‘1Q84: Books One and Two’ by Haruki Murakami

Let me begin by saying that this is a big book. Well, technically it is two books condensed into one unwieldy hardback volume, but it is certainly big in terms of the impact it makes, not unlike that of watching a new widescreen TV after your shitty old set spontaneously explodes. 1Q84 is uniformly intense and undeniably absorbing, boasting of all the wonderful qualities we have come to expect from Haruki Murakami.

Part homage to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and part epic meditation on the real world and its possible parallels, the English edition of 1Q84 (translated from the original Japanese by Jay Rubin) was published last month after enjoying a rapturous reception in the author's native Japan. When these first two segments of the story were published there, more than one million copies were sold within a month. Book Three followed one year later, and this separation of the volumes has been implemented by Murakami's UK publishers, though us lucky people only had to wait a week for its arrival. I have not yet read this concluding volume, though I have plans to do so imminently.

1Q84 follows the ostensibly separate lives of Aomame, a feisty professional assassin, and Tengo, a reclusive writer/mathematics tutor, both of whom live in the Tokyo area. Aomame deviates from many of the conventions of a heroine, while Tengo is a passive and stoic character. As the story progresses it becomes clear that Aomame's and Tengo's lives are not separate at all, and they are joined in more ways than even they realise. The universe they inhabit, the year 1Q84, is an altogether dystopian land reminiscent of that created by Orwell. It is a land where ten-year-old girls are raped by the leaders of bogus religious sects and where women are found naked and dead in plush hotel suites.

As fans of his will know, Murakami's work goes beyond simple storytelling; he creates an entire world that is as three-dimensional as a diorama. This is certainly true of 1Q84, for the prose is as subtly mesmeric as ever, and the world that the characters inhabit glitters with an almost science fiction-like sheen. It may take you a little longer to get through than the average novel (it did for me, at least), but you will be hard pressed to find a more pleasantly mind-boggling read.

This piece was originally published on alisonlaurabell.tumblr.com in November 2011.