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)

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.

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