Well goodness me - a book review! That means, yes, I have been reading books again. What a joy. Truly.
Anyway I had purchased Murakami's 1Q84 trilogy on my Kindle ages ago, having LOVED Murakami's other works ("A Wild Sheep Chase" and 'Dance Dance Dance"). His writing is so lyrical and so meditative. It is like being on Fijian Kava (the muscle relaxant) or like meditating.
1Q84 (a play on the fact that 9 in Japanese is pronounced like we pronounce the letter Q) tells the story of a girl/woman raised in a cultish religion, who escapes physically but never really emotionally or mentally and a boy/man who is raised by an unloving father, is a genius mathematician but wants to be an author.
The character development across these three novels is outstanding. And not just the two I describe above but the auxiliary characters like the 17 year old girl that writes a best seller novel but who can barely articulate, and the editor that publishes her book who has the confidence and chutzpah of the best, and the detective that grew up the 'ugly' one in a beautiful family and never feels worthy enough to be anything but an unworthy.
The story is gripping but in the lovely, slow, syrupy way so that it is pressing but not urgent to read on. It makes you want to savour every word and not rush ahead to find out what happens.
It is of Murakami's ilk - in that there is some out of this world concepts and actions.
In 1Q84 there are two moons - which is how our protagonists differentiate which world they are in. But it takes them a while to distinguish how 1984 is different to 1Q84.
I loved these books - I was so EXCITED when I saw that Apple was advertising their Ipads on the billboard across the Story Bridge with a Murakami book on the cover! It was like it was for me!
If you want some wonderful escapism and to be wooed into another beautiful world with deep, deep characters that are all so appealing, read these three books!
