1Q84 BY HARUKI MURAKAMI | Book Review

IT FINALLY HAPPENED. I FINALLY READ IT.
I NEVER SAID THIS IN THE SPOILER FREE SECTION BUT I GAVE THIS 5/5STARS I LOVED IT!

[@Nemo88881]

Tamaru the bodyguard was a good character too

[@reedrichards8677]

probably the best one

[@MrJohnKang]

Having a major crush on him. Lol

[@Depp-ew9sp]

my favourite besides ushikawa

[@yogininamaste]

the best one!!

[@EDAmirr]

The 1Q84 i read is 1317 pages, i started it off last Sunday and i just got done with it my only critcism is that i wanted them to meet so badly i couldnt keep waiting, and i wouldve loved just a few more pages of them sharing some experiences together and telling each other what they went through, but alas, at least they ended up together :)

[@bbens999]

EDAmirr: just like most Murakami books. We all would like a few more pages to give a catharsis. Alas...

[@niamorning5501]

B

[@ba-gg6jo]

@@bbens999 I have read a few more by this author and have finally got used to slow passages, and insightful and beautiful moments, I sometimes get impatient but I just find his books so hypnotic.

[@kmkha3145]

I finally finished it !!! Literally just abt minutes ago...... Now i m here.

[@michellepaterick3259]

Me too. This is the way it goes for me... finish a Murakami novel and come see what Kate has to say about it!

[@christinasamir6930]

+1 .... finished it just now

[@seetharaman1019]

Me too!!! Just finished 5 mins ago and came here to watch Kate’s review :)

[@nnelp]

Finished it right now too and I'm so happy right now.

[@user-nx7ki2oc1b]

Remind me again, Q is for question isn't it?

[@Kholdster]

Maza and Dohta sound like mother and daughter in a Japanese accent.

[@zlee001]

mind freakin blown!

[@SakiRv]

Bruh I never noticed this

[@bastiaan6551]

in the dutch translation they actually use the word mother and daughter even though they aren't dutch(but english) words

[@evangelinaVS3388]

@@bastiaan6551 pretty sure that is intentional

[@awwe21]

Wow

[@Bungalow_Jonathan]

I read Kafka On the Shore before 1q84 and thought Kafka was an amazing introduction to this type of Murakami novel. Thanks for the review!

[@elyzaolalia]

I swear it took me 2 years to continue reading the third book. The last book isn't really my cup of tea and the ending left so many questions! But I'm glad that they finally met each other. Atlas!

[@you_are_welcome97]

I agree I really loved book 1 and book 2 but book 3 I was like :(

[@may7955]

this is my first Haruki Murakami book... i think his an interesting author and his work

[@bbens999]

Biell Morning Star: read more! His books will give you an amazing ride.

[@mitchellfoye1998]

Kafka on the shore is way better, the rat series would be my favourite

[@emreb.5106]

kitabı bitirdikten hemen sonra tesadüfen rastladığım bu videonuzda; eseri, yazarın kendisine has özellikleri/tekniğiyle , o kadar güzel anlatmışsınız ki, romanı baştan, bir kere daha sizin anlatımınızla, yeniden deneyimlemek çok keyif verdi. Teşekkürler Kate.

[@MONTI439]

murakami 's lonely men......guess I am one of them....

[@stewartconacher6552]

A very good review.Your assessment that reading his work is like entering into a dream like state is spot on.

[@danteshydratshirt2360]

yes but if you like trippy stuff with some grounding in reality some coherent plot you will ultimately disappointed

[@ckying29]

Thank you for trying to summarize this book. I can imagine people who haven't read this book watching your spoilers section and thinking this girl must be on shrooms. As far as the story ending with the two finally getting together, I enjoyed it because I read somewhere that this book was the spiritual successor to his short story "on seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful april morning," and if you've read that story and you think two decades and one massive book later and they finally get together, it works.

[@iansixty8]

This book gives me strange dreams

[@itsmitchieszone]

Thank you for the warning. I wont read these at night then🤧

[@jamesmitchell2114]

Hello Kate, just wanted to tell you that I love the way you do your reviews. Very thought provoking and sincere. I just spent over an hour listening to a few. Again thank you.

[@runeverydamnday2285]

Great review. This book took me on quite the journey. This is the second Murakami book I’ve read. What an amazing story.

[@renegade2592]

My biggest complaint really is when they were building up the little power and their power, there was a mention of a concept of balance and an implication that tengo and aomame were somehow sent to the world of 1Q84 to go against them. I was waiting for a glimpse of that larger “battle” but I never really got it. Somehow I thought I’d understand the little people more and their motivations and plans but they seemed more like an extra character that went nowhere by the end. And what was the point of making an air chrysalis out of Ushikawa?

[@Hellogoodbye682]

What's that quote from the book? I think a couple people say it, but I know one of them was Tengo's father. Something about if you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation. Maybe it's not meant to be explained but to be understood. That being said though, I came here seeking some explanations lol. Like, who were the Little People? Was Fuka Eri a dohta or a maza? I want to know more details about Tamaru and the Dowager and Sagikake. I still really loved the book. I was absorbed the entire time and read the whole thing fairly quickly

[@yashburman7640]

@@Hellogoodbye682 there were many unanswered questions weren’t they? My biggest one was who was that taxi driver in the first chapter and how did he know about the emergency stairway? What came about of sakikage and was adachi a reincarnation of ayumi? And finally how did tengo’s older gf vanish?

