Benefits of Being a Nerd

Let me start by saying that I am a huge Murakami fan. I love his prose, the surreal elements of his plots, and the inexplicably alluring atmosphere imbued in everything that he writes. All this being said, 1Q84 didn't exactly blow me away. Don't get me wrong, I really really enjoyed this novel, but it just isn't at the same level as my favourite Murakami novels: Sputnik Sweetheart and Norwegian Wood. Personally, I find that Murakami's shorter novels pack a more poignant punch for me.

Independent of my high Murakami standards, 1Q84 is an incredibly intriguing novel. The characters are engaging, dimensional, and possess the same unnamable quality as all of Murakami's characters. The blending of fiction and reality is well executed, and particularly interesting when compared with Orwell's 1984. Murakami works with a lot of the concepts in 1984, but takes them in a very different direction. 

Unlike in Orwell's 1984, I really loved the romance in 1Q84. I found it to be one of the strongest elements of the novel, whereas the romance in 1984 fell incredibly flat for me (but more of that in my 1984 review!). 

I gave the first two books of 1Q84 four out of five stars and the third instalment four and a half out of five stars. The ending of the novel pushed me into an overall rating of four and a half out of five stars. 

Happy Reading!