image by Reflections in a puddle
When was the last time you looked in the night sky? For some inexplicable reason, I do it all the time. I look for the moon and stars, as if to confirm that everything is in the right order, the way it should be. I may see a full moon, or a crescent moon, or no moon at all, because of clouds, but never are there two moons, side by side. But that’s not the case with Aomame, the heroine of 1Q84, who has been observing the lunar duo spectacle for quite some time. If I were her, I would probably come to a conclusion that it’s just a dream and would try to wake myself up. Yet, in order to wake up you need to realize that you are asleep, and that’s hard, because dreams are surprisingly convincing in spite of their utter lack of logic.
The oddities of 1Q84 don’t end with the two moons; rather, the moons are just the beginning. Aomame finds herself somewhere that may be called an alternative reality, but it’s not clear how she got there and whether other characters in the book share the same reality. There are mysterious Little People and an air chrysalis, which appears first as a book, written by a dyslexic teenage girl, and then as an object created by the Little People. There is an enigmatic and formidable Leader of a religious cult and the cult itself, no less menacing and intriguing.
Like other books by Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 goes beyond mystery and fantasy, with its rich cultural references, and often poses questions that seem to have no answers. It also contains stories within a story, like a Russian matryoshka doll. For example, Tengo, another main character, a writer and mathematician, reads excerpts from Chekhov’s Sakhalin Island to Fuka -Eri, the teenage author of Air Chrysalis. I never read Sakhalin Island: now I want to. But most captivating is an overarching reference to Orwell’s 1984. I am half way through the book, and the riddles are starting to snowball. I can’t wait to see how all the pieces of this great puzzle will fall into place.
I will have to check this one out over the break! It sounds really good.
it was greatly riveting to look over your blog, I want to reproduce your post in my blog. It can ? And you et an account on Twitter?
Hi Rodney, Thank you very much for your comment. Of course, I don’t mind if you reproduce a post from my blog with attribution or a link to the original post. I would greatly appreciate if you could please send me a note when you add it to your blog.
Very intriguing review!
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[...] art inspired by 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Moonlit Meditation, image by [...]