1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

This is the first two books of the trilogy 1Q84. The slight of hand is that the character for Q is Japanese looks like the number 9 - so when you're looking at this and thinking "is that like 1984?" the answer is yes. This is how it was published in Japan too, the first two parts together and the third part coming later on. Now, if you've not read Murakami, then a few words to introduce you. He's a superstar author in Japan, this book alone sold a million copies as soon as it was launched and he is, fortunately, much better known in English speaking countries now. He is a master of the properly post-modern. His books are dreamscapes married to hyper realist stories of lost souls in individual situations caught up in events that they barely influence and certainly don't understand. More often than not the characters dream half of their adventures (not like in Dallas, well, not most of the time. The rest of the time it's not entirely clear).

I also confess that his books and writing are so opaque and mystically realist in nature that sometimes I'm not sure I know what's happened after I close the last page. However, that is really part of the deliciousness of his writing - that he can take small lives, bizarre subjects and everyday emotions and turn them into something consuming and numinous. Murakami is also a non-fiction essayist and thinker and his tight intellect and command of language comes through in the power of his writing which is poetic, sparse, blunt and powerful without becoming overwritten. Of all the books I've ever read it's Murakami who's maanged to have me holding onto the pole on the Jubilee line hoping to God I won't faint as a tide of nausea passes over me because of a description he's written of an awful event.

1Q84 carries on these themes, holding alternate worlds, dreams and the mystical all in its palm for two protagonists, an author and a personal trainer who assassinates sexually abusive men. Some how they both get drawn into a conspiracy involving a fake novel, a runaway teenager and a religious cult which may actually not be faking it at all...

The structure of the story captures the sense of confusion and doublespeak of 1984 and one sees echoes of that novel littered everywhere here. Observation, punishment and monitoring seem ubiquitous, engineering situations and even people also feature. Yet most interesting of all is the characters' own awareness of the situation they are in - they know the novel and they create the title of the book themselves. Yes it's self referential but it doesn't break the fourth wall with a knowing wink to the reader. If anything you know less than they do and they're not sharing more than their gut response to the events of the story.

It's an excellent piece and I'd not have too many qualms about recommending it as an introduction to his work either. I'm off now to read the final part...see you later.