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)

Longer than it needed to be.

This book is difficult to review, because parts of it are really good. The characters are interesting. The original author of the book within the book has a quirky personality, and her repetition of what is said to her adds depth to her character. Interesting. However, about two-thirds through the book, everyone is repeating what is said to them. It gave the impression that the author was trying to meet a word quota. Although the storylines were, indeed, interesting, I found the dialogue
annoying as the book progressed.

Don't be in a hurry

I agree with many reviewers when they say this book is about 30% too long. However, I think that to“ being “in this book is what the author wants for us. This story is about sensing the realities we are living with. It is about our awareness of our surroundings and what happens to us when things change, even little changes. It was a long journey and sometimes I got a little impatient, but I come away wanting to read more from this author. Murakami does a wonderful job at creating an altered universe. The readers create their charcters well.

Excellent adventure!

What made the experience of listening to 1Q84 the most enjoyable?

The most enjoyable experience of listening to 1Q84 was the distinct pronunciations of the Japanese words.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narrators added a lot of emotion to each of the different stories.

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I did not like how slowly the female narrator talked. For most of the book I listened to this story at x2 speed.

Good naration, well developed characters.

I found this book to be well performed with well developed characters and a good story line.
My only problem was trying to keep up with the time span of the two characters, at times I was a little lost but eventually it became clear.

A GEM

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

The voices are musical poetry to your ears.

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

When Almommy and Tengo meet at last.

Which scene was your favorite?

The little people crawling out and growing.

Just a riveting unique book

you won't regret spending your credit on this one. Great narrators, unique twisting storyline, and a surprising twist or two along the way.

Mystical and enchanting!

An engaging story that draws the reader in and bit by bit reveals the mystery. Beautifully narrated.

fantsy

wonderful translation of A Japanese fantsy futusrstic story.Gripping and interesting.Wort the Time reading and contemplating

super biased

I love murakami and I love surrealism. And I love metophors. So of course I loved this book.

Ushikawa

The narration is great except the guy doing Ushikawa is horrendously awful to the point where I may not finish the book. Its that bad.