[@DarthVreda]

YES. I described the ending of the book as anticlimactic because there was all this stuff happening with the little people, Leader is killed, an air chrysalis appears in front of Tengo of Aomame, they climb out of Ushikawa's mouth to do stuff there, but... our main characters just leave that world. That's it. So... that's the end of everything. D:

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

I love a mystery ... But unless murakami comes out and gives the story a decent breakdown (to crack the seed and bring something more to life out of it)... I will never pick this one up and read it again.

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

I enjoyed previous works of his where the multiple realities have correlated beautifully... This work however was very convoluted for me

[@andreeac8919]

I freaking love this book. I happen to think about the abandoned cat-town, the place where you somehow arrive and can never leave, it's like the most interesting short story I remember and also a metaphor for losing yourself into your own world. When the two moons are up, you know everything is the same but different. I've red almost all Murakami's books and I can tell by far the IQ84 trilogy is my favourite.

[@originnone]

All of those little side stories in Murakami books are just so awesome...and how they tie back symbolically into the main story. I think that's my favorite part about them....the dreams in particular.

[@kannansanthosh8991]

The cat town I still inside me

[@IchibanOjousama]

You should read some real books. Any books. Even SJM is better. Anyone is better.

[@nyxian_grid]

I understand what you mean about dystopia, but in its definition the term means "a community or society that is undesirable or frightening". At its core dystopias explore social and political issues, but it's pretty much a scary (and critical) alternative to reality.

[@KitRobin]

I just finished reading this book less than an hour ago, and I needed to just start looking at other people talking about it, lol. I was never much of a reader, but I've been doing a lot this year, and this was my biggest undertaking yet. Took me about a month to get through, but that's cuz I saved it for slow times at work, never read at home. Even still, every time I was reading this, I was like entering another world. Didn't wanna put it down, but I also needed to save it for times I knew it would kill time. I also have so many questions, but I feel like that's why I'm going to love this book in the long term. I love things that stick with you and make you keep thinking about them after experiencing it. I also would like answers to a lot of the questions I have, but I think the point is to have all kinds of interpretations on aspects that are left ambiguous. I agree with you that Fuka Eri totally had to be a dohta also, because she said herself that she didn't menstruate, which was another aspect of dohtas. At the same time, if that's true, then what happened to her maza. Not getting closure on certain parts of the story can be frustrating as a reader, but in the end it seemed like it wasn't her story. The fact that we spend most of the book focused on Aomame and Tengo tells us that this is their story, and once they escape the world of 1Q84, as abrupt as it can feel to the reader, for them the story is over. At least that's how I took it. Probably would have liked an epilogue that dealt with some of the repercussions in the world of 1Q84, but that was the author's decision to leave it as they did. This is gonna be one of those books that's gonna be hard to move on from though, because I'm already sad it's over, lol. As a hopeless romantic, I both like and dislike the love story aspect of it. It seems to be another version of 2 people who have found and experience "true love" without having to say anything, and I've always liked that in fiction. Unfortunately I grew up with stories like that, and now as an adult, I get sad when I remember that it doesn't exist in reality. Least that's how it feels.

[@chromemuffin5514]

I've had this book since it came out in America (it's a hardcover, which means I'll never be able to lug it anywhere with me), but never got past the first 3 pages. Its length is so daunting x.x (in all honesty, that's because most of Murakami's long books were originally published in 2-3 volumes.) You've motivated me...maybe I'll get to it this year.

[@murakamireads]

Yeah this one IS split into 3 "parts" but I definitely wish I had gotten the new USA 3 volume set - it woulda made reading it MUCH easier!! But, taking it one step at a time and treating it like a 3 book series is way easier than treating it as one book. Like, I put each "part" on good reads as an entire book to be able to write down my thoughts/feelings on each sections so I didn't feel stressed to remember it all - it also encouraged me cause I love adding reviews to goodreads so after I finished each section I knew I could add a new one! But I hope you do pick it up!! It's a really wonderful work, definitely one of Murakami's masterpieces!

[@GorgonDrageil]

Please do. Once you pass the 3rd chapter the book just draws you in somehow...

[@pascal4456]

Your summarised opinion of Aomame just made my day. Thanks!

[@Nadeshda44]

I just finished this book yesterday and I’m so happy with the ending

[@kannansanthosh8991]

I cried a lot at the end

[@wztudor2]

I have read 1Q84 several times and it gets better and better. I like the love story ending and how Tamaru was such a badass. I too wanted to know whatever became of Fuka Eri. My one great aspiration is having this book made into a movie - that would be mind-blowing!

[@IchibanOjousama]

It sucks so much

[@Lukulele1989]

It seems Paper Moon is a unifying theme; and how stories can write reality. This pretty much ties together the reflections on religion, love, and perhaps being an author. Somehow it seemed as though Tengo was writing the story of 1q84 that Aomame was living in, but it required this muse Fuke-Eri that awoke in him some connection to his past. But Aomame was figuratively writing her own story, particularly when she decides to take an active role again after months in the apparent. Interestingly Ushukawa becomes caught up as well, by way of his unusual and highly intuitive investigation technique. Love and religion are both shared narratives, they can thrive when inspired or become cat towns. By the the end of 1q84 it seems Sakigake will become a town of cats, but Tengo and Aomame escape - the child symbolizing a hopeful future. A family, another type of world / shared narrative. I have to say that this book is kinda messy, and not easy to recommend. But I found myself wrapped up in its spell. I read and reread the Town of Cats story while working my way through this novel, and absolutely love it. It was exciting to see the narratives slowly connect and get lost in something prodigious

[@irenepst]

I am a huge fun of your reviews! Let me make a comment on what you said about the main characters. Just to present my opinion. Aomame and Tengo were really interesting people to me to be honest. Despite their more bland attitude, I found their backgrounds and the way they are connected really pulling me into the story more in the first part which I just finished. I haven't read the rest of the parts, to make a comment on them, but I bought this book (the first part) 9 days ago and I am just HOOKED! I am on vacation and I am depressed on how I cannot obtain the second part while I'm here 😭

[@mattostovitz1098]

I believe its dystopian is because it is highly suggested that the "little people" were going to create some kind of cosmic existential disaster with their little air cocoon rituals and the fact that aomame was forced into an alternate universe against her will and not to mention the entire story focuses around abuse/depravity/child abuse/religious zealotry/ etc.

