I read for different reasons. Sometimes it's because I want to unwind and escape from either a too sad or too drab reality. Sometimes it's to stimulate my senses by watching how words are joined together like patchwork quilts to create a picture, an image, a thought. Sometimes it's merely just to lull myself to sleep. Once in awhile, however, I would chance upon a book that transports me to another reality that's more unsettling and disconcerting than the one I am already in, that while it stimulates my senses - the effect is not that of a happy or fluffy feeling one gets from gazing at a patchwork quilt and it hardly puts me to sleep..and if it does, I'd end up having disturbing dreams. 1Q84 is that kind of book.
I may be one of the last few people in the planet to hear about Haruki Murakami and now I am beginning to understand why he has an almost cult-like following. If anything, I am this close to becoming a convert. I am still halfway through reading the book and one of the reviews did warn that it is a long 900++ pages novel. But it's one of those long novels that pulls me in two different directions. A part of me is dying to know how the story would end and yet there is this other part that, for the last few days, has become accustomed to the hypnotic, seductive, mesmerizing power of the book - like a drug with psychedelic or hallucinogenic effect...that I don't want the book to end at all..if only to maintain that strange high. Rarely a book has the power to suck me into it's pages that I am actually given the idea of how it must feel to cross a parallel dimension or a very e=mc2-ish sort of alternate reality..especially since I now live in an out of this world environment up north..in between reading the book, when I find myself gazing out of the window, I half expect to find two moons like the ones mentioned in the story. While I did say it is a mesmerizing read, I can't seem to finish the book soon enough. Sometimes when I am in a chapter or in a scene that is much too intense, I will myself to stop reading and start doing some mundane things that can remind me where my reality begins and 1Q84 ends - so I would wash the dishes, visit Facebook, write emails, feed myself..and with my reality well defined, I shut myself off from everything else and open my iPad's ebook app and start reading again.
I want to talk about intensity because I did say something about some chapters getting too intense. I've always felt that I am a person least qualified to give any form of book reviews. I have no technical know hows on form, style or writing technique. It's either I like a book or I don't but I don't feel the need to explain why..simply because I am not in the position to provide credible critique. This time, however, I will make a feeble attempt to discuss this particular book if only to detoxify and decongest my mind and spirit from it's overwhelming effect on me before I immerse myself further into reading and ultimately finishing it. Murakami is a Japanese author and the English translation of 1Q84 was released late this year. I am not an expert in Japanese culture or psychology but I've always found the Japanese to have this certain restraint and discipline on the surface that effectively masks whatever turbulence that lies beneath. In whatever structure (food, buildings, technology, words), they seem to have a penchant for projecting minimalism even if in that minimalist form there is actually a certain, unexpected heaviness. When I find it hard to explain something sometimes I tend to use too many words. It's hard to start on this premise because it's not easy to explain. But then as Murakami wrote, "if you can't understand without explanation then you won't understand with explanation"... so I am hoping that anyone who has ever watched a Japanese movie or attempted to dissect a haiku or even appreciated the elaborate simplicity of Japanese food would know where I am coming from. The mesmerizing power of 1Q84 does not come from any fast paced action, dramatic dialogues or colorful plots that's all too commonly seen in books written by Western authors. It's the quiet restraint of everything in the story - choice of words, pacing, characters' personalities that gives the readers the feeling that there is something ominous about the calmness and the stillness, something disturbing about the paucity of emotions from the characters (including a female lead who is incapable of using question marks!). To capture one's attention, you either create a lot of noise or in a quiet stillness you hold one's gaze and hypnotize. The book does the latter. And so far, speaking for myself, it has been very, very effective. For those who agree that Japanese or Korean horror movies although not as graphic and loud as their American counterparts are downright scarier, you would know what I mean.
These days, before I would buy a book or e-book, I tend to read the reviews first. This is mainly for my own economic and logistics justification. Interesting enough, those who were disappointed with this book happen to be hardcore Murakami fans. Most of them declared that his previous works were much better, 1Q84 just received more hype and attention based on the merits of the author's past efforts. As a novice, this didn't stop me from choosing 1Q84 as my initiation to the world and mind of Murakami. And I have no regrets. I have not finished the book yet but I have already downloaded two of his past works, the highly acclaimed Wind Up Bird Chronicle and at the risk of being accused of judging a book by it's cover or title, I also downloaded Norwegian Wood - mainly because it is the title of my favorite Beatles song (from where I got the name of this blog. Serendipity, eh?). Suffice it to say that it is totally inaccurate for me to declare that I am this close to becoming a convert of his cult-ish following, I believe I already am!
Having gotten that out of my chest, I will end this post and cross that parallel dimension that will take me back to 1Q84.
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