Haruki Murakami

Malari

I'm about half way through the 3rd book of 1Q84 and love it! It's amazing how Murakami can keep your interest despite relatively little action in the story.

Does anyone else find it strange that Aomame is always referred to by her last name and Tengo by his first?

Kinski

Malari wrote: »

I'm about half way through the 3rd book of 1Q84 and love it! It's amazing how Murakami can keep your interest despite relatively little action in the story.

Does anyone else find it strange that Aomame is always referred to by her last name and Tengo by his first?

A minor bugbear of mine is that his translators always reverse the Japanese name order. They should leave the surname first and just include a note pointing it out to the reader at the start.

1Q84 is both the best and worst novel I've read by him yet; it's an odd one.

Walter White

1Q84 is both the best and worst novel I've read by him yet; it's an odd one.[/QUOTE]


Now that is really odd... The best and worst !! There is no doubt he is a very good writer, but I don't know how anyone can write so much and the story not actually move on...:(

Malari

Kinski wrote: »

A minor bugbear of mine is that his translators always reverse the Japanese name order. They should leave the surname first and just include a note pointing it out to the reader at the start.

1Q84 is both the best and worst novel I've read by him yet; it's an odd one.

I thought Aomame was her surname because they mention her brother was X Aomame. And Tengo's dad is referred to as Mr. Kawana? I'm just curious!

Kinski

Malari wrote: »

I thought Aomame was her surname because they mention her brother was X Aomame. And Tengo's dad is referred to as Mr. Kawana? I'm just curious!

Yeah, you're right. But in the original Japanese, it would have been Kawana Tengo, just like it would be Murakami Haruki.

I kept forgetting that Aomame wasn't her first name. I have no idea what the significance of it was.

Walter White wrote: »

Now that is really odd... The best and worst !! There is no doubt he is a very good writer, but I don't know how anyone can write so much and the story not actually move on...:(

There's a lot that's good about it. But, to take a couple of not-so-good examples, Tengo is the sort of personality-vacuum that Murakami seems to favour when creating male protagonists (and I came close to hurling the book across the room during some of the many digressions describing exactly what he had for dinner), and there are a ton of just-shoved-in-there-for-convenience aspects to the plot.

triseke

loved "dance, dance, dance"

ValJester

Really enjoyed everything Murakami I've read so far, his prose is just a joy. That said, "South Of The Border, West Of The Sun" stands out, it's so brilliantly concise a distillation of that side of his writing.

Walter White

There's a lot that's good about it. But, to take a couple of not-so-good examples, Tengo is the sort of personality-vacuum that Murakami seems to favour when creating male protagonists (and I came close to hurling the book across the room during some of the many digressions describing exactly what he had for dinner), and there are a ton of just-shoved-in-there-for-convenience aspects to the plot.

Exactly.. He could have wrote a much better flowing story if he just cut out all the meandering.... Instead of 1000+ pages 400 would have done... He should have got Tengo to do the re-write..

Bodhidharma

The reason she's called Aomame is because it's such an odd name, therefore it singles her out as an oddity. Tengo on the other hand, while having special qualities, isn't particularly different, and is basically a conduit between Aomame and Fuka-Eri. Thats my guess anyway.

I LOVE Murakami, and have read everything (including Pinball, 1973 and Hear the Wind Sing) and while I understand the criticism of 1Q84 I dont agree with it. Yes it could have been shorter, but I love reading his words. His stories have never been particularly linear or conclusive so I think complaining about not much happening is missing his style (though not necessarily the point).

I would say that its probably a difficult read if you're not used to him, but it is a great book.

Kinski

Bodhidharma wrote: »

I LOVE Murakami, and have read everything (including Pinball, 1973 and Hear the Wind Sing) and while I understand the criticism of 1Q84 I dont agree with it. Yes it could have been shorter, but I love reading his words.

I actually thought his prose style was quite uneven in 1Q84, with a number of sloppy sentences and cliches to be found squatting here and there in the text (not going looking for an example right now, though).

His stories have never been particularly linear or conclusive so I think complaining about not much happening is missing his style (though not necessarily the point).

My problems with the plot have nothing to do with "not much happening" (I thought the pace fairly brisk for such a long novel, Tengo's culinary shenanigans aside) or the usual tangle of loose-ends (which are part of the fun with any Murakami). Rather, it was the huge plot-holes and convenient twists which threatened to ruin the story.

For example, when Ushikawa goes to spy on Tengo's apartment, he tries to rent a property across the street, in what we are told is a surprisingly cheap and therefore very popular building. How will the devious and resourceful Ushikawa secure a spot in the building? Oh, someone moved out last week, so he can just have that apartment. When a writer poses an interesting dramatic question, and then answers it in such a boring and lazy way, I as a reader feel short-changed.

That's a minor example, but it's symptomatic of how Murakami repeatedly sucks the dramatic tension from the novel.

Much more serious is the whole business with Sakigake and the assassination of the Leader. So Aomame is sent by the wealthy dowger to kill the leader of Sakigake, a cult-figure so charismatic that half of his followers buggered off to form a different cult. Aomame is told that this will have to be her last job. Sakigake will hunt her down relentlessly, so she will have to give up her role as an avenger of wronged women (taking her peculiar talent into retirement with her) and go into hiding, changing her name and even her face.

Just how far does Sakigake's reach extend? Well, in a nation of several islands with around 100million people, they are entirely localised in one spot. Okay, but they've got loads of money and connections, right? Er, they don't seem all that popular with the authorities, what with their murderous counterparts in the splinter cult, and they make a living growing and selling vegetables or some such bollocks, which I suppose grants them slightly more financial clout than the average market street vegetable stall holder. Fearsome indeed...

