1Q84 - Book Two

The second half of the first volume, book two of the story, is where decisively more action takes place. Things suddenly make more sense and one by one the author puts some pieces of the puzzle closer together. The reading experience I find greatly entertaining, because the writing is very much to my liking. There might be a few patches that feel a bit wordy, but all in all I'm quite fond of 1Q84.

I've learned that it took Murakami three years to write the book. In Japan it appeared in three separate volumes, which I would have prefered, whereas in the US they published it in one great tome. I wonder how people carried that around to read it on their way to work. The English version of the book was translated by Jay Rubin, an American academic, who also did Norwegian Wood and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

It's funny if you think about what kind of things you're registering when reading more or less carefully. A few years ago I saw a book in a huge store in Korea, it said How to Read Literature Like a Professor, or something similar. Maybe I should give that a read someday. Until now I'll continue the way that I do, enjoying detailed descriptions, tricky translation tasks, and alliterations.