The hardback edition of 1Q84 was always going to be one of the highlights of this year’s reading list, so however good or bad it turned out to be I was going to make a big deal about picking it up and savouring every page. You can’t get New Book Smell from a Kindle, either.
I’ve seen Orwell comparisons frequently mentioned but unless I’m missing something really subtly woven in to the structure or prose, Murakami hasn’t gone down the homage or pastiche route here. Beyond a couple of passing references to the date in which the events take place, there isn’t much in this novel that’s Orwellian at all; although it’s been a number of years since I read Nineteen Eighty-Four this is just another Murakami novel as far as I can tell.
I’m not suggesting it’s necessarily overrated. ‘Just another Murakami novel’ is still a very special event, but this was given a build-up that had me wondering if it’s his magnum opus like some replacement for The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Interestingly, the English language editions of book 1/2 and book 3 were released closer together than those of the Japanese ones so I was spared from waiting a whole year to read its conclusion (employing a different translators for each seemed like a bit of a strange decision to me though, and I still wonder why it happened that way).
The shift in pace and emphasis between the second and third volumes doesn’t really lend itself well to a long intermission anyway, so I reckon it would’ve been harder to pick the threads back up if I had to wait longer than I did. Book 3 tells the story from three viewpoints rather than just two but even so, there’s a lot of introspection and waiting around on the part of the characters.
Murakami’s writing style usually seems immune from feeling like a waste of time to me, but this was one of the rare occasions when I wished his editor had been a bit more firm and trimmed down certain segments. The meandering prose and painstaking attention to fleshing out even the incidental details normally enhances the experience but I have to admit that the later chapters started to try my patience. Murakami is a very ‘atmospheric’ writer who aims to immerse the reader in his worldview, and I think he intentionally places the storyline second in importance to his quirky characters and settings.
A stumbling block for me with 1Q84 was that the link holding the entire affair together – namely that of the bond between Aomame and Tengo – was so tenuous. When they do finally meet it’s perfectly convincing, but it’s a bit of a stretch when they’re completely separated for the majority of their lives. Their bond seems to be the result of the cold metaphysical mechanics of fate rather than something warmer and more sentimental that existed between them so there wasn’t really enough for me to work with.
The supporting characters on the other hand are excellent: even Ushikawa, who starts off being memorable for all the wrong reasons but by the end begs for sympathy. When a character is painted as ugly, shifty and repulsive on every level, it’s true talent as a writer that makes that character relateable and human…and in this case Murakami has done it.
One fascinating aspect of Murakami’s character building is the way he presents the female ones (as an aside, it’s worth noting that Aomame is, as far as I can recall, the first female protagonist in his full-length novels): the star of the show here is the original Air Chrysalis novella’s writer, Fuka-Eri. Murakami has a knack of dreaming up some very odd and oddly fascinating female supporting characters – I’ve admitted my weakeness for them before – but damn…he’s excelled himself.
I have to say that the maza and dohta technobabble was interesting (considering how they sound like romanji for mother and daughter, I could speculate for ages about the terminology and symbolism in 1Q84‘s universe) but I’m convinced – or is that hopeful? – that Fuka-Eri isn’t strange for strangeness’ sake. Her peculiar mannerisms hint at a broken psyche but the scattering of clues throughout the novel made me want to believe that she’s a broken character who can be mended.
The main reason why I was glad to learn of the possibility that 1Q84 may someday be given a side-story or sequel is not just because a lot of the technobabble is unexplained – long-standing Murakami fans must be used to that by now! – but because someone as mesmerising as Fuka-Eri simply walks out of the picture to allow the resolution of the plot thread involving the two leads. Considering how not only Aomame and Tengo but Tengo’s father and poor old Ushikawa are given some sort of send-off, I actually felt a bit short-changed.
Maybe my sense of priorities or storytelling focus is off, but I felt quite disappointed that she was relegated to the status of mere plot device. I suppose you could argue that, because of the intervention of the Little People (if I understand the sequence of events correctly), she really is a character who is simply a vessel or channel but still…I suppose it’s a selfish wish on my part that the strange parallel world of 1Q84 had been a bit kinder to her.
When you’re dealing with a writer who is so unusual in how he or she conveys his or her ideas, perhaps it’s all too easy to get caught up in trivial aspects and miss the important ones. 1Q84 works on a number of levels I think: it’s a parallel universe-orientated mystery, social commentary (it delves deep into the issue of violence against women, and returns to the topic of religious cults of his non-fiction work Underground) and a romance…although the romantic aspect didn’t hit me as hard as it probably ought to have done.
Mindful of Murakami’s individual foibles and writing techniques, I still felt that 1Q84 contained more filler than was necessary and went a little too far in leaving loose plot threads unresolved. It’s a bit of a grey area in that I’m not sure whether it’s sloppy writing or my failure to grasp what it’s trying to say, but I do know that I’d appreciate a follow-up that rounds off or builds on the existing story. Until then, I’m feeling like I’ve been left hanging around in an unfamiliar place, feeling a little lost. Just like being in the Town of Cats.
Note: the original full-size version of the haunting Fuka-Eri fanart above is on Pixiv.