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)

A fun read, but I hope it pays off in the end.

So far, I can tell that the writer enjoys music and the sounds of his own thoughts and sex.
The story is interesting however not all that original. I enjoy the characters so far more than the story. At first which is this part one of the listen, I can tell you that I absolutely love the readers of this book. A top notch job by the narrators who do a superlative job in reading this book and adding life to the dialogue. The readers have pleasant voices and really care a great deal for the book as well. The story seems a bit contrived. Like a conscience effort to place sex and violence every so often: Roger Corman style.

The writer takes great effort to draw the characters for us to enjoy, however the English translation sometimes might get in the way, especially when eating is concerned. Japanese eating hamburgers and pizza seemed out of place and I dismissed this as a deliberate effort not to alienate American listeners, when in fact I would enjoy the sounds of the authentic dishes such as Meeso soup etc..

I am enjoying this book so far but I have a feeling that I could write the rest of the book myself based on other stories and news articles about a similar vein. I hope I will be delightfully wrong. :)

See my last entry when I get that far.

Ms Hiroto almost ruins this narration

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

Absolute compelling story! Though long, its complexities keep it fascinating.

What was one of the most memorable moments of 1Q84?

The interrelationships between the characters and the detail keeps it snappy!

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

Ms Hiroto pronounces every SINGLE consonant in almost EACH word! So "singing" becomes "sing-ingh" and "exactly" becomes "ex-actah-tly." It's totally distracting.
She makes guttural stops another syllable.
YOU try listening to her overly-pronounced vocalization and see if you can keep from being distracted. I couldn't!

If you could take any character from 1Q84 out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Huh? What kind of a silly question is this? Why would I want to take them out to dinner?

Not My Favorite, but...

Any additional comments?

The three-person narrative was done well by both the writing and the performers, and the characters were well developed. I just thought the story was lacking, and a little too out there to be believable, even though I'm a fan of the paranormal. It's such a long book, and written well enough to keep my interest until the very end, but it was a mild interest, and I wasn't thrilled to re-listen as I usually am with a really good book.

Well Done

A great Listen. I really enjoyed it diving into this. Nicely translated and well preformed.

A play on words

What did you love best about 1Q84?

The play on words-how important certain words are in bringing out the double meanings to a character.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Aomame- how the narrator sets up her cadance through her voice inflection- I really can see her Japanese-essence through this way of reading her parts.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A cadance that helps to set up the tensions in the developing plot and a relaying of the subtlty which is the essence of Japanese culture.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. There were places where it felt right to pause and reflect on the events which unfolded.

Any additional comments?

While the translation was good, it would be interesting to be able to read it in Japanese to really get a better understanding of underlying meanings such as the absence of question marks really meanig that the squestion lacked the necessary ka at the end to let the listener know it was a question.

Cult activity in Japan

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

Eventually, It is a long tale and I would have to wait a year or two before I would listen to it again.

What did you like best about this story?

The way it slowly unfolds. You start with one image of what is happening and it gets unwrapped like the layers of an onion

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where obedamat goes down the emergency stairs from the highway and comes out in a different world.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely Not! This takes time and consideration.

Do you mind repeating?

After 47 hours of them stuffed in my ears I'm gonna miss those guys, especially Tengo' s part voice, a little bashful at the beginning much more confident in the run, they proved a great strenght at not yawning in repeating so many times same stuff and all the confirmations, the exact identical question after the question, all those considerations using same words as before, reading once again characters' caracteristics i.e. Fuka Eri not using of question marks and, for sure, there is a lot that could have been easily skipped or told us just once or two times, at most.
Same plot's turning points are popular images easy to be liked but leaving a wearisome sense of cheapness for having been chosen, Murakami what happened to you? therefore, easily the same, to be loathed.

Too long

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Make it half the lengths. It almost feels there are two books in one.

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

At some point the story just gets too dark and depressing. The sense of adventure and unknown are gone and it becomes simply depressing and boring.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The narrators were great. It felt almost like a theatrical performance.

Great story with wonderful character development

Any additional comments?

The narrators do a wonderful job with each character, weaving the chapters together seamlessly. This book is extremely long, yet I was enthralled throughout, couldn't wait to get in my car every day. I highly recommend this listen!

Wasnt worth it

What did you like best about 1Q84? What did you like least?

The voice acting was decent, and the overall concept of the book can be intriguing.

Any additional comments?

I honestly could not make it through the book. The length is a little ridiculous and so drawn out that you can completely forget what is going on while the author is describing a mundane situation with little meeting.