"Lucid Dreamism" - Great Murakami Newness
Book Review: The Audible.com version of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.
If you want to read something that is like something else, especially something mainstream, then Murakami probably is not what you are desperately seeking in an author. 1Q84 is not science fiction, nor is it “magical realism,” although a whole bunch of both those key elements are swirled into the mix. This is something quirkily new, a lot of it bizarrely disorienting, but always fascinating, and it draws you on. 1Q84 is story of soul mates, and destiny, and the “unknown” barging into our lives to get us back on track (those silly little people, yo ho!) and free will versus pre-programmed packaging, you know, all that good stuff that plagues us throughout our lives (regardless of which world we are currently stumbling through).
On the narration, the two male readers, Vietor and Boyett, are adept pros who stay out of the way of the story. They read effortlessly and flawlessly. Allison Hiroto is masterful, crisp and almost as unique in reading as Haruki Murakami is in storytelling (and it must be the reason she was chosen) but she does dish out a tad too much of a good thing, over-enunciating her “ing” endings so that the word “ending” becomes “ending-GUH” or at other times “ending-KUH”) which creates more than a little auditory dissonance, I often found myself disoriented while wondering what in the world a “ring-KUH” is, and at first I figured this was intentional, to give a bizarre spin on certain characters, but then it kept popping up throughout (and to her credit, this distraction could have been handled in post-production, as the exaggerated consonant endings can be toned down, or clipped). This over-enunciation is a technique that works well on live stage, but up close and personal with earbuds, it can tend to distract. Do not let this distract you (and do not punch anyone in the face!). Stick with the story, and allow Hiroto to teach you some patience!
My favorite character by far (well, other than Tengo, as characters just do not get much better than Tengo) is Ushikawa (though I doubt I'd like to go out to dinner with him, although it would certainly be interesting), better known as Ushi (and what a difference in interpretation compared to Ushi’s stint in the Audible version of “The Wind-Up Bird”), he is hilarious, and sometimes evokes huge empathy (even as repulsively as he is represented) and deep sadness.
As long as the book is, even including the passages where the characters repeat their stories, like electricity sparking along neural pathways in the creation re-telling of memory (and Tango did program the ability to rewrite one’s own history, didn’t he?), I still wanted the story to continue at its end. If I had to categorize Haruki Murakami’s “genre” I would lean toward “Lucid Dreamism.”
Art et Amour Toujours
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