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| 1Q84 |
Just finished Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84”, and HOLY HELL was it GOOD! This is the fourth book I’ve read by him, and it is without a doubt my favorite one yet! The story of the two star-crossed (moon crossed, rather) romantics Aomame and Tengo fighting against distance, time and unfortunate events to meet one another laid against the surreal backdrop of other-worldy “little people” who control the world behind the veil of a mysterious cult is a mysterious, engaging and totally exciting tome of EPIC proportions!
The book takes its time to introduce and flesh out the main characters with so much care that you come to really love them, from the main characters of Aomame, Tengo and the precocious 17 year old scene-stealer Fuka-Eri down to the wizened Dowager and her kind but gruff bodyguard Tamaru and even Tengo’s outspoken Editor Komatsu, their personalities just leap off the page and make you want to read MORE!
I can’t remember a time when a book thoroughly entertained me so much- the pages of my book are now full of post-its marking some of my favorite scenes and quotes, some intriguing, some hilarious, and some just every beautiful and poetic passages. Leaving those stuck there so I can refer back and read them from time to time!
After finishing up the book which ended with one of the most SATISFYING CONCLUSIONS yet, I was sorely in need of more 1Q84, and so went online to read up more about it. It was here I found that there is quite a bit of appreciation for this novel by people all over, and some of the artier ones have even taken the time to ILLUSTRATE their versions of what the characters and the world of 1Q48 looked like through THEIR eyes! Some samples:
The Two Moons theme and portraits of Tengo and Amame ruled the web:
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| Fan Art: Tengo and Aomame |
not to mention lots of cool and moody depictions of FukaEri…
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| Fan Art: Fuka Eri |
A few people latched on to the wonderful scene where Tengo is sitting on the top of a slide in a playground at night looking at the moons while Aomame watches him...
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| Fan Art: Tengo Looking at the Moons |
and more drew upon the scene where Aomame got out of her taxi and climbed down the emergency escape of the trafffic-clogged Autobahn, leaving 1984 and stepping into the new mysterious world of 1Q84…
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| Fan Art: Aomame in the Taxi |
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| Fan Art: Aomame Descending the Stairwell |
And who can forget the spellbinding scene of the "Little People" spinning their "Air Chrysalis" with Fuka Eri?
All these and MANY MORE drawings are scattered ALL OVER GoogleImages!
Another thing that I found so fascinating : Haruki Murakami writes his stories with such detail that I would find myself wanting to look up what some of the things he referred to actually looked like: Aomame’s Green Junko Shimada dress. The Esso “Tiger In Your Tank” Billboard which figured prominently in the backdrop of the important scenes.The Autobahn which Aomame used to climb down from, etc…and guess what? when you typed in “1Q84 into the image search engine, ALL of these images came up with it! It seems there were a LOT of people looking up these images after reading his book!
Now it’s off to the bookstore once again because I’m going to need another book to fill the void 1Q84 has left- hope the next one can even come close-this was one really terrific tale!
PS: Funny, I never realized until someone mentioned it online, the title makes a lot more sense when you read it in Japanese, as "9" is pronounced "Kyu", so the book in Japanese is called "Ichi-Q-Hachi-Yon", a very punny title indeed!
PPS: Just found out the designer behind the awesome 1Q84 American Release cover (which I showed a bit of here) was none other than Chip Kidd, the guy who had designed the recent Charlie Brown and Peanuts hardcover volumes! VERY nice work!!!
PPPS: Reading the Wikipedia page, very interesting to realize that in the Japanese version, "Air Chrysalis" is written as "Kuki Sanagi"... So, that means that Inazuman's morph stage was actually called CHRYSALIS MAN? I always thought Inazuman kind of looked like a moth, but Chrysalis Man? That's disgusting! No wonder they wrote that character out in the second season! LOL
PPPPS: Just came back from Ala Moana's Barnes & Nobles, and it looks like Murakami's famous "Norwegian Wood" novel is going to be my next read! Saw it on the shelf and just felt in my heart that this was the one!
Hmm, and after I read this I think it'll be time to watch the Rinko Kikuchi/Kenichi Matsuyama movie as well! Already got it downloaded and ready to go!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com