Haruki Murakami's "1Q84"

Haruki Murakami's 1Q48

About 3/4ths of the way through Haruki Murakami’s book “1Q84”, and what an awesome, intriguing and totally SURREAL trip it is!

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, 1Q84 was the very first Haruki Murakami novel I ever saw- the striking cover of a steely eyed femme fatale staring out through the letters of the title was interesting to say the least! But it wasn’t until I heard a few of his stories on NPR and falling in love with them that I actually began looking for his books to read. As detailed earlier, the first book I read from him was “Dance Dance Dance” and then  “The Elephant Vanishes” and “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years Of Pilgrimage”, and now, finally I decided it was high time I got around to reading  the Haruki Murakami novel that had, for the longest time, been synonymous with his name

Murakami’s novels are always so strange and dreamlike that it’s hard to summarize the storyline in a paragraph, but here goes: 1Q84 tells the tale of two people, Aomame and Tengo:

Front Cover: Aomame

Aomame is a cool and methodical woman (the aforementioned “steely-eyed girl” in the cover) who is a loner who works as a muscle therapist by day…and as a sleek,  calm and collected assassin by night! Her choice of murder weapon is a sharp and perfectly honed icepick which she uses to stab a vein thru the back of the neck- if she does if jsut right, the victim will look like he’s only had a heart attack and no foul play is suspected.

On her way to one such mission, Aomame is waylaid because of a traffic jam and she opts to walk the rest of the way rather than sit in the unmoving taxi. As she makes her way to her destination, she notices an odd sight: there seems to be TWO moons hanging in the night sky. From this point on, there is a strange shift in what she believes is factual and what isn’t. She notices the policemen  in outfits she doesn’t recognize, carrying weapons she isn’t familiar with. When she speaks about it to others, however, they tell her that that’s how it’s been for awhile. Even worse, when she reads up on old news, events are reported that she didn’t remember happening. Is the world changing or is she becoming crazy?

Back Cover: Tengo

Tengo is a math cram School teacher by day who gets pressured by his boss to re-write a girl named Fuka Eri’s novel “Air Chrysalis” . It’s an engaging story but it needs some polish so they can enter it for consideration for the debut writers of the year award. Tengo meets up with Fuka Eri who is (in the great tradition of Haruki Murakami novels) a detached, morose girl who says nothing unless prompted, but they get along well, and through their working relationship, become close.

The story of Air Chrysalis itself is a story of a girl who is pursued by a bunch of mysterious creatures called “the Little People” who work at night doing strange and spooky things…and with their arrival is the appearance of Two Moons in the sky!

What is the connection between  Aomame’s two moons and the two moons of Fuka Eri’s story? What is her connection to Tengo and what is his connection to her? And just who or WHAT are the Little People? These questions and more are the reason I keep turning the pages of the book! And it seems the more that is revealed, the more that needs explaining! Better get back to it!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com