1Q84

By: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin - translator, Philip Gabriel - translator

Narrated by: Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor, Mark Boyett

Length: 46 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 - "Q" is for "question mark". A world that bears a question.

Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame's and Tengo's narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell's, 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami's most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

BONUS AUDIO: Audible interviews the translators of 1Q84, Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel.

©2011 Haruki Murakami (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This imaginative, lengthy novel satisfies as a mystery, fantasy, and humorous coming-of-age tale—all blended with the vagaries of love and loss in a dystopia mired in strange cults and mathematical/musical dreamscapes. One surmises that it's no accident that the book's enigmatic title relates to George Orwell's 1984." (AudioFile)

“Profound . . . A multilayered narrative of loyalty and loss . . . A fully articulated vision of a not-quite-nightmare world . . . A big sprawling novel [that] achieves what is perhaps the primary function of literature: to reimagine, to reframe, the world . . . At the center of [1Q84’s] reality . . . is the question of love, of how we find it and how we hold it, and the small fragile connections that sustain us, even (or especially) despite the odds . . . This is a major development in Murakami’s writing . . . A vision, and an act of the imagination.” (David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times)

“1Q84 is one of those books that disappear in your hands, pulling you into its mysteries with such speed and skill that you don’t even notice as the hours tick by and the mountain of pages quietly shrinks . . . I finished 1Q84 one fall evening, and when I set it down, baffled and in awe, I couldn’t help looking out the window to see if just the usual moon hung there or if a second orb had somehow joined it. It turned out that this magical novel did not actually alter reality. Even so, its enigmatic glow makes the world seem a little strange long after you turn the last page. Grade: A.” (Rob Brunner, Entertainment Weekly)

Long and unclosed

How many times did the author refer to Proust? Enough already, we get the point. A good story until the last third or so. A unique story, and way of telling a story, but ultimately a flawed and somewhat unsatisfying story.

Great story!

Would you consider the audio edition of 1Q84 to be better than the print version?

I have both. This is a big book and they are a great companion one of the other.

What did you like best about this story?

Writer's style. The story draw you in.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Quite clear.

Who was the most memorable character of 1Q84 and why?

I identify very much with Tengo, at least up to now. - I haven't finished the book yet.

Any additional comments?

I'm glad of finding this book and I will look for other books writen by him.

Story is veeeerrryyy long and draaaawwwwwn out

Would you try another book from the authors and/or the narrators?

Not from this author

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

It was ok but the story could have been told in about one quarter the size of this book without leaving anything out. I fell asleep while listening a few times but didn't bother to rewind because hard anything happens. I didn't miss anything. It is almost like the author is purposely going on an on about irrelevant details just to make the novel bigger. For example, at one point he lists all the contents of the woman's refrigerator.
In addition, there is alot of pointless sexual scenes which weren't interesting or necessary. A couple of the characters engage in intercourse with prepubescent minors. I imagine there are quite a lot of people who would find this too disturbing to read.

Which scene was your favorite?

I liked when he talked about Checkov and the Cat Town story. I liked the parts where they follow Bobblehead.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

never

Any additional comments?

The narrators did a great job. There were parts to this book that were good, but there are much more enjoyable books you could listen to.

What a time sink!

Would you try another book from the authors and/or the narrators?

No.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have had someone edit it to remove the tedious duplications of phrases.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The female character read far too slowly, and probably added about 30% additional run-time to the overall excessive time for the book.

Did 1Q84 inspire you to do anything?

Move on to another, better told story.

Any additional comments?

Lots of loose ends were left hanging. I finished this book only because I was determined to do so. At the end, I was quite disappointed by the story, as the ending was fairly predictable.

far better than expected...

Recommended to most of my friends. Not a book for dopes, or those looking for "a good read". The author is the real deal, and the book an interesting blend of low brow and high brow. Pleasantly unsensational, sweet, hopeful, and bizarre. Very well voiced by the three readers, be prepared for a long ride through multiple time space continuums.

Don't bother with Book 3

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The first two books are amazing and engaging, but book 3 is a boring slog where nothing happens until Murakami mercifully just ends the story without answering the majority of questions he sets up. Very disappointing.

Fantastic

Fantastic book. Just, everything about it - the narrators, the language, the storyline, the well-thought of details and the magnificent characters - was phenomenal.
It's quite "graphic" at times, and you wonder what was going through Murakami's head at that point, but that doesn't weigh the book down.
It seems very realistic and you believe every word written there - that there could actually be such a thing as a world called 1Q84. Fantastic book, definitely recommend it.

A Treasure

If you could sum up 1Q84 in three words, what would they be?

Excellent performance. I loved this story from start to finish. This has been one of my favorite Audible books of all times....and I own hundreds of Audible books!

I was hoping for more

I thought, as it is known that Murakami is waiting for his Nobel, that this would be amazing. It is just fine. The narrators are great!

wow

this was an absolutely beautiful, complex story with amazing performances by the readers. highly recommend this book to any fans of literary fiction