[Book Review] 1Q84

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1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Taking me more than a month to finish, this 1000-page-long tome by Murakami is surprisingly not a tedious read. Given the sheer length of the book, there were certainly moments when I wished the pace of the story was a tad quicker. Nevertheless, the author had managed to keep me interested from cover to cover and even drew a tear or two out of me toward the very end.

This is not a book preaching high morals or provoking deep thoughts. Instead, it is a philosophical examination into aspects of life that we often take for granted – in other words, a distinctively Murakami piece of work. With it Murakami did what he always does and did it well, mixing fantastical realities with realistic fantasies, and focusing on the existential concerns of the most common and bizarre characters. It is a tribute that Murakami pays to himself.

“Reality was utterly cool-headed and utterly lonely.”

“And the body is not the only target of rape. Violence does not always take visible form, and not all wounds gush blood.”

“If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.”

“Nobody’s easier to fool…than the person who is convinced that he is right.”

“…the kind of laugh that you could laugh forever but never end up happy.”

“The pursuer’s blind spot is that he never thinks he’s being pursued.”

“Totally isolated, yet the one place not tainted with loneliness.”

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