[@tensaijuusan4653]

After having read the genius level "Wind up Bird Chronicle" I expected a similar level of brilliance from IQ84 the Q being a play on the Japanese 9 = ku. This horse starts of with promise but continues to fall at every jump and even unseats it's rider by the end of the course. Pretentious beyond belief. I can hardly believe the same author wrote the same books.

[@tensaijuusan4653]

二度と読みたくない。

[@gencoss]

Kate have you listened Janacek Sinfonietta afterwards :p

[@kannansanthosh8991]

I had a clue on fuka eri. Because buzzcut says to tamura that fuka eri has completed her mission during the phone call between tamura and buzzcut. So I think fuka was like a mediator . The voices was leaving the leader and they may have entered aomame. So aomame became the new person to take the voices.

[@gabrielajimenez1962]

I always felt as if Fuka Eri was Tengo's sister or something. Maybe he was the son of the leader. In one part of the book, I can't remember where, it's said that something happened 17 years before, just the age of Fuka Eri. I can't remember if the connection was explained or not! There are also a lot of more questions without answer for me in this book. Anyway, I loved it)

[@HortensyaM]

Would be great but she cant really be his sister cause they have like 13 years of difference and Ushikawa says that his mother died when he was really young

[@CaptnStrawberry]

first of all, u had me cracking up in the last bit of ur vid. cos i had the same questions toward the end of the book. 1q84 was a long read...i would read 100-300 pages in a week, let it soak in for a month or two, rinse lather repeat. like u, i enjoyed books 2 & 3. what i like about murakami is his descriptions of nature. like the willow house, the sanatorium, heck even the winter playground in koenji had me feeling sentimental. fuka-eri was one of my fav characters. my impression was fuka-eri (was) at one point a maza, however when she ran away she left her dota behind. i think when aomame read air chrysalis the little ppl said without the maza the dohta cant survive on their own. what happens to the maza when the dohta is gone? the little ppl didnt say. maybe they were hinting something adverse wud come about in the event it happened. i do believe fuka-eri was a 'normal,' whatever that means, person at one point, but cos she lost the 'shadow of her heart & mind' (her dohta) she was impaired & lost some of her former self. but to confirm she is indeed the real fuka-eri & not an alter-ego dohta, the leader does tell aomame that his daughter left the cult leaving her dohta behind. another character i liked was kumi adachi which i believe is the reincarnation of tengo's mom/ayumi, cos her rebirth vision is identical to their death, & cos in the town of cats, tengo noticed a nurse with the nametag 'tamaki' which leads me to believe that the town of cats is some sort of parallel dimension where the living and dead are one. i also thought it was interesting how when ushikawa revealed how tengo's mom died & when tengo saw the picture of his mom, that it uncannily resembled his ex-gf & the events related to her. when tengo & fuka eri were talking about the crow & the concept of time, i think the crow was right. time or the essence of life doesn't flow in a straight line, but rather twisted & recycled. murakami used this idea and wove it into his style. he likes to recycle settings & ideas so that nothing is wasted. although, i felt murakami left us hanging w/ tengo when he spoke to the dark hole on pg 863. i wish he could have explored that idea more. it goes from giving a message to his dad to him waking up to get a call from tamaru

[@manishpaudel5084]

It got 1 like

[@gabrielajimenez1962]

I always felt as if Fuka Eri was Tengo's sister or something. Maybe Tengo was the leader's son. What do you think? I have a lot of more questions regarding this book. Anyway, I loved it)

[@bensaylor9093]

Having just finished part 1 and wondering how the rest was going to be, I found this review to be very refreshing. I liked part 1 but didn't love it- it had serious Gormenghast vibes. Would still recommend anyone who wants to leap down the rabbit hole. Quick addition: you're so right about the side characters. The agent is so amazing and hilarious. Such a good con artist type.

[@kannansanthosh8991]

I saw this video this year begining. Thanks for introducing ♥️♥️

[@telana]

I'm reading it now and i love the beginning! there is something about the monotony of the first part that passes the time quite well.

[@Depp-ew9sp]

i dont see anyone talking about how ushikawa appears in the wind up bird chronicle too. i was so excited when he made an appearance in this novel, and dissapointed that he died...

[@hasanal-laethawi1894]

Ok .. I know this's an old video but I'll try answering some of your questions.. for Fuka Eri , she exited the story because her role was over , it's like she needed to do what she has done and that's it . by the end of her story line , she achieved her goal of weakening the little people somehow and her actions lead to the ending .. as the Sakigake people said in the end ; they had nothing to gain from chasing her so she basically won and by the end of the book , she just go live a normal life . About Ushikawa's death .. in my opinion his death was necessary in that it helped achieved what was implied for the longest time with a lot of the characters that those people are dangerous and would do anything to achieve what they want .. after going through all of that chase and events after Aomame killed the leader , it would've been so boring if they just stopped everything because they didn't need her anymore or whatever same with the situation with Air Chrysalis novel , Komatsu needed to be kidnapped . Aomame and Fuka Eri weren't connected .. it was just a super natural crazy thing Fuka Eri did .. Fuka Eri is special and she has powers .The ending was the conclusion that needed to happen as I think with just enough loose threads and implied points . It was perfect .

