1Q84 by Haruki MurakamiMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this book because I wanted to read an author who was totally unfamiliar to me. Haruki Murakami was born in Japan and his novel is set in Tokyo. Like Orwell's "1984," Murakami sets his novel in that year. And like the world Orwell imagines, the events that take place are out of the ordinary. But that's where the similarity ends. Murakami's main character is a young woman named Aomame, who finds herself in an alternate universe of sorts. Aomame has a special gift that she is called upon to use to thwart the unsavory acts of a prominent religious leader.
As a reader, many times I say to myself "I can see that happening," --- even when I'm reading a dystopia. The story Murakami tells however, was beyond anything I could imagine. Yet it was captivating in the way it wrapped an old tale of "star-crossed lovers" in a new phenomenological narrative.
I love similes and metaphors, and Murakami has some great ones. At one point I had to stop myself from highlighting them on my ereader. Another strong feature of the book are the author's descriptions of his character's facial expressions and vocalized and non-vocalized noises. I felt as though I could see the distorted features of the main character and hear the tone of a grunt made at the back of another character's throat.
Though I do feel that this story could have been told in fewer pages, I would definitely recommend this author to my friends. Overall I give this book 4 stars because I loved the prose and the story was pretty good.
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