1Q84

Divided into two books of twenty-four chapters each, following the structure of The Well-Tempered Key from Bach is a compendium of the best Murakami: a prodigious imagination tinged with a delicate sense of humor; lonely and hurt people but driven by universal longings, and rarefied atmosphere, laden with sensuality and violence of stunning beauty. The title is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of the year 1984, the letter Q and the Japanese number 9 (typically Romanized as "kyu,"...
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Divided into two books of twenty-four chapters each, following the structure of The Well-Tempered Key from Bach is a compendium of the best Murakami: a prodigious imagination tinged with a delicate sense of humor; lonely and hurt people but driven by universal longings, and rarefied atmosphere, laden with sensuality and violence of stunning beauty. The title is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of the year 1984, the letter Q and the Japanese number 9 (typically Romanized as "kyu," but as "kew" on the book's Japanese cover) are homophones, which are often used in Japanese wordplay. It is described 1Q84 as a complex and surreal narrative which shifts back and forth between tales of two characters, a man and a woman, who are searching for each other. It tackles themes of murder, history, cult religion, violence, family ties and love. The events of the story take place in fictionalized 1984. The narrative is composed of two storylines that alternate by chapter. The book opens with Aomame's perspective as she catches a taxi in Tokyo on her way to a work assignment. When the taxi gets stuck in a traffic jam on the expressway, the driver suggests that she get out of the car and climb down an emergency escape in order to make her important meeting. Aomame makes her way to a hotel in Shibuya, where she poses as a hotel attendant in order to assassinate a hotel guest. She performs the murder with a tool that leaves almost no trace on its victim, leading investigators to conclude that he died of natural death. As the story unfolds, Aomame has several bizarre experiences, including a string of memories that do not line up with the archives of major newspapers. Upon reading these articles, she concludes that she must be living in an alternate reality, and suspects that she entered it about the time she heard Sinfonietta on the radio. The second chapter introduces Tengo, whose mentor Komatsu asks him to rewrite an awkwardly-written but otherwise promising manuscript that had been entered in a literary contest. Komatsu wants to submit the novel to a prestigious literary agency and promote its author as a new literary prodigy. Tengo has reservations about rewriting another author's work, especially of a high school student. He agrees to do so only upon meeting the original writer, who goes by the strange name "Fukaeri," and asking her permission. Fukaeri, however, seems to care very little what happens to the manuscript, telling Tengo to do as he likes with it.