[@amorfati8414]

I just finished this epic book and I totally agree with you about the ending and the meh love story. I get that their special connection was threaded throughout the book and needed a conclusion but I was way more intrigued by the mafia like cult underworld, ghostly fee collectors, and the rules of the little people. Would have loved a face off between Aomame and her air chrysalis clone lol

[@bidhrohi12]

Great review. I read that book on my Kindle. I knew it was a huge book, but I didn't know it was THAT big. Damn. lol.

[@naoseidenada4502]

I’ve finished reading this again... All I can say is this is of my favorites EVER... but maybe Tengo could rewrite the 3rd book as well 😝

[@IchibanOjousama]

😂

[@mediumjohnsilver]

In Chapter 13, Leader says that Fuka-Eri left her dohta behind, so that is reinforcement that she is not a dohta, but is the original. The conversation also implies that during the event by which Leader gained powers and became an agent of the Little People, his daughter became an agent of the opposition to the Little People. And it seems that as part of that, she gained some powers of her own.

[@theUroshman]

Can you, please, tell me what/who 'dota' and 'maza' are, which you mention several times when you were talking about the connection between Fuka-Eri and Aomame, starting at about 13:25? (Are they both "mazas" or are they both "dodas/dotas"?)

[@theUroshman]

Oh, I just found out. They stand for mind and body and are used to refer to the connection and the split between the two.

[@davidlawrence2015]

i'm currently reading... thanks for your review!

[@derekbee1743]

Leader is the source of the conduit between Fuka and Auomame - Leader set the whole thing up and it came to fruition (literally) during that storm.

[@stevenperezhenriquez1332]

I just finished today, the three volumes. Is very long but I really like it, you can meet the Tokio of 1984 and known about things that happened in the Japan of that time, without cellphones and internet. For example I didn't known about the extreme left movements and about the incidents related with "Aum". I like it a lot The hints of others literary works, Chekov and Proust mostly and also the Jungian psychology disseminated in every situation concerned with the characters. I'm from Latin America and here we had a major literary movement absurdly called "latinamerican boom" being Magical Realism the element that described the genre, you know...one hundred years of solitude...the Tokio of 1q84 looks like a Latin American city full of magical realism....maybe macondo, or los Andes de Vargas Llosa. Lo mejor sería ver a la luna más seguido.

[@yarsheets4572]

I loved this book. I'm an old guy, but I get the objections you have. I try to see these things in terms of the times in which they were written. I cut a lot of slack. Maybe too much. But I don't want to toss out the literary baby with the bath water. And as I said, I love this book. And Murakami, writ large. Thank you for another perspective.

[@spat5502]

Agree: not what I consider “dystopian”. Your questions are my questions! But I do like the “love story” ending. I would have been way too sad if it ended otherwise. I had a bad print run of this book and got to page 275 and realized that the next 50 pages or so were missing but replaced with duplicates of another 50 pages. Took me a few minutes to determine whether this was part of the plot! Had to wait a week before I got a copy of a correct printing.

[@Fern112233]

I have some thoughts about this book. I read Norwegian Wood before and this is my second Murakami reading and i really enjoy how he writes, and his descriptions and the characters are quite interesting too. I agree with you that they are kinda bland but nonetheless really interesting. 1Q84 was easy for me to read, even though it was quite long. I think i enjoyed the second book the most. And I have some opinions about it. Firstly, Aomame and Tengo had a similar childhood where their parents weren't present and they were lonely kids and they somehow connected with each other because they understood what the other was feeling and i think that in that moment they felt accompanied for once in their life. So it makes sense that they held on so badly to that moment because they were lonely people. Buuuut, realistically, they were 10 year olds, like it was a bit weird reading about how they couldn't get over their childhood crush 20 years afterwards and that they thought about them while having sex and so on. I feel like the book has a lot of pedophile characteristics (also with Tengo and 17 year old Fuka Eri having sex) that made it really uncomfortable to read... and also sexualizing Fuka Eri as a 17 year old and her breasts and body was kinda unnecessary, and the leader having sex with 13 year old girls and ripping their insides (????). Nonetheless, the reality within reality that they created and shared was really interesting, and how they both slowly became aware of it, with 1Q84 for Aomame and the Cat Town for Tengo. I also think that the little people and its opposing force were plotting everything and their destinies and mostly every character was almost blindly following orders. I like the fact that they had to leave that reality together, and that they somehow rebeled and had free will and escaped that reality (at least Aomame, cause Tengo was again following orders, without any kind of free will or even questioning how tf is this woman, that I haven't seen in 20 years, carrying my baby?). But still, i still have a lot of questions regarding Sakigake and Fuka Eri. I think that the Fuka Eri that wrote the book was the real one (the mazha, following the opposition of the Little People) and then (I'm not quite sure when) the dohta replaced her, and possibly the Fuka Eri that Tengo met was always the Dohta. But also the fact that Aomame killed the Leader, it was all meant to be that way and it was somehow planned (by the Leader or the Little People) so that she could get pregnant with the new leader. Also the Sinfonietta was an important part and I'd like to know exactly what it meant, but it was a recurring song that Tengo and Aomame shared in different moments (initially when Tengo played it in a recital and Aomame saw it without knowing it was Tengo). The two moons were also a recurring aspect representing the alternate reality that there where both living in, and i don't understand how everyone else didn't explicitly talk about or noticed them. As if they somehow were NPCs in that world, or were too afraid to acknowledge or question it. Maybe the fact that Ushikawa saw the two moons was what ended up killing him, as indirect punishment. The gun was also important, and the fact that it said that if it's there it must be used, it felt like it was foreshadowing a death or something, so I additionally think it accomplished that death by killing Ushikawa. And another theory that I have is that maybe Aomame's baby only existed in 1Q84, and when they went back to 1984, the baby stopped existing, thus representing the gun that Aomame kept by her side and that inevitable death. Andddd I could keep going but I've typed too much and idk if anyone's gonna read my rant hahaha, but I disliked the ending, I wanted more of them together, i kept waiting for that moment for so long. Also I feel like Aomame was much more in "love" with Tengo than Tengo with her, and maybe it was just a platonic love because they honestly don't even know each other, but still, kinda unrealistic on that part. Anyways, I did like the book and thanks for reading :)