Now, they don't seem to have lots of members, any influence with the authorities, or an exceptional amount of money, but the members they have could still be total bad-asses. Their leader certainly is. So Aomame goes to whack this guy...and jeopardises the entire mission by putting a handgun in her damn shoulder bag. My God, the paranoiacs surrounding Leader are so going to look in there!!! Oh no, it's alright, they didn't bother. "Amateurs," thinks Aomame. "Then why the **** are you giving up and going into hiding after this?!!" thinks me.

The scene in which Aomame confronts Leader is brilliantly realised, and would drip with tension if it weren't for all this other bollocks surrounding it. All I could think at this stage is that Sakigake, a bunch of soon-to-be-Leaderless amateurs, are going to have to go looking for Aomame, who could go anywhere in the world to hide. Hell, she could just stay in Japan. She's got the unswerving support of the dowager, who has loads of money and a seemingly elite personal security team, and Japan's a densely-populated place. With her millionaire-backer, network of personal security, and whole ****ing country to hide in, searching for her would be like trying to find a specific needle in a very large haystack full of other needles, with needles sticking out of the sides so when you try to look through it you get pricked by needles.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that 1Q84 ain't no masterpiece. While I consider Murakami to be a master short-story writer, and love early novels like A Wild Sheep Chase, I feel he's never lived up to his potential as a novelist. After 1Q84, and at this late stage of his career, I doubt he ever will.

Walter White

Kinski wrote: »

I actually thought his prose style was quite uneven in 1Q84, with a number of sloppy sentences and cliches to be found squatting here and there in the text (not going looking for an example right now, though).



My problems with the plot have nothing to do with "not much happening" (I thought the pace fairly brisk for such a long novel, Tengo's culinary shenanigans aside) or the usual tangle of loose-ends (which are part of the fun with any Murakami). Rather, it was the huge plot-holes and convenient twists which threatened to ruin the story.

For example, when Ushikawa goes to spy on Tengo's apartment, he tries to rent a property across the street, in what we are told is a surprisingly cheap and therefore very popular building. How will the devious and resourceful Ushikawa secure a spot in the building? Oh, someone moved out last week, so he can just have that apartment. When a writer poses an interesting dramatic question, and then answers it in such a boring and lazy way, I as a reader feel short-changed.

That's a minor example, but it's symptomatic of how Murakami repeatedly sucks the dramatic tension from the novel.

Much more serious is the whole business with Sakigake and the assassination of the Leader. So Aomame is sent by the wealthy dowger to kill the leader of Sakigake, a cult-figure so charismatic that half of his followers buggered off to form a different cult. Aomame is told that this will have to be her last job. Sakigake will hunt her down relentlessly, so she will have to give up her role as an avenger of wronged women (taking her peculiar talent into retirement with her) and go into hiding, changing her name and even her face.

Just how far does Sakigake's reach extend? Well, in a nation of several islands with around 100million people, they are entirely localised in one spot. Okay, but they've got loads of money and connections, right? Er, they don't seem all that popular with the authorities, what with their murderous counterparts in the splinter cult, and they make a living growing and selling vegetables or some such bollocks, which I suppose grants them slightly more financial clout than the average market street vegetable stall holder. Fearsome indeed...

Now, they don't seem to have lots of members, any influence with the authorities, or an exceptional amount of money, but the members they have could still be total bad-asses. Their leader certainly is. So Aomame goes to whack this guy...and jeopardises the entire mission by putting a handgun in her damn shoulder bag. My God, the paranoiacs surrounding Leader are so going to look in there!!! Oh no, it's alright, they didn't bother. "Amateurs," thinks Aomame. "Then why the **** are you giving up and going into hiding after this?!!" thinks me.

The scene in which Aomame confronts Leader is brilliantly realised, and would drip with tension if it weren't for all this other bollocks surrounding it. All I could think at this stage is that Sakigake, a bunch of soon-to-be-Leaderless amateurs, are going to have to go looking for Aomame, who could go anywhere in the world to hide. Hell, she could just stay in Japan. She's got the unswerving support of the dowager, who has loads of money and a seemingly elite personal security team, and Japan's a densely-populated place. With her millionaire-backer, network of personal security, and whole ****ing country to hide in, searching for her would be like trying to find a specific needle in a very large haystack full of other needles, with needles sticking out of the sides so when you try to look through it you get pricked by needles.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that 1Q84 ain't no masterpiece. While I consider Murakami to be a master short-story writer, and love early novels like A Wild Sheep Chase, I feel he's never lived up to his potential as a novelist. After 1Q84, and at this late stage of his career, I doubt he ever will.

Couldn't have put it better myself....

stick girl

If you can find 'The Elephant vanishes', it's a lovely collection of short stories

Bodhidharma

Kinski wrote: »

For example, when Ushikawa goes to spy on Tengo's apartment, he tries to rent a property across the street, in what we are told is a surprisingly cheap and therefore very popular building. How will the devious and resourceful Ushikawa secure a spot in the building? Oh, someone moved out last week, so he can just have that apartment.

Much more serious is the whole business with Sakigake and the assassination of the Leader.

I can see where you're coming from with these but it didn't bother me in the least. If could be argued that

the little people influenced the neighbour to leave in order to help in the capture of Aomame and secondly Sagikake WERE very powerful and influential when Leader was there (because of the influence of the little people). The Dowager didn't know he actually had powers and probably underestimated his influence on the organisation, which crumbled in his absence

.

My two cents

Walter White

KindOfIrish wrote: »

I agree. It is a modern classic!

Modern classic... Give me a break, I have just finished it and what a load of crap.... I persisted with it because so many people said how great it was and what a great writer he is.. It wandered all over the place for 1100 pages and then produced a cop-out ending in the last few pages.... What a disaster, I could have read 3 good books instead.... :mad: