Book Review: 1Q84: Book One

1Q84: Book One by Haruki Murakami (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 1184 pp)

Born in 1949 in Japan, Haruki Murakami studied drama at Waseda University. He began writing fiction at the age of 29, inspired to write a novel while watching a baseball game. Murakami earned literary fame with his best-selling novel, Norwegian Wood. In the wake of its success, he earned writing fellowships at Princeton University and Tufts University. Murakami has won the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize, the Yomiuri Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, and the International Catalunya Prize.

Quizzical 

Do you remember the last time you didn’t know that answer to a question? Did it bother you, your state of unknowing? I’m a big fan of knowing. I seek clarity; I need answers. As such, I’m thankful for my iPhone.

A question mark. It is the “Q” in Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 and the underlying premise in the foundational narrative of Book One. 1Q84 highlights two protagonists connected in ways still uncertain.

Assassin Aomame 

Photo by Jesslee Cuizon

On one side, Aomame is a reserved young woman with dark secrets. She grew up in a cult and ran away from home at a young age. Her best friend committed suicide in the wake of domestic violence. Ever since the suicide, Aomame seeks vengeance. Collaborating with a wealthy benefactor possessing the same goals, Aomame removes aggressive and violent men from this earth.

“This was an easier death than you deserved, Aomame thought with a scowl. It was just too simple. I probably should have broken a few ribs for you with a five iron and given you plenty of pain before putting you out of your misery. That would have been the right kind of death for a rat like you. It’s what you did to your wife. Unfortunately, however, the choice was not mine. My mission was to send this man to the other world as swiftly and surely—and discreetly—as possible. Now, I have accomplished that mission. He was alive until a moment ago, and now he’s dead. He crossed the threshold separating life from death without being aware of it himself” (37).

Interestingly, this assassin hates men yet holds a strong affinity for one-night stands with middle-aged, receding-hairlined men.

Trickster Tengo 

On the other sides exists Tengo, a math instructor at a cram school and wannabe literary genius. Tengo desires recognition but his stories lack the panache necessary for a bestseller.

Luckily, Tengo uncovers a startling debut, Air Chrysalis, from a teenager in a new writer’s competition. Despite a stunning narrative, this young woman’s prose is poor. An editorial friend, Komatsu, devises a plan where Tengo re-writes Air Chrysalis, publishing under the teenager’s name, Fuka-Eri.

“Reasoning, common sense, instinct—they are all pleading with me to pull out of this as quickly as possible. I’m basically a cautious, commonsensical kind of person. I don’t like gambling or taking chances. If anything, I’m a kind of coward. I just can’t bring myself to say no to Komatsu’s plan, as risky as it is. And my only reason is that I’m so strongly drawn to Air Chrysalis. If it had been any other work, I would have refused out of hand” (118).

If everything goes well, Komatsu, Tengo, and Fuka-Eri stand to make copious amounts of money. If the plan fails, professional ruin lies ahead.

A Questionable World 

While Tengo places the finishing touches on the re-written Air Chrysalis, Aomame begins to perceive strange alterations to her environment. The police—her enemy given her line of work—have new uniforms and weapons out of the blue; the moon gains a companion in the sky, less shiny but strikingly moon-like. She labels this world “1Q84”.

“Like it or not, I’m here now, in the year 1Q84. The 1984 that I knew no longer exists. It’s 1Q84 now. The air has changed, the scene has changed. I have to adapt to this world-with-a-question mark as soon as I can. Like an animal released into a new forest. In order to protect myself and survive, I have to learn the rules of this place and adapt myself to them” (110).

An Orwelian Narrative? 

Photo by Trey Ratcliff

Clearly a reference to Orwell’s 1984, Murakami’s 1Q84, especially Book One, builds setting through a question mark. The reader doesn’t know what is real and what is fiction. Yet through dazzling prose and remarkable ideas, we are drawn into this question mark. In particular, Murakami introduces mysteries characters known as “the Little People.”

In Aomame’s timeframe, the Little People cryptically influence a 10-year old rape victim from a countryside cult. In Tengo’s narrative, the Little People play a crucial role in Air Chrysalis and Fuka-Eri claims they exist from her time in this same secretive cult. Murakami notes the connection to 1984:

“George Orwell introduced the dictator Big Brother in his novel 1984, as I’m sure you know. The book was an allegorical treatment of Stalinism, of course. And ever since then, the term ‘Big Brother’ has functioned as a social icon. That was Orwell’s great accomplishment. But now, in the real year 1984, Big Brother is all too famous, and all too obvious. If Big Brother were to appear before us now, we’d point to him and say, ‘Watch out! He’s Big Brother!’ There’s no longer any place for a Big Brother in this real world of ours. Instead, these so-called Little People have come on the scene. Interesting verbal contrast, don’t you think” (236)?

Book One introduces many questions. I eagerly look forward to answers in Book Two and Book Three. Murakami is a brilliant writer and I am enjoying my introduction to him in 1Q84. I enthusiastically urge you to give this book a read!

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: The Year of the Flood

The Year of the Flood: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (New York: Doubleday, 2009. 448 pp)

Born in Ottawa in the autumn of 1939, Margaret Atwood grew up in Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She attained her B.A. from Victoria College, University of Toronto and her M.A. from Radcliffe College. Atwood has written more than 50 works of poetry, children’s fiction, fiction, and non-fiction. While she is most known for her many novels, her book, Blind Assassin, received highest acclaim winning the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Currently, she lives with Graeme Gibson in Toronto.

Dystopia

Everyone knows Orwell’s 1984. The classic dystopian novel depicts the frightening consequences of an authoritarian state. Without removing much of its well-deserved praise, I wonder if 1984 remains a masterpiece not for its literary qualities but for its political commentary. Much like Animal Farm functioning as a satire against Communism, Orwell’s clear distaste of authoritarian government colors 1984. Moreover, the novel’s release during the beginning of the Cold War gave readers – whether valid or not – a tangible source illustrating the potential horrors of Communism.

Without a clear enemy, the dystopian novel becomes a difficult sell. If humanity does not perceive a threat, a story acting as a “what if” warning fails to convince. With Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam Trilogy, the enemy of humanity is not nation-states but trans-national corporations.

The Real Fear about Trans-National Corporations

Although admittedly, most don’t consider business a threat to civilization, Atwood paints a realistic portrait in Oryx & Crake and The Year of the Flood regarding what could happen. Simply put, if corporations seek profit above all else, what keeps them from inhibiting life in order to reap profit. For example, what keeps pharmaceuticals from developing diseases alongside antidotes? If people get sick, the company profits. Given the philosophical incentives taught in business school, such a result is certainly possible.

Fringe Religions

While book one of the trilogy, Oryx Crake, focuses on the complexities behind business starting the apocalypse, The Year of the Flood tells the same story from the perspective of an anti-corporation religious group.

In this work, each chapter begins with a sermon from Adam One, founder of God’s Gardeners, a religious group that blends evolutionary theory with creation care theology. At the end of each sermon, Adam One proclaims, “Let us sing,” and Atwood actually penned hymns that populate the liturgy of God’s Gardeners.

As a highlight of Adam One’s sermons, Atwood writes,

“The Human Words of God speak of the Creation in terms that could be understood by men of old. There is no talk of galaxies or genes, for such terms would have confused them greatly! But must we therefore take as scientific fact the story that the world was created in six days, thus making a nonsense of observable data? God cannot be held to the narrowness of literal and materialistic interpretations, nor measured by Human measurements, for His days are eons, and a thousand ages of our time are like an evening to Him” (11).

Moreover, the theology of the God’s Gardeners is apocalyptic. As with many sects that span human history, the community forms around an expectation of the end of days. Atwood states,

“According to Adam One, the Fall of Man was multidimensional. The ancestral primates fell out of the trees; then they fell from vegetarianism into meat-eating. Then they fell from instinct into reason, and thus into technology; from simple signals into complex grammar, and thus into humanity; from firelessness into fire, and thence into weaponry; and from seasonal mating into an incessant sexual twitching. Then they fell from a joyous life in the moment into the anxious contemplation of the vanished past and the distant future” (188).

Surviving the Waterless Flood

Aside from this religious institution, The Year of the Flood tells the story of two women associated with this fringe community. On one side, Toby found refuge in God’s Gardeners after her family deteriorated mostly due to nefarious corporate practices and her former job left her defenseless to an abusive boss. On the other side, Ren escaped the corporate compounds with her mother finding acceptance amongst the religious zealots.

With similar starting points, The Year of the Flood charts the different paths Toby and Ren take before the apocalyptic disease blots out most of humanity. Through serendipitous means, both women survive the “flood” as the Gardeners call it and unite to face the new, daunting world.

A Detailed Myth

 The Year of the Flood adds to the dark realism of the Maddaddam Trilogy. Just like Oryx and Crake outlines the plausible scenario of trans-national corporations ruining the world for profit. The Year of the Flood depicts a complex religion and liturgy surrounding the reality of this world. As with any occurrence, counter-movements inevitably spring up. Atwood’s fictitious faction, God’s Gardeners, provides an extensive theology that is plausible not only in her invented world but also in our world as it currently exists.

Dealing with Death

Of course, this trilogy suffers from a lack of real world analogy. Yes, corporations carry a lot of power. But, we do not consider them a threat. Should we? Perhaps. But for me, the big question with dystopian models is always how humanity deals with large-scale death. Atwood pens,

“Why are we designed to see the world as supremely beautiful just as we’re about to be snuffed? Do rabbits feel the same as the fox teeth bite down on their necks? Is it mercy” (415)?

Thus, the dystopian novel portrays beauty through its relationship with death. We all wonder about death; we all will experience it. Art finds it through dystopia and thus we read. The Year of the Flood is well-written, fast-paced, and frightening. Start with Oryx and Crake, and then read The Year of the Flood.