[@izzy8142]

im almost to the second part of the book and will be back to watch the rest of this video when i finish lol :))

[@soitra]

Ushikawa knew too much, that's why he was murdered.

[@mitchellfoye1998]

Aomami was certain she was pregnant with Tengo’s baby. So for that to happen , Fukaeri must be linked with her, receiver/perceiver . From what I gather , Fuka-eri is a fragmented version of Aomami. Spawned from an air chrysalis.

[@lukeskywalker7906]

I am planning on reading it and now I am so eager to pick it up and start reading

[@pattiecake11]

Why is there different page numbers in this book. Does it come in different volumes? I ordered a book on line that said book 1 and 2. Then I saw a book three, I also ordered that one. Was that right? Also “I am a Cat” I received a tiny book in the mail! Is there more?

[@murakamireads]

1Q84 is 3 volumes - sometimes sold in separate books sometimes sold in one big bind up I am a cat is also multiple volumes!

[@pattiecake11]

Kate Pfeil thank you!! Love your videos!!

[@QASIMARA]

I am finally reading it too!!! came out the year I left Taiwan, so I should have read it then...

[@nickobergshow]

I just finished it.. I had the feeling that the cult, little people, the 1q84/cat town world had the goal or purpose to bring the two of them together.

[@URangryX]

Loving the split narrative of Aomame and Tengo so far... On page 189 now....loving it so far.

[@yarsheets4572]

We obviously need to wait for the sequel. 😉

[@quirrel1453]

Masterpiece

[@Franz_Morhart]

Fifteen pages into 1Q84, we are already acquainted with a formidable female heroine with a memorable mindset and distinct facial features, AND treated to a (not really) strip-tease, set to the tune of none other than Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. After reading the opening, I just knew IQ84 was going to be awesome. And it is. In fact, 1Q84 is a deeply immersive and fully realized world, a towering masterwork and genuine literary achievement. Full to bursting with real insight on humanity and even literature and pop culture, but wrapped in a sprawling science fiction narrative that includes elements of humor, drama, romance, mystery, and espionage fiction, it truly engages your mind and pulls at your heart. It's unequivocally one of the best books I've ever read. WOW!

[@IchibanOjousama]

You should read other books. Anything

[@Franz_Morhart]

No matter what you say, some asshole has to make an insulting contrary statement. Here is my review of "Doctor Sleep": Just finished reading the sequel to Stephen King's universally acclaimed horror masterpiece, The Shinning, entitled Doctor Sleep. The story primarily occurs many years after the first novel, with Dan working at a hospice in rural New Hampshire, where he uses the remnants of his shining ability to ease the suffering of the dying at the moment of death. He meets a young girl named Abra Stone, who also has the shining. Abra is in mortal danger from a group of quasi-immortals called the True Knot, who live off the 'steam' that children with the shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death. Dan risks everything, to protect Abra from the murderous paranormals, just as s young black cook at the Overlook Hotel once risked everything to save him. As a sequel, Doctor Sleep starts off promising. Early on, Dan winds up exactly where his father started in The Shinning: drunk, and hitting his rock bottom, and wanting desperately to find a good place to escape his own personal demons. Reading about Dan falling into the same fate as Jack Torrance, the exact fate I had hoped he'd avoid, was an extremely painful experience, but also a welcome one. It nearly moved me to tears, and proved to me that I still cared about the little boy I met years ago reading the first novel, even if I didn't care to much for anyone else in Doctor Sleep. If the quality of a piece of literature is judged solely by the extent it makes you emotional, then the early chapters were the best. As Doctor Sleep got further and further away from the plot of The Shinning, I cared less and less. I think Stephen King tried hard to make me love Abra the same way I loved Dan, but I just couldn't. She was a smart and funny character, and her relationship with Dan was cute, but everything was far to easy for her. It is a characters struggle, and the fear of what might happen to them, I think, that causes people to care about fictional characters as though they were real. Abra's shinning was so powerful that I never once felt she was in any real danger. The almost comical villains with their silly names didn't exactly help make things suspenseful. I wanted to truly fear them, but there was nothing frightening about them. I wanted more along the lines of Horace Derwent or the dead woman from Room 217, and what I got was the Wicked Witch of the West. Hat and all. I remember, even though I was older when I first read it, The Shinning was genuinely scary at times, reading it alone in the dark with a flashlight. Especially with the loud BANG! caused by people bursting through my bedroom door at random intervals. I did not have the same experience with this novel. It is very different from the Shinning, not only in terms of the plot of the story, but also how it was written, even though both were obviously written by the same man. At no point does Doctor Sleep ever come close to approaching anything I would call "horror." To use movie terms, Doctor Sleep the book felt more like a direct to DVD successor to The Shining then a true sequel. By the end, Doctor Sleep had plenty of faults, but it was still a good book, because at no point did it actually bore me, and worth the read. It just wasn't anywhere near as good as The Shinning. Have a nice day!

