The third book introduces the perspective of another character, the shifty Ushikawa, and if I have one criticism of the book it is that this third perspective does rather slow down the already stately pace of the book as for much of the first half he merely repeats knowledge that we already know about the back stories of Aomame and Tengo.ġQ84 might also creep into the genre of dystopian fiction but in a light way. In fact, it's worth noting that the third book has a different translator to the first two, but you would never notice. Incidentally, apparently Aomame translates as 'green beans' in Japanese which is one of the few areas in which the English translation of this story misses out on a beautiful quality of the original. The first two books consist of alternating chapters on the lives of two people, fitness instructor Aomame and maths teacher and struggling novelist Tengo, who we subsequently learn have more of a connection than we at first think. It seems counter-intuitive to call a book of this magnitude 'delicate', but that's just how the story appears. It's a novel where balance and vacuums play a big part. At a deeper level, he explores the thin lines between imagination and reality, life and death and what you might call yin and yang.

On the surface it's a love story set in a slightly fantastical setting with a little bit of crime thrown in. As often with Murakami though, it's possible to read this book at a number of levels. It does, though, demand a degree of dedication, and if the prospect of a 1300 page novel in which not a huge amount happens in terms of plot and in which there is a significant level of repetition leaves you cold, then this might not be the best entry point into the wonderful world of Haruki Murakami. The first book in the series in particular is almost completely baffling if taken in isolation. In many ways, the trilogy almost has to be read in this way as the three component books make little sense on their own. The 1Q84 trilogy is, without doubt, an impressive book. Summary: The slow pace of Murakami's beautiful and delicate mixture of love story and alternate reality may not appeal to all, but where else can you find a book that makes you believe in Little People and in a world with two moons?

1q84 book 3