Issyvoo

Books 1Q84

If my summary seems to suggest that some elements in 1Q84 are trashy, so be it. Murakami is a great democrat when it comes to subject matter and plot development. Digressions on the St. Matthew Passion, The Brothers Karamazov, and Chekhov’s book on Sakhalin vie for air time with observations on, and citations from, Sonny and Cher and Harold Arlen.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at New York Review of Books Charles Baxter New York Review of Books 2011
As always, the experience is a bit like watching a Hollywood-influenced Japanese movie in a version that’s been dubbed by American actors. This time, sad to say, it also reminded me of stretches of the second season of Twin Peaks: familiar characters do familiar things, with the expected measure of weirdness, but David Lynch has squabbled with the network and left the show.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at London Review of Books Christopher Tayler London Review of Books 2011

… what happens in the story is important, but just as important is what does not happen. What does not happen, for large stretches of the book: anything exciting. In fact, for most of the last third of the book, the characters really don’t do much of any thing at all. Instead, we get detailed descriptions of people cooking, preparing to cook, and eating.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at Los Angeles Review of Books Charles Yu Los Angeles Review of Books 2011