I came across Murakami at probably exactly the right time for me, and plunged headlong into his world; extemporanea supplies the (approximate) dates but in any case I vividly, blurrily remember that period of reading one after another, as soon as I could get my hands on them, back in that final year of university. Murakami's writing really resonated for me, and still does, but it's been a while since I read anything of his, despite being very much a re-reader of my favourite books - no particular reason, I guess, just the endless fullness of the days and nights nowadays.
Anyway, so, I got a Kindle (a gift from Jade) and 1Q84 seemed the right book to christen it with, and on top of that, since getting back from overseas, I've had the sensation - unfamiliar really for at least a year, and probably a fair bit longer - that there's actually a bit of space in my life, quite literally, in that not every single moment or hour seems spoken-for by some kind of activity or obligation (it won't last - I can already feel the pace of things picking up again), so it's a good time to be reading, and not only that, but to be reading Murakami again.
It has been a while, but not so long that many of his characteristic preoccupations aren't apparent - disappearing women, descents into other worlds, a focus on ears, metaphysically (and existentially) significant sex, characters who spend a lot of time in their own heads, cooking and listening to music, etc. One big change is that, unlike all of his other novels except the unsatisfying After Dark, it's written in the third person, alternating from the points of view of Aomame and Tengo and, in the third book, Ushikawa - it doesn't change the tone as much as might've been expected given that, with a couple of jarring exceptions late in the piece, it still stays very true to the internal, flow of consciousness (phenomenological) style that characterises Murakami's first person writing, and (this is neither a positive nor a negative per se) it somewhat breaks the sense of detachment that tends to suffuse his first-person narrators, allowing greater access into the inner lives and pasts of those central characters (which might initially seem counterintuitive, given that you might expect third-person to be more removed - but much less so once you take into account the special difficulties that come with a rigorous commitment to the perceptual 'immediacy' of the first person voice).
So, I certainly enjoyed 1Q84 - it's the first book I've read in a while that has made me want to hurry home from work for, so that I can continue reading it. And it has a flow to it, both of mood and of story, that carried me through - even though, in some ways, not all that much happens, and a lot is left unresolved (making me wonder if a book 4 could be in the offing at some point).
But the thing is, it's impossible to read 1Q84 without reference to everything else that Murakami has done in the past, and by that measure, it's something of a disappointment; it's not that he's just going through the motions, but it lacks the something else that really animated his best earlier books, whether because the book's moves are already familiar or (more likely, I think) this one just isn't quite as good as those others. It's hard to describe - I raced through 1Q84, and felt it touch me at times, but in the end, it didn't really take me anywhere new in the way I had hoped and almost expected. But having said all that, who knows? Murakami is a huge part of my literary landscape, both indirectly (in my own reading) and indirectly (by the influence he's had on so many others), and things may look different again when I come back to him, and to this one, again.
* * *
A Wild Sheep Chase (~ Feb '05, Feb '06)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (~ Feb-Mar '05, Dec '07)
Dance Dance Dance (~ Mar '05)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (~ Mar '05)
Kafka on the Shore (~ Mar '05)
Norwegian Wood (~ Mar '05)
After the Quake (~ Jun '05, Oct '07)
Sputnik Sweetheart (~ Jun-Jul '05)
South of the Border, West of the Sun (~ Jul '05)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (~ Aug '06)
After Dark (~ Jul '07)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (~ Oct '08)
Underground (~ Jan '09)
Anyway, so, I got a Kindle (a gift from Jade) and 1Q84 seemed the right book to christen it with, and on top of that, since getting back from overseas, I've had the sensation - unfamiliar really for at least a year, and probably a fair bit longer - that there's actually a bit of space in my life, quite literally, in that not every single moment or hour seems spoken-for by some kind of activity or obligation (it won't last - I can already feel the pace of things picking up again), so it's a good time to be reading, and not only that, but to be reading Murakami again.
It has been a while, but not so long that many of his characteristic preoccupations aren't apparent - disappearing women, descents into other worlds, a focus on ears, metaphysically (and existentially) significant sex, characters who spend a lot of time in their own heads, cooking and listening to music, etc. One big change is that, unlike all of his other novels except the unsatisfying After Dark, it's written in the third person, alternating from the points of view of Aomame and Tengo and, in the third book, Ushikawa - it doesn't change the tone as much as might've been expected given that, with a couple of jarring exceptions late in the piece, it still stays very true to the internal, flow of consciousness (phenomenological) style that characterises Murakami's first person writing, and (this is neither a positive nor a negative per se) it somewhat breaks the sense of detachment that tends to suffuse his first-person narrators, allowing greater access into the inner lives and pasts of those central characters (which might initially seem counterintuitive, given that you might expect third-person to be more removed - but much less so once you take into account the special difficulties that come with a rigorous commitment to the perceptual 'immediacy' of the first person voice).
So, I certainly enjoyed 1Q84 - it's the first book I've read in a while that has made me want to hurry home from work for, so that I can continue reading it. And it has a flow to it, both of mood and of story, that carried me through - even though, in some ways, not all that much happens, and a lot is left unresolved (making me wonder if a book 4 could be in the offing at some point).
But the thing is, it's impossible to read 1Q84 without reference to everything else that Murakami has done in the past, and by that measure, it's something of a disappointment; it's not that he's just going through the motions, but it lacks the something else that really animated his best earlier books, whether because the book's moves are already familiar or (more likely, I think) this one just isn't quite as good as those others. It's hard to describe - I raced through 1Q84, and felt it touch me at times, but in the end, it didn't really take me anywhere new in the way I had hoped and almost expected. But having said all that, who knows? Murakami is a huge part of my literary landscape, both indirectly (in my own reading) and indirectly (by the influence he's had on so many others), and things may look different again when I come back to him, and to this one, again.
* * *
A Wild Sheep Chase (~ Feb '05, Feb '06)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (~ Feb-Mar '05, Dec '07)
Dance Dance Dance (~ Mar '05)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (~ Mar '05)
Kafka on the Shore (~ Mar '05)
Norwegian Wood (~ Mar '05)
After the Quake (~ Jun '05, Oct '07)
Sputnik Sweetheart (~ Jun-Jul '05)
South of the Border, West of the Sun (~ Jul '05)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (~ Aug '06)
After Dark (~ Jul '07)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (~ Oct '08)
Underground (~ Jan '09)
