1Q84

I tried to up my game, and read a bit more complicated and longer book than the ones before.  This time around, I went for a book suggested by my local bartender.  After a conversation about David Lynch films, I was told I might enjoy 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  Both in an attempt to impress the woman, as well as to just try something new, I went to my local library and started reading.

I will be doing some spoilers, but I’m trying to tone it down a bit here.

The book takes place in Japan in 1984.  It follows two characters who are very different from each other.  Aomame (Japanese for Green Bean) is a physical therapist, while Tengo is an attempting writer.  The book starts very normal, and the writer is apt at describing people, their clothing, and what they eat.  But, after Aomame has to get out of cab in the middle of the highway and climb down a set of stairs, the world starts to change.  At first its just little things.  Then bam, Aomame is also an assassin.

All of a sudden, the story speeds up and everything gets really interesting.  There’s the “little people” trying to influence the world, dog’s randomly explode, people vanish.  The stories of the two main characters, which start off having nothing in common, slowly have their stories intertwine.  So much so that we find out that they are destined lovers from the age of 10.  It gets super interesting and involved and I found it hard to put the book down.  Every chapter brought some new revelation, or a new mystery that I needed to get to the bottom of.

Then the last section happens, and I still can’t put the book down.  Now for a different reason though... I want it over.  The book slows down immensely.  The first two sections are exciting and really establish strong characters.  The characters are being proactive in their worlds.  But the third section, they’ve accomplished their goal, and now they are much more passive.  The main female, Aomame, becomes a love-sick puppy just sitting around crying.  While Tengo is searching for her, he’s kind of stumbling in the dark.  The last section goes from every chapter bringing up something new, to feeling much like “didn’t I just read this chapter?”

Still, I enjoyed the book.  It was fascinating, and while it was slow, the ending was still entertaining.  It was also fun to read a non-American style of writing.  The author’s descriptions were great, and his ability to reference other things was so interesting that I found myself looking up whatever he talked about.

So what were the themes?  Well, the book is an homage to 1984 by George Orwell.  A similar theme both have is the idea of rewriting history.  History is what is written and known.  Unlike George Orwell’s Big Brother, 1Q84 have the little people.  They have made small, insignificant changes, to history.  But these only changes have snowballed into major events, which have warped much of the world.  But something else that Murakami touches on is that it only works if you aren’t aware whose pulling the strings.  This new world begins to unravel when Tengo, without knowing, writes a novel that exposes the puppet masters.  I loved both concepts there, that you can change history and ones perception of reality, by making small changes here and there which a lot of big things.  E.g. the assassination of Franz Ferdinand isn’t that big of deal alone, but it is the incident that erupted WWII.  But this power only exists if people don’t know what you are doing.  Expose the liars, and the lies fall apart as well.

Another theme is destined love.  The two main characters met, for a moment, when they were 10 years old.  Since then, they have both been yearning for the other.  So much so, that neither can fully love another human being.  It’s cute, it’s romantic, it’s sappy.  I also hate it.  Maybe I’ve just never felt it yet, but I don’t believe in that type of love.  That’s not saying I don’t believe in love, but to basically be waiting my 2 decades of my life in hopes that someone I love just drops back into my world is ridiculous, and not healthy.  Now, there’s some mention that these two were chosen early... but we’re supposed to identify with them, the story is ours as well.  I just find this specific concept of love to be bogus.

Another thing the writer explores is this idea of ambiguity. The Little People in the book are ominous, but not necessarily evil.  They are seeking their own goals, but their goal isn’t necessarily vile.  They are willing to go out of their way to stop people from getting in their way, their long term goals don’t actually seem evil.  Also, many despicable characters aren’t even that bad.  The Leader is built up to be some horrendous man, and when you meet him he isn’t that bad of a guy.  Ushikawa is one of the major antagonists, but I never found myself hating the guy.  He might have been unethical, and I might have disliked the people he worked for, but I never disliked him.

Further exploring this ambiguity is this concept of people have two sides.  Again, neither side is evil, but they do seem to be operating differently for different goals.  The book was rife with imagery of doubles.  There are two main characters, and the book is split between the two.  There are two moons.  There are two cults.  Every person has two sides.  Neither side is described as better than the other, or worse, but they both are required.  Without one side, you aren’t complete.  To be full, you need both.

I feel like there is a lot more to this book, too.  Unfortunately, many of the references are beyond me.  With David Lynch’s material, there are plenty of Red Herrings, but there are tons of these tiny things, that if you understand the reference, so much more becomes clear.  Murakami mentions so many things throughout, and I feel so many were references that if I knew I might understand the book more.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do that much research, especially since I don’t know which is him showing off on how smart and well read he is, and how much are keys to hidden themes to the book.

The book was entertaining.  It’s a bestseller for a reason, and I would recommend reading it.  It’s a long book though, and has a lot going on.