If you’re not a fan of his writing, just read this book, you will be. Absolutely every little thing in this book screams classic Murakami and if you are a fan of his writing you won’t be disappointed. Bach is also mentioned several times, and both Tengo and Fuka-Eri are fond of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It’s very simple.Īnother thing Murakami does well in his books is music, and from the first sentence, when we are listening to Janáček’s Sinfonietta music pervades this book. Stuff I understand perfectly doesn’t interest me. That’s the part of fiction I value more highly than anything else. There also has to be that ‘special something’, an indefinable quality, something I can’t quite put my finger on. Komatsu (Tengo’s agent) says it best when he says: But this surreal element is what Murakami does best. Or as Aomame puts it, “the bottle and the cap don’t fit.” As in all great Murakami novels everything is slightly skewed from the get go and things certainly become no clearer as the book progresses. Appropriate as this book is full of questions, and not many answers!) there are two moons, one smaller than the other, and everything seems to be that little bit different. In 1Q84 (the Q representing a question mark. It soon becomes clear to Aomame however that she is no longer even living in the real 1984 (the year the book is set, and yes, the book 1984 is mentioned throughout) but rather 1Q84 as she dubs it. All the while they are each seeking the other. As Tengo gets sucked into literary fraud (he ghostwrites a book for the precocious Fuka-Eri, called Air Chrysalis), Aomame gets sucked into the sinister world of religious cults and child abuse (namely the cult Sakigake, and Tsubasa, a ten-year old girl who is raped by The Leader).

Tengo is now a struggling writer and Aomame is a hired assassin.

The basic plot of the book, I say basic as there is layer upon layer on offer here, revolves around these two characters who once held hands in school at ten years of age. The two main characters are Aomame (pronounced ‘Ah-Oh-Mah-Meh’) meaning ‘green peas’ who has one very large ear and Tengo, a man with cauliflower ears. From the first mention of that classical FM broadcast right through to the last page, this book is a dream. Right from the very first sentence of this book it is obvious we are returning to classic Murakami. First Sentence: The taxi’s radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast.

1q84 book 2