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)

very good. classic Murakami

I enjoyed it. it was a little too long and slow paced in portions. performance was excellent

Unique and interesting

Any additional comments?

I loved this story. It was alittle slow to start but once the plot thickend I was pretty rivited.

The longest Audible that I have completed.

This book took me three tries, partially because of technical difficulties with my device, and partially because I wasn't concentrating enough to follow the plot enough to be "sucked in" enough to care when I lost it on my device and re-download it. I am glad that I finally finished it, although I don't know if I would recommend it over others, especially when taking the time commitment into account.

my favorite audio book of all time

words cannot express. I listened to this a year ago and I still miss aomame and tengo

When Literature can shape the world you are living

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

The reading was fantastic and the story so incredibly beautiful. The way the narrative began to bend my own experience in this world of 2014 helped create possibilities for me that as absurd as they were became possible and then probable.

Who was your favorite character and why?

they felt like different patterns of the same cloth.

Which scene was your favorite?

The owl.

If you could rename 1Q84, what would you call it?

Cat Towns

Any additional comments?

You either will love this book - as a favorite of all time or you will not like it at all.

I loved this book so much!

I love the writing style of Haruki Murakami and have read a few of his novels now. I wish I could read them in Japanese but the the translations are great. I love the Narrators in this audio book, I loved that it was almost 47 hours long, it languishes, I loved the experience of the book, the characters, the strangeness of the tale. One of my favorites. I'm sure it's 'not for everyone' but I loved it!!!

perhaps I just don't appreciate other cultures

considering the length of this book I really expected a lot more to happen. Everything was quite drawn out without really being necessary in the end. There were many loose threads that were never tied up and because of that the conclusion wasn't satisfying at all. I also felt that it was obviously written by a man early on. The thoughts and actions of the female protagonist didn't ring true, even for a bit of an odd duck. Overall I wouldn't recommend this book.

Japanese Surrealism

The 1Q84 audiobook by Haruki Murakami is a spellbinding, surreal experience that will leave you questioning reality itself. This epic novel is split into three parts, each of which is narrated by a different actor, adding to the already otherworldly experience.

From the very first track, the listener is transported to an alternate reality where two moons hang in the sky and mysterious events occur with increasing frequency. Murakami's writing is both beautiful and haunting, with vivid descriptions that create a dreamlike atmosphere.

The novel follows the parallel stories of two characters, Aomame and Tengo, whose lives become intertwined as they search for answers to the strange events happening around them. As the story unfolds, the listener is drawn deeper into the strange world of 1Q84, where things are not always what they seem.

The audiobook is narrated by Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor, and Mark Boyett, each of whom brings their own unique voice to the story. Their performances are exceptional, capturing the dreamlike quality of Murakami's prose while also conveying the emotional depth of the characters.

At times, 1Q84 can be a challenging listen, with its surreal imagery and complex narrative. However, the audiobook is also incredibly spellbinding, drawing the listener in with its mysterious atmosphere and haunting themes.

Overall, the 1Q84 audiobook is a must-listen for anyone looking for a surreal, otherworldly experience. Murakami's writing is both beautiful and strange, and the performances of the narrators bring the story to life in a truly immersive way. While it may be a bit weird at times, it is also a truly spellbinding listen that will leave you thinking long after the final track has ended.

PS: A bit of trivia, if you didn't already know : "Q" or "kyu" is the Japanese word for "9" ... so ...the book title is actually 1984 !!

I've never read a book quite like this one

I'm always in search of the longest audiobooks I can find, since I usually read both my credits' worth before the end of the month. At almost 47 hours, this one fit the bill and had excellent reviews so I gave it a shot even though I wasn't familiar with the author or book. I'm glad I did. The book (I think it was originally 3 books in Japan) kept me absorbed from beginning to end. It's a very unique idea and I loved the story-within-a-story aspect. Interestingly, nearly all the characters are kind of one-dimensional, from a traditional literary point of view. The characters don't change much from the beginning to the end, which is something I was always taught to avoid in writing, but it works here because (without giving spoilers) the story itself changes around the characters. Instead of the world being stable and the characters moving through it, the characters are the fixed point of reference. Because it's just a little off traditional storytelling techniques, it makes the story feel unique above and beyond the plot itself.

The writing is also vivid and excellent. It's the type of writing where you have to pause occasionally and really take in a phrase that hits you just the right way. Another reviewer commented on the phrase "shaken his heart from a strange angle," which is one that I loved, too. I was also very taken with the phrase "Bright words make the eardrums vibrate brightly." It's such an odd phrase, when looked at literally, but you instinctively know what it means. The whole book is peppered with that kind of language. The author, obviously, takes primary responsibility for this, but the translators also did a great job. I'm not really sure how the translation process works, but I suspect there were spots where they added small explanations to ease the reading of unfamiliar concepts. They also did a great job with the occasional idiom or slang word. It was so well-done that I felt less culture-shock than I have with some books that are written in English to begin with. (There's a bonus interview with the narrators at the end if you want to hear their perspective.)

There are a couple of things that I disliked. The first was, as others have mentioned, the female narrator. It was kind of bizarre - when she is voicing the main character she does fine. She has a pleasant voice that effectively conveyed emotion. When she was voicing some of the other characters, however, it's almost like instead of changing the timbre of her voice she just changed how slowly she talked. The elderly dowager, in particular, sounded similar to a computer reading text. Her speech was very slow, oddly emphasized, and emotionless. In some books with a narrator that talks too slowly I just speed up the playback, but it wasn't possible since the slow alternated with normal speech. My other complaint is that I would have liked it to be about 30 minutes longer and tell us what happened concerning a few supporting plotlines. I'm not saying that every loose end needs to be tied up - I think this is a cultural thing because I've noticed that American books and movies tend to completely resolve all stories and foreign ones don't... I ordinarily accept it as part of the style. But the way it was written, several secondary storylines were building towards a climax and then just disappeared. It felt like when you think you're going to sneeze and then you don't. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll give a made up example: It would be like saying that someone's dog had run away and they got a call from the pound saying there was a dog that might be theirs so they get in the car and go to the pound, and then the story switches to another character and never comes back to tell you if the dog was theirs or not.

Despite my two small complaints, the book is undoubtedly one of the best I've listened to recently and (especially if you like long books) you should not hesitate before getting and reading this book!

Incredibly Intriguing

This is the first book by this author. I normally read adventure books by Clive Cussler, Ted Bell and others in tha genre. I would not have even considered this book if I hadn't seen it in the book of the year competition. Looking at all the positive reviews and listening to the sample convinced me to try it. It is a book that makes you"work" to get through it. I agree that it was too long and I would like to have seen some of the loose ends tied up. He could have used some of the unnecessary parts to explain the Little People and a couple other issues. however, I couldn't put it down and spent more than one very late night listening to it. I completely enjoyed it and will read more from this author. I thought the narration was terrific throughout the entire book!