[@jaydorota1109]

Do you read Kazuo Ishiguro's novel ?

[@akashraha]

This book is Dystopian in a literary sense because imagine, for Aomame, her existence in a world turned topsy turvy (a parallel world? A mirror world? an alternate-world? one of the multi-world) was horrible and dark, precisely because of the choices that she has to make. That she bore it with elegance is another deal altogether ... But in a way this is also a personal story of the characters stuck in a sci-fi-like world-view of IQ84.

[@user-yt2dq5wo8c]

It is amazing reading about 1p84 theng and aome

[@kannansanthosh8991]

4.9/ 5 stars. I loved fuka but marukami didn't left a clue about her at the end

[@originnone]

Initial comment that it's not dystopian is accurate. The comment that Murakami can make nothing into a great read is accurate. The first part of 1q84 was not boring. It was both necessary and a fascinating buildup. Comments on character development are accurate. But the primary characters are by no means bland. They are fascinating characters. People have said the same about Toru, but he too is a fascinating character. They aren't lively and active in a physical sense, but their spiritual activity is breathtaking. I was far more enamored with Aoname than Fuka Eri, and more so with May Kasahara. The comment about Murakami's books being like a dream is very accurate. Ushikawa didn't need to die...agreed. That was curious. Your assessment of Fuka Eri and Aoname was also an outstanding question. I disagree on needing to know about the baby. I was ok with that left unsaid. I think the point was that their lives would include many things that we'll never know. I do take exception to the point about their next steps. I don't think they went to "regular" 1984. Murakami's endings are not his strong point. It's hard to say that because, as you said, this one is 5/5, but then....to me they all are. Very well organized and well defended commentary. Thanks. I do appreciate your thoughts. If I could live one, I think it would be Norwegian Wood.

[@sandyaerlangga1992]

Finally took 1.5 years finish this book .. and finally I know 100% the answer in this book

[@rikkidas4417]

If you have money for 1 book and you have to choose between 1q84 and killing commendatore which one would you buy?

[@murakamireads]

Oh gosh. Is it your first murakami? If it’s your first go KC, if you’re a murakami veteran go 1Q84

[@rikkidas4417]

@@murakamireads Thank you so much. It will be my 3rd Murakami book. I have read Norwegian wood and Kafka on the shore and absolutely loved both on them♥️

[@danteshydratshirt2360]

I started reading this book after I have read Hardboiled Wonderland and the collection of his short stories...it aint a good book imho...its really style over content sorry...world building? what world building? 2 moons in one reality wow? IMHO the book needs severe editing and suffers from the modern malaise of books ITS FAR TOO LONG....would make an excellent 300 page novel but...oh well

[@nirchuy]

You looked so pretty in this video, i really liked the blouse you wore, it has a native american pattern, am i right?

[@murakamireads]

thank you! And yes I believe it is a native american pattern though I'm not 100% sure! a friend got me it as a gift several years ago ^_^ but i agree, it's a very pretty shirt!

[@nirchuy]

Kate Pfeil thank you for replying every time i write down a commentary on your videos, that help me alot to not get rusty on my english grammar, i'm mexican and i don't get much opportunities to write in english 😀

[@murakamireads]

absolutely!! I love chatting with people in the comments so I always try to respond! :D

[@arundhatipatil7391]

Nooo... Fuka eri was a maza..coz the leader tells aomame that fuka eri left her dohta behind..and the dohta and maza cannot function without each other..the dohta was the shadow of the maza's heart and mind..that explains why fuka eri was so different

[@thejake4363]

I know I'm late to the party, but I just finished reading this last night (after having owned it for like six years haha). Wasn't it mentioned explicitly that Fuka-Eri was a dohta? I may be wrong, but that's the way I took it. If so, I don't think it really matters what happens to her since, from what I can tell, dohtas aren't real people, just more of a vessel that serves some sort of purpose, and then after that purpose is finished, they just kinda go away or just assimilate somehow? I don't know. I read it sporadically (until the last third), so I don't remember every detail. Either way, I felt like that didn't need explaining. She had served her purpose. Now everyone can move on and do what needs to be done. She was my favourite character in the book, btw. As for the NHK man, I don't think it was Tengo's father. I think that was a loose correlation made by Tengo. I think the NHK man and the strangler/murderer were one in the same and had no integral part to the story, just a red herring/interesting side note in the world. At the end, I think they were in some sort of third dimension, not in the real 1984, for what it's worth. The only thing that really bothered me was the last two chapters. I feel like it could have and should have ended with Aomame and Tengo meeting on the slide at the end of the third from last chapter when Ao says "Look, it's the moon." I just felt like it should have ended right when they met and left the rest to the imagination. I just felt like that was the perfect thing to say in that moment.

