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)

Loved reading this, loved listening to it more!

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

Read the book but didn't want it to end so decided to listen to it too. Was surprised and delighted to find that doing so added even more texture and depth to my experience of the story. Sometimes we skim ahead when reading a book to find out what happens, but with audiobooks it is easier to simply let the tale unfold at its own pace. Loved, loved, loved this one.

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

Aomame (of course!)

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

The widow would be my dinner date. She is clearly a person of substance -- strong, successful, disciplined -- but also clearly an eccentric. I believe a dinner with her would be peppered with many subtle surprises.

Any additional comments?

Haruki Murakami must be a Raymond Chandler fan or perhaps simply the man himself returned for another round. Murakami writes like a post-modern slumming angel. The scene with the widow in the greenhouse is a perfect example of a Chandler-esque scene transported into the modern age.

Great novel, highly anticipated it.

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

I like when different characters have different narrators. It gives life to different people.

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

The vortex of events that make the characters spin around a single concept but still prevent them from interacting.

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

Edamame

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

Tango's personality is more in sync with mine so for that reason I can connect better with him.

A dissappointment

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

About halfway through, I found parts of the story that were a little disturbing but decided to keep listening since I had already invested so many hours and was curious about how it would all come together in the end. It didn't. I had to look online to see if maybe this was just part one, because it ended abruptly without tying up the loose ends.

Would you recommend 1Q84 to your friends? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this.

What three words best describe the narrators’s voice?

Tengo's voice did not fit the character.

Could you see 1Q84 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No TV series, too many controversial topics.

Making Fantasy Fantastic

What makes this story fantastic is how most of it is set in the mundane. Our two major protagonists lead distinct lives which become more and more intertwined, each being completely disrupted by the magical elements which rarely appear.

It's watching the effects unfold which make this tale utterly gripping.

Amazing, surreal

The storyline synthesizes mythology and fantasy without effort. The characters are deeply and richly drawn.

A wonderful listen

Easy to follow and enjoy

Would you listen to 1Q84 again? Why?

No, because it's very long!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ushikawa. His narrator was excellent, and much about him was sincerely surprising.

Any additional comments?

This book was my introduction to audible simply because it was on sale, but it made me fall in love, both with audible and with literature itself. It took a long time to get through, but I didn't want it to end! I highly recommend it.

Good Story but Unnecessarily long!

Beautifully written. Great and interesting Story; however, it was way too repetitive with many irrelevant details. Never thought I would see the day when I would have preferred an abridged version of any book. At one point, I had to answer my phone and didn't turn off my ipod. When I returned to the story, I hadn't missed much....need I say more? To finish the book, I took one reviewer's advice and sped up the narration. The narration was very well done and kept me interested--even with the increased speed!

An Interesting Story with some Pacing Issues

I found 1Q84 to be an interesting story, but the pacing was odd. The story seemed to hit its climax about halfway through the novel, which then continued for quite a lengthy wrap-up. It almost felt as if it were two novels that were shoved together.

The translation was excellently done and the performances by all three narrators were strong. They chose to use a different narrator for each Point of View character; when those characters interact, each character's narrator reads that character's lines. It ends up in the awkward middle ground where it's not a full cast production (like the excellent Golden Compass audio books) but it's also not a single narrator... so it struck me as a little jarring when it changed from one narrator to another.

All in all, it was a fine book, although it was a bit forgettable. I enjoyed myself while listening to it, although it never really gripped me.

Engaging Story, Great Narration & Dreamy Vibes

I downloaded this when I was looking for a long fiction story to feast on. I've never listened to a book that's been translated from another language, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Complex ideas and imagery are simplified in an elegant way through the Japanese -> english translation.

This book follows two very different characters, that through their own experiences are transported to an alternate universe. Trying to understand their own part in this alternate reality leads them closer and closer to each other in a dreamy, philosophical journey that keeps you engaged and interested in every manifold of the mystery.

The ending I thought was great, however, the time it took to resolve the characters was a little drawn out.

- AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Interesting twists turns come together

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

The ideas in this story are fascinating and curiosity kept me reading until I was hooked. It's like there's a lot of missing pieces at first, but as I kept listening I could see the puzzle coming together. I thought about this book days after I was finished reading. Days afterwards, I was still having "uh huh" moments.

What did you like best about this story?

The way the author told the main characters stories separately made it very personal. It was easy to like the main people, and cheer for a good outcome.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Great! Great! Great!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, when the two main characters began to realize they were lost without the other, and yet hadn't seen each other since childhood. They were so close and so far from finding each other , it hurt.

Any additional comments?

It was a fascinating book. I'm glad I stuck with it.