1Q84: The Complete Trilogy

Strange but fascinating tale. The book has over 1000 pages, so it is much easier to read on Kindle!

This trilogy is unlike anything I've read previously and it's certainly a refreshing and rewarding read in many ways. I did, occasionally, find it a little like a Tarantino movie, with some scenes going on just a little too long, leaving me hoping that things would get a move on. However, just as I thought I might give up, there was another twist and my attention was re-engaged. This was my first Murakami novel - probably won't be my last - so I don't know if the things I viewed as being a little overdone - lots of navel-gazing, constant use of simile, for example - are the norm in his books. Overall, I'm glad I read this trilogy, and I can imagine it being turned into an excellent movie (perhaps by someone with great visual imagination, like Denis Villeneuve) that I would definitely look forward to watching. If you're a fan of reading, then this is certainly one (or three) to put on your list.

Having read and adored Wind-up Bird Chronicles, I decided I wanted to lose myself again in the immersive surreal world of Murakami. What best than reading his second oceanic novel 19Q4? I was not disappointed. What an amazing story! Beautiful and gripping like a mad, transcendental thriller! A woman-assassin, an enigmatic dowager, a dodgy powerful cult, a eerie teenager-author of a weird best-seller...The list of what makes this novel a superb and incomparable masterpiece is long...it is packed-full of moments and images forever engraved in my imagination. For the first half I could hardly believe that Murakami could carry on at that level of 'amazing' for 1320 pages! But alas towards the middle, at some point, yes, the oversized novel starts to show its flab. It probably starts to sag when the chapters with Ushikawa are introduced. This flawed character might be needed to make the plot move on but dwelling that much on him also terribly slows it down, paradoxically. The alternate chapters of Tengo/Aomane/Ushikawa then also start to often cover the same events from each character's point of view. Bit tedious for the reader. It really feels like that the second half would have greatly benefited from a taut and strict editing. Instead, the plot wades in many instances of disgressions or excessive divagations. It is a great pity because it is an heroic, fantastic novel in so many ways. By over-dwelling on certain passages Murakami has undermined his own masterpiece. The ending, I could say, is also a little problematic and underwhelming after a build-up of 1320 pages! Of course you can't have a rational, neat resolve to a mostly irrational story but still. Quite a few threads are left hanging that after such lengths, lyou'd hope squarrely finalised. But nevertheless, in spite of its little flaws here and there, it would be silly to rate 19Q4 at anything else than 5 stars as it surpasses by such long way (not in size but in quality of course!) any novel you can currently read! Reading his prose is like sliding into a magic, effortless parallel world indeed. Murakami is a true writer everyone should read rather than waste time (like I do too!) with mini-author-egos freshly out of a 'creative writing course'. A not perfect but wonderful masterpiece.

The book left me totally unable to guess what would happen next. It is a mix of genres with characters that involve you. Good description where it is needed. Would make my list of top recommendations to read

Fantastic surreal book, I purchased 3 more Murakami books on the back of it.

"1Q84: The Complete Trilogy" is an enthralling and thought-provoking masterpiece by the renowned Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. This monumental work compiles all three volumes of the "1Q84" series into one epic saga that takes readers on a surreal and emotionally charged journey through an alternate reality. Set in Tokyo in 1984, the story follows the lives of two protagonists, Aomame and Tengo, whose fates become irrevocably intertwined after a chance encounter. Murakami's prose is hauntingly beautiful and exquisitely detailed, immersing readers in a world that seems at once familiar and yet profoundly strange. One of the most captivating aspects of "1Q84" is its ability to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. As the characters navigate this alternate Tokyo, readers are left questioning the nature of existence, the power of perception, and the thin veil that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. Murakami masterfully explores themes of identity, loneliness, and the search for meaning in a world that often feels inexplicable.

I usually take forever to finish a book. However IQ84 is genius. I found myself wanted to get home from work and find out what was going to happen next. The imagination to write something like this is just astounding and I each time I read the next chapter I felt I was there with the characters. This book has led me to buy every single one of murakamis books. I can’t get this out of my head even though I read it over a year ago

I found this a weird, disjointed tale that promised a lot but ultimately fizzled out. At 1200 pages it's a big read and I kept hoping there was time.for things to pull together. The translation also interrupted my enjoyment as it was very American English. Things were 'gotten ahold of' rather a lot for example. To my taste quite a lot was overwritten too, with a florid style when a more concise approach might have been better. I don't want to write too much about the narrative but I found a lot of the fairly graphic sex scenes irrelevant to the story. Some of the characters faded in only to fade out again in an unresolved manner, as if the author had changed his mind about their role in the tale. On a more positive note, there's a powerful and strange imagination at work and I was tantalised by some of the themes that appeared ghostlike through the narrative fog. What a shame that for me at least the fog never really lifted enough to make the most of it. I bought the Kindle version of the book on a whim and paid £3.99 or something like that. I wouldn't really want to pay any more than that.