When I did so he asked me if I was enjoying that book? We started talking about Murakami and he said that he had purchased this book because he had read Murakami's short stories and liked them, so when this book came out he purchased it thinking it would be the same as the short stories. However, he said that he didn't even get to the end of Book 1 before he quit reading. I explained to him that the book was definitely slow going at the beginning and that it did pick up later on in the book. He said that he didn't have time to wait that long for the book to develop. I told him that it was like reading Proust. Everybody I have talked to as a reader says that Proust is so slow to develop and gets lost in minutia. In fact, one of the characters in 1Q84 spent three months locked in an apartment reading Proust everyday. As I was saying this is struck me that perhaps Murakami is indeed mimicking Proust, (or at least channeling him), on purpose. Has anybody reading this book ever read Proust and can tell me if Murakami is doing that?

I am now on page 820, so am closing in on the end. Will I get done in time to get started on Team of Rivals on November 1? I doubt it, but I will finish this book.

78jolerie
Editado: Out 30, 2012, 1:39 pm

I haven't read any Proust, but reading 1Q84 definitely made me all curious about the books! Maybe at some point when I'm feeling really ambitious? :)

Another thing that I'm curious about is what kind of of stretching exercises is Aomame doing that she is sweating through them?? Sounds super strenuous, painful, but in a good kind of way...haha! My head is drifting in that direction because I'm going in for my first Chiro appt. later this afternoon. Kind of nervous...

79avatiakh
Out 31, 2012, 12:01 am

I've avoided coming and reading this thread as I did a marathon read these past few days and have just finished. I was really drawn into the book right from the word go, I loved the weirdness of the world they found themselves in. I'll join the Tamaru fan club, what an efficient guy but also found the character, Ushikawa to be fascinatingly grotesque.
I loved the idea of the 'Town of Cats' and ended up googling the phrase to see if there was an actual story, and came across so many mentions of it with regards to 1Q84, it definitely has a lot of fans. There is even a separate entry on GoodReads & here for Town of Cats. My daughter read the New Yorker excerpt and really enjoyed the idea as well.
This was my third Murakami, I read Norwegian Wood a few years ago and really enjoyed it, then earlier this year listened to an audio of Kafka on the Shore.

80calm
Out 31, 2012, 6:20 am

I finished 1Q84 this morning, I really liked it:) Still need to process my thoughts and then I'll come back and see what other people think about it.

Just thought I would share this - I borrowed my copy from the library and about half way through Book Three someone had left a newspaper clipping of a lunar eclipse which I thought was both apt and bizarre. I think I will leave it in the book for the next reader:)

81avatiakh
Out 31, 2012, 4:02 pm

Hi Calm - good to see that you managed to read it in time for the month's end. I think we both found it quite a good book for focused reading. I was quite happy to put all my other books to one side for this one, and would have carried it everywhere with me except for the size.
I loved the way he wrote about the moon/s. That's great about the news clipping, do leave it in. I sometimes find a clipping in a used book that relates to the author or a review.

I read that in Japan, the first two volumes were published at the same time and then the third vol came out a year later which is why it was published in English as Bk1 & Bk2 together and Bk3 on it's own.

82benitastrnad
Out 31, 2012, 4:18 pm

I love the idea of leaving the moon article in the library book. The next reader will get added value.

83msf59
Nov 1, 2012, 8:54 pm

Yah, more people crossing the finish line. Hooray!

Kerry- I still have not tried any of Murakami's fiction on audio, just his running memoir. I'll have to sample it at some point.

84avatiakh
Nov 1, 2012, 9:17 pm

The narrators were excellent, the main one, Oliver Le Sueur for Kafka, just struck the right note for me. Perfect for a reread if you have the space in your reading schedule.

85benitastrnad
Nov 3, 2012, 12:38 pm

I finished the book last night and liked the ending, but I didn't. By that I mean that the book must be more like Proust than anything else, because at the end I found myself saying "all those pages for this?" However, as Mark said it was a satisfying ending and perhaps with this book it is not the end but the journey?