_1Q84_ by Haruki Murakami
I am not actually sure what prompted me to purchase this book on my iPhone Kindle, but when I was searching for something to read in the future, this title kept coming up. So, I figured I would give it a try.
Although Murakami is quite popular, I have only managed to read one of his novels – _A Wild Sheep Chase_. Generally, I don’t get into the postmodern style, but something drew me to this one.
It was worth the read, though it did take me some time to get through it. The story switches from the perspectives of different characters in the novel with two – Tengo and Aomame – being the central characters. For the first part of the book it is not clear how these characters are related, but slowly the connections are revealed and the idea of fate, destiny and soulmates comes into play. There’s quite a bit of spiritual discussion throughout the story as well as social issues that are particular to Japan.
I wondered if I didn’t have any background with Japan if I would have understood or enjoyed it as much. However, the art is in the storytelling and I believe that it was well-written overall.
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