[@beetljam792]

hey im half way through, and i'm very irritated by, like, the sexualisation of every single female character and SPOILERS the main male lead (30 years old) having sex with a 17 year old, the sakigake leader raping children because of the little peoples control and the dismissal of aomame being a bisexual despite having enjoyable sexual experiences with other women. i can see how all of this might be apart of the narrative and message of the novel in a non-creepy way but i'd like to know if it ends up being examined by the novel in a meaningful way? i'm still going to finish it myself but would like this answered by someone who's already finished the novel.

[@talktraumatome9681]

I'm sure you finished the novel by now and I share your grievances. These are reasons I only gave the novel 2 stars. The blatant sexualization of children was unnecessary. It was too descriptive and plainly put horrible. I know some will say, "they weren't real children, they were dohtas" but that really doesn't make it better in my mind. I felt like this book could have been truncated...a lot. It went on way too long and it went off kilter in multiple places. This was my first Murakami so maybe I've just selected the wrong novel to start with. If they all contain this type of content- I'm out. I draw the line at sex with children.

[@cindy_le1106]

I'm a quarter into this book and all this talk about the Little People is freaking me out, especially since I'm reading at night

[@shashinkarki3005]

How many of you guys see two moons up there?

[@billkeon880]

Yes, dreamlike. Twilight Zone in book form

[@ZorbaPress]

For readers new to Murakami, what is the best book to start with ?

[@devanshmodi4980]

Start with Norwegian wood and then follow it up with Kafka on the shore

[@jojohairee9987]

@@devanshmodi4980 I suggest reading Kafka first then Norwegian wood, because it is easier to transition from the surreal world that is very prevalent in a lot of kurakami's works than to transition from something to normal to something crazy as kafka, also kots is more representative of murakami's works, Norwegian wood is a book that he wrote with the intention of writing something that he won't normally write about.

[@bs43212]

she looks like Fuka Eri with her perfectly shaped.

[@cineturon]

You forgot to mention Tengo getting high with his reincarnated mother.

[@jessm229]

Oh thats what that was!

[@H3c171]

How was she his mother?

[@Alenakip]

Kumi Adachi was his mother??? I know her story lines up with his mother’s but she clearly said she would recognize her killer if she ever met him. I’m shocked 😮

[@DanielFredriksson]

Wasn't it his "older girlfriend" who looked like his mother?

[@robbanks6271]

Yes! I was looking for this comment haha

[@user-nx7ki2oc1b]

I should re-read this book. But Kafka of the shore is my top priority to re-read

[@aTotalDerp]

I came here for answers....turns out no one has them....

[@frankfeldman6657]

I revere Murakami, and consider him the greatest living writer of fiction. That said, it’s lazy, dirty pool for any author to dick his readers around for four hundred pages-four hundred pages in which, basically, NOTHING HAPPENS. To subject them to endless, pointless descriptions of various foods, articles of clothing, misc. aphorisms that read as if they’re philosophical, but which, upon rereading, reveal themselves as truisms and clichés. It makes one angry at the both the characters themselves and the author, for narcissistically spinning their wheels for SO FREAKING LONG. Get on with it, for chrissakes. Another description of a meal??? Really???!!! I was expecting one hell of a payoff, after having been asked to endure close to 400 pages of basically NOTHING, but was seriously, SERIOUSLY underwhelmed. No passion, no revelations, just a boring' ass "happy ending".

[@muttyfufi852]

Thanks a lot for thaisub❤️❤️

[@ameliemomoyusafai]

RIP Ushikawa

[@markbaker887]

Good review, appreciate your perspective. I asked the same questions!

[@sanskitty]

@Kate Pfeil I think aomame nd eriko are the same aomame being the maza nd fukaeri being dohta! At the beginning of the book aomame never met anyone named aomame , maybe the cult she was in was actually sakikage, because also when tengo searched for that cult where aomame was and he never found that cult! Eriko without any doubt had all the characters of dohta and since aomame got impregnated from fuka eri , it must have been aomame's dohta!

[@allaalhaj3858]

An interesting idea. I thought the same in the beginning but after a few pages I dismissed this idea. But it makes sense now according to Maza and Dohta concept.

[@talktraumatome9681]

I think Aomame's parents were Jehovah's Witnesses. They had a lot of similarities to JW such as not accepting blood transfusions or others who are not JW believers.

[@runeverydamnday2285]

I'm clicking out of here b/c I'm so early in the book.

[@wolfgar45]

ushikawa sppear in wind-up bird so i guess he's alright.

[@murakamireads]

SHIT. DUDE. I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THAT?? Jeez I guess it's time for a Wind Up Bird reread its been over a year and a half now - I'm losing some of my memories of it!!

[@narsplace]

you can call it 1984, Q is how nine sounds in Japanese.

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

I enjoyed Norwegian Wood Dance, Dance, Dance Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world But I seriously could not wait for this novel to be finished... Long winded and dull...

[@Abbi_Lovely]

you need to put a warning for when you get to the spoiler part

[@murakamireads]

I did; 11:22 "now we are getting into the spoilery discussion section"

[@nadominhoca]

This is a book review for Christ Sake.. by default the reviewer will be speaking about the book!!!

[@kannansanthosh8991]

What happened to fuka eri is not described. And I loved ushikawa than tengo and tamura was a great character

[@ainh7695]

This book in Iran censored more than 300 page

[@H3c171]

Pussies

[@zainabelmadhoni6856]

I loved book 1 and 2 but I hated book 3. Nothing happened, we got no answers whatsoever by the end

[@distilledlaw34]

1Q84 was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read (next to Under The Dome by Steven King). The massive unanswered loose ends he intentionally created with the story felt like he was mocking the reader. I thought the first two parts were amazing but I hated the third part.

