March Books That Did Not 'Make the Grade'

After reading such an engrossing novel such as 1Q84, it has been difficult to find any reading material that engages me in the same way.  I thought I had found two candidates but unfortunately, both of them did not make the grade.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland: I liked the storyline but the pace was too quick.  Without much of an introduction to this new world and the key point of the plot made in the first ten pages, there was nothing left to be desired.

Dented Cans by Heather Walsh:  The voice of the main character, a high school girl, is very realistic and easy to engage with but the way she goes on random tangents about her life and family lead me to believe I would have to read about mindless gossip and drama before the real storyline came into play. Overall, I felt it was not worth my time.

Hopefully April will be filled with more reading treasures! Happy Easter!

~Shelly-Beans

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Translators: Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel

Date of Publication: January 22, 2013

Memorable Quotation: “IQ84-That’s what I’ll call this new world, Aomame decided. Q is for question mark. A world that bears a question.” (pg.138)

Lasting Impression: Combining multitudes of genres to create a story of fate, love, death, and magical realism, 1Q84 is a massive undertaking in terms of length and depth that any reader will not soon forget.

Story-line: A

Pace of Story: A

Characters: A+

Ending: B

Overall Grade: A-

It is important to note that 1Q84 is not for the ill of heart.  It has been compared to The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and 1984 by George Orwell but this epic novel definitely stands on its own for its originality, depth of characters, and fluid writing style. A lengthy novel of over 1,100 pages, 1Q84 has two alternating storylines; one concerning Tengo Kawana, a cram school math teacher and the other concerning Aomame, a sports club physical trainer.  Under different circumstances, they each fall into the new world of 1Q84 (aptly named by Aomame) instead of 1984, where there are two moons and a bestselling fantasy novel, Air Chrysalis, actually contains classified information about a highly religious organization, Sakigake. As each of them adjust into this new world and try to find one another after twenty years, dangerous obstacles stand in their way of them reaching their goals. With only a few trusted companions and their own inner strength, they have to survive long enough to hopefully discover a way back to the real world and have the storybook ending they so deeply desire.

This novel took on so much in terms of storytelling and character development, but one of the best parts of 1Q84 is the combination of Murakami’s writing style and the translation of Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel.  The words flowed so evenly, so much so that the reader may forget (as I did many times) that they are reading a translated novel.  Because of this fluidity, it was so easy to become hypnotized by the events that took place and are swept away with the plot twists that keep the reader guessing until the very end.  The other beautiful aspect of Murakami’s writing is the way that 1Q84 is a love story, but that fact is not in your face.  I appreciated the way the he presented love with fate, and did not make it the focus of the story; it played an important part but you were not smothered by it.

The length, which most readers seemed to have a problem with, is a bittersweet subject for me.  I do not mind a long novel because the longer the novel is, the more opportunity the author has to test his characters in various scenarios to show their complexity and versatility.  On the other hand, staying at a consistent pace to keep the reader’s attention is very important in such a novel, but unfortunately in 1Q84, in the last two hundred pages, the story line becomes slower and you have to push to finish it. Please do not think that the story becomes less interesting and that is a reason not to read this amazing novel! What I mean is 80% of the novel is so fast paced sometimes you forget to breathe.  Slowly, everything slows down, and the new relaxed pace is a difficult adjustment to make after such a wild ride and especially since you are so close to the end.

The ending is good, but not great.  Throughout the entire novel, I could not figure out how everything would sort itself out but as the story started to relax and everything became more predictable, the ending (not a surprise) was conventional. Personally, I was hoping for something grandiose, but the fact that the ending is simple is not bad; it is merely personal preference. 

The biggest mistake Murakami makes in this novel, however, is not the length or the ending but the way he eliminates key characters as the story goes on, characters that are not given a follow-up after they have left the storyline and are never heard from again. If he would have given some background as to what happens to them once they leave the story, then the story may have continued to pick up some speed.  Unfortunately, though, Murakami lets them fade into the wind, almost making the reader wonder if they had ever existed in the first place.

Regardless of everything negative, Murakami's characters are what make 1Q84 a masterpiece.    The characters have wonderfully well-rounded personalities and at times it is almost impossible to not make connections between your world and theirs, so much so that the readers may find themselves looking up at the sky and wondering if their moon has changed into the ones in the world of 1Q84.

~Shelly-Beans