This is all done extremely subtly through suggestion and the storyline is left up to the reader to piece together as the characters (none of whom meet each other until the very end of the book) weave in and out of each other’s narratives. I think that perhaps one of the ways that Murakami managed this feat was the introduction of time slips and the concept that time was moving faster and slower for different characters or in different situations. The book is one long nothingy nothingness of no action, no drama and no plot development – and yet it still managed to grip me from the first page to the last. There’s a slightly laboured point about Chekhov maintaining that any gun introduced to a story must be fired so I was expecting some major drama. I didn’t really expect to have any answers, I don’t know what happened, nothing has been resolved before getting to the book’s final destination.Īll I know is, I just really, really enjoyed the journey.ġQ84 Book Three kicks off directly after the dramatic ending of Book Two, where Aomame was stood with a gun in her mouth about to pull the trigger.

The question is though – do I actually care? Did I expect to find anything out? I’m actually left with more questions now than I had at the beginning, some of which involve pretty major plot points. 1Q84 Book Three (the culmination of the trilogy) is where the average writer would begin to tie up loose ends…but Murakami clearly had other ideas. Basically, Murakami books are downright weird – and 1Q84 is possibly the weirdest one yet. This is quote from my review of 1Q84 Book One (which I also used in my review of 1Q84 Book Two) and I still think it sets the tone nicely. However, the stories are so brilliantly written and beautifully detailed that the fantasy elements feel totally natural to the overall narrative – to the point where you can describe an entire book and forget to mention that the main character can converse with cats.” His work defies categorisation – weird Japanese realistic fantasy is about as close as I can get.

All of his books are set in quiet towns in Japan where people with ordinary lives have extraordinary, strange and bizzare things happen to them. “ The world of Haruki Murakami is a very, very weird one. Could be enjoyed by: Fans of Murakami who also have a lot of patience

1q84 book 3