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)

Strange weird interesting

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

I would probably not listen again. Simply the story gets off to a slow start and the convergence doesn't happen until a third way through, which is quite frustrating. The audio is also very long meaning the week investment is something that would probably be at the end of the queue for listening.

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

The playground scene at the end of the book. The female and male voice playing off each other was epic and was an unexpected and nice surprise.

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

To be honest, I would rather think I would enjoy it better if I read it myself rather than listen. The narrators read so slowly and are pretty dry.

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

Probably none, because every character is probably not one you'd want to meet in real life. The character quirks are what makes the story, but I can't help but think that they are pretty insane.

Any additional comments?

The story is worth listening to. The fantasy elements are unlike anything I've read or listened to and the depth of the characters and their story lines are very interesting.

Good Narration, Just Not Enough Story

I really enjoyed moments of this title. Some of the insights and the writing is really interesting and beautiful. But I got pretty itchy for the story to 'go somewhere' - things happened, but it was nearly impossible for me to put them into a story that made sense. Maybe in 'Literature' story is old-fashioned and has too much mass market appeal to be valued, but when I read reviews that suggested that the story never really had a very satisfactory resolution, I gave up. Maybe someday I'll return to it, but there is just too much else to enjoy for me to give that many days of my life to listening to 1Q84 for so little return.

Not Great Enough

Although very well written I'm sorry to say this novel lacks the magic I have come to expect from Murakami

long, brilliant, fantastic

I've read this book, and after listening, I love it even more. A beautifully translated work of art.

fantastic performance

the way it was presented was brilliant, each character had a different narrator. Yhe story was captivating and it's so easy to visualise and immerse yourself into the world

long long

Its long. Very long but worth a listen. Not a huge pay off but interesting. This novel was actually a few novels in japan. I would suggest breaking it up and listening to something in between books. Weird but relaxing.

The non magical aspects were harder to buy.

I don't have difficulty accepting supernatural events in a work of magical realism. I did however, feel as a lot was being asked of the reader to believe that in the "normal" world, that two thirty year old people had such an impact on each other in a brief encounter when they were only 10. Aside from that assumption, I believe the characterization of even sideline characters such as the Dowager's body guard was very thorough and organic. And I enjoyed the more overtly magical events. In terms of climax, the reader is never really satisfied. There is resolution to some degree, and a little violent resolution at that. However it is still a quiet, rushed ending after what effectively becomes a slow denouement.

One of the best Audio Books i have heard

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is the story that should have been an Audiobook more then a book.

What did you like best about this story?

Excellent and beautiful story, grate performance

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Nothing not to like one of the best performances I heard

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

entire book is memorable

Any additional comments?

get more books of this quality

This book rocks

I am now in the third section (well into book 2) and find that the slow pace is sweet because the story is unwinding at an appropriate rate. The detail of the narrative fills in any blank spaces and the plot is appropriately complex and interesting. I am eager to hear the rest of the story.

The readers are fantastic and the technical properties are close to perfect.

This is my first Murakami novel but not my last.

Meticulously drawn characters

A beautifully written, very strange story of many things. The plot is easy to follow, but it takes you into weird places so convincingly and thoroughly, you really can’t help but to go along for the journey. Very long and extremely interesting with characters I will never forget.