[@murakamireads]

I guess it depends on the reader! While I'm half like "omg I want answers like what the heck" I also am a huge fan of open endings where the reader gets to think up what happens on their own - like "The Giver" or "Three Souls" are two of my favorite books because of those types of endings!

[@TandG1000]

I think he is leaving it open for a fourth instalment

[@ComeUndun.]

How did you get through it? I'm struggling to get through part one. I'm at 100 pages, and I think I just put it down for good. Aomame's story is interesting, but it feels like he stretches what could be 5 pages for Tengo's story, to 20 pages.

[@hibz4664]

I didnt like third part that much either

[@danteshydratshirt2360]

@@ComeUndun. I think its terribly written. Style over content. Very repetive in places. Its just like David Lynch films no coherence or plot tbh and worse than that it takes 5 times as long to tell the story as it could. Do we really need a page of a description of cooking?

[@runeverydamnday2285]

OMG I'm only on page 150 so far....

[@zhbvenkhoReload]

Well, Tengo also gave up everything for a girl...

[@kannansanthosh8991]

Not any random girl. It's aomame

[@thecurvedhiltpodcast1800]

That's pretty much dystopian

[@alwaysyouramanda]

Sold at badass female assassin.

[@MrJohnKang]

After 4 months or so,finally I done with it. My first time finished reading a whole book of Haruki’s. It was a great book. Anyways,Like you said it was like a dream. I guess thats why he didn’t give us the answers. 😂

[@IchibanOjousama]

It sucked tho

[@miabrown3419]

im on page 100 but im struggling to read it through

[@kannansanthosh8991]

Read the whole book. I'm sure you won't be disappointed

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

I was disappointed... So far the order I'd place his books that I've read, this is the order 1. Norwegian Wood 2. Dance, Dance, Dance 3. Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world 4. Killing commendatore 5. Colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage 6. 1Q84 7. The wind-up bird chronicle 8. The wild sheep chase

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

Was so happy once this book was done so I could stop wasting my time... There was no payout in the end... basically a person goes from one world, finds the person they were searching for and exits to another world... All the while weird dream-like stuff goes on and the narrative is dragged out to increase the word count Call me a hater haha

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

But I will say due to its length I could easily have missed important plot points that open up the mystery to the novels overall story OR murakami was just constantly throwing out ideas purposely to put your head in a spin... Like I enjoyed the connection between tengos cat town and aomames 1Q84 ... But alot of other stuff didnt connect... Now either you think that's good writing or lazy writings, guess it's on how the reader feels lol... Guess that's the beauty of the artform hey But like why did ushikawa become used for the little people to enter and create an air chrysalis and why did they use HIS hair to create it? What does this mean? If anything?

[@bradleymcdonald6273]

I love a mystery and I feel in his shorter novels he really has beautifully interwoven multiple realities in a way that is left open for interpretation, yet still easy enough for the reader to see the correlation... However with this one it was way too convoluted for me

[@siddhantsachdeva3388]

1000+ pages of nothing is a great way to describe this book

[@jazsteevionbenson6144]

I don't read a lot of books but I read this one because of PewDiePie mentioned he read Murakami's work. This is my first starting point. To be honest, I am quite frustrated with his works. Yes, his world building writing is amazing but in terms of story or closing out plots, he's quite poor on that. I'm not sure if it's intentional or what but it made frustrated. Maybe he left it for us to interpret. Due to this, I have lots of questions about the book. Like what happened to the dowager, what happened to the Sakikage, what happened to the maza, dohta. Where is the real Fukada Eri, what is actually the Little People. Who was knocking the doors posing as NHK collector for Aomame and Tengo? So many things left for us to interpret. Then I moved on to the second book, Kafka on the Shore, I finished it and met with the same frustrations. Lots of questions left unanswered. So again, I am not sure if it's intentional or what. Now I'm about to move on to the third book which is Norwegian Wood. I am afraid if the plots are left hanging at the end of my reading. Don't get me wrong, I like the writing but I just can't stand how some things are left unexplained.

[@talktraumatome9681]

I think that the NHK collector was supposed to be Tengo's father. When he died the nurses mentioned him making knocking motions on his bed to Tango. He also wanted to be buried in his NHK suit. I think that maybe there was an air chrysalis in his room because he had a dohta as well. No one whose door was knocked on ever mentioned seeing the man knocking.

[@irenepst]

Please people write a spoiler warning on your comments :(

[@nadominhoca]

So, you come on a book review video (without reading the book) and expect people to NOT comment about the book?!? Is this a joke?

[@irenepst]

@@nadominhoca people sometimes watch review videos to decide whether they'd buy it or not. That's why some of her videos are separated into the spoiler free vid and the part where she talks about the book and actual important events. Is *that* a joke?

[@nadominhoca]

Irene Pastou Watching book reviews to decide to read a book or not is simply pathetic. That’s the problem with society... people’s brains are dead! They just rely on others.. Grow some and read the damn book.. I am glad there was a lot of “spoilers” here and that ruined your “reading” experience.

[@irenepst]

@@nadominhoca No it did not. It was beautiful I still read the book and I don't even remember the spoilers. You are the one whose brain is dead not mine. How each person works and lives their life is not for you to decide. Stop judging people as if you're high and mighty and only what you do is the right choice. Just how people read the critic of a book or a movie beforehand they can watch a review. Who says I have infinite money to spend? People want to make wise purchases when they dont have a huge pocket. Take your negativity and shove it up your ass.

[@nadominhoca]

Irene Pastou go girl!