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This book changes my way of looking at "talents" in a new way; teaches me the concept of "deliberate practice" and most of all, hard work and certain sacrifices behind the story of most talents. ultimately, it's about knowing what we as individuals want to do, and what we believe in, then work hard ... (continue)
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1Q84
2 people find this helpful
Having waited for this book with much anticipation for more than a year, when the English translation finally came out I rushed to a bookshop to purchase it on the first day, and have never really wanted to put down the book for long.
I found myself enjoying 1Q84 perhaps even more than any of Murak ... (continue)
Having waited for this book with much anticipation for more than a year, when the English translation finally came out I rushed to a bookshop to purchase it on the first day, and have never really wanted to put down the book for long.
I found myself enjoying 1Q84 perhaps even more than any of Murakami's other work. As always, Murakami's work are very well translated and the prose flows extremely well, so I knew this would be a very readable book before turning the first page. But there are a few new elements in 1Q84 which makes me feel it is his best work to date. With its overriding storyline essentially being a love story of the two main characters, Aomame and Tengo, this book went on to explore a wide range of topics, from literature to religion, to good vs evil, to fictional vs reality. The range of topics covered is the widest thus far, and there is bound to be something for any reader to connect with.
To me, the key success of this book that puts it at a notch above his other work, is how Murakami carefully sets out the line between the "real" world of 1984 and his "fictional" world of 1Q84 at the outset of the story, and then cleverly makes connection between the two worlds, for example by associating the world of 1Q84 with "Air Chrysalis", the fiction that Tengo is working on in what was supposed to be 1984. As the story progresses, he lets the line between the two worlds get murky, and that's when the story gets really interesting. This way I feel guided by Murakami into his other world of 1Q84, and that brought me into the book much better (as opposed to some of his other work, where Murakami suddenly decided to venture into his fictional world unannounced, and sometimes that made me feel a bit lost with his story).
The narrative in a third person's point of view, with the main female and male characters, Aomame and Tengo taking turn to own each chapter also helps to make this book is also refreshing, and made the read even more addictive, especially as the characters are drawn closer to one another as the story develops.
Yes, the book is long, and some might say it's been unnecessarily prolonged by descriptions of everyday life, for example there are a number of passages which describes how the main male character, Tengo prepares himself dinner and the food he cooked. But to me, this all adds to the detail and the flow of the story, and helps create the precision and feel that are unique to Murakami's work.
The only part I did not find too convincing is how Tengo only became suddenly drawn to Aomame only at later stage of the story. To me, it all seems to appear out of the blue; when Tengo was recalling how Aomame came up to hold his hand, his first reaction was that of relief that they had not been seen by anyone, more than anything. I wish Murakami could have written a bit more about Tengo's feeling towards Aomame earlier in the story.
I can go on to talk much about this book, but thought my time would be better spent continuing with Book 3! Looking forward to carrying on with Murakami on this magical journey of 1Q84.
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