1Q84 Audiobook By Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin - translator, Philip Gabriel - translator cover art

1Q84

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1Q84

By: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin - translator, Philip Gabriel - translator
Narrated by: Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor, Mark Boyett
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Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 - "Q" is for "question mark". A world that bears a question.

Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame's and Tengo's narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell's, 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami's most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

BONUS AUDIO: Audible interviews the translators of 1Q84, Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel.

©2011 Haruki Murakami (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Accolades & Awards

Goodreads Choice Award
2011
Dystopian Genre Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Literary Fiction Magical Realism Science Fiction Mind-Bending Funny Feel-Good Scary
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Critic reviews

"This imaginative, lengthy novel satisfies as a mystery, fantasy, and humorous coming-of-age tale—all blended with the vagaries of love and loss in a dystopia mired in strange cults and mathematical/musical dreamscapes. One surmises that it's no accident that the book's enigmatic title relates to George Orwell's 1984." (AudioFile)

“Profound . . . A multilayered narrative of loyalty and loss . . . A fully articulated vision of a not-quite-nightmare world . . . A big sprawling novel [that] achieves what is perhaps the primary function of literature: to reimagine, to reframe, the world . . . At the center of [1Q84’s] reality . . . is the question of love, of how we find it and how we hold it, and the small fragile connections that sustain us, even (or especially) despite the odds . . . This is a major development in Murakami’s writing . . . A vision, and an act of the imagination.” (David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times)

1Q84 is one of those books that disappear in your hands, pulling you into its mysteries with such speed and skill that you don’t even notice as the hours tick by and the mountain of pages quietly shrinks . . . I finished 1Q84 one fall evening, and when I set it down, baffled and in awe, I couldn’t help looking out the window to see if just the usual moon hung there or if a second orb had somehow joined it. It turned out that this magical novel did not actually alter reality. Even so, its enigmatic glow makes the world seem a little strange long after you turn the last page. Grade: A.” (Rob Brunner, Entertainment Weekly)

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Immersive Worldbuilding • Dreamlike Atmosphere • Multiple Narrators • Intriguing Premise • Thought-provoking Themes

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Being a first time Haruki Murakami reader, I have to say that I truly enjoyed his work. It's very much different from any book I've read and I'm looking forward to listening to other books from this author. It's a book that stays with you, when you've finished. Murakami created the feeling for me, that I was in the parallel timeline, with the characters. Even now that I've started a new book, I find myself thinking often about the story, and details that were left up to the imagination, of the reader.

I agree with some of the other reviewers, that parts of the book, as much as a third of it, wasn't necessary to enjoy the story and made it drag a bit, in places. Maybe it's because we've become an instant gratification society, and require continuous jolts of action, to remain engaged. I loved all the narrators, particularly Allison Hiroto and didn't find her voice annoying as other did. I feel it's one of those personal preferences, that we all have.
Overall a great way to spend 40+ hours of listening!

Great Book!

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The female reader has a weird, saccharin manner of speaking (Canadian maybe?) Generally it is not too distracting. However when she reads the part of the dowager, she takes on a cartoonish affectation that makes you want to punch someone in the face. She sounds the part of an old woman in a poorly dubbed Japanese animation. Exacerbating the situation, she often fails to turn it off and carries the voice through the narration and speech of other characters.

Bargain for 1 credit despite a major fault

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1Q84 is a very long book and that could scare some potential readers away, but I suggest that you give it a try, it is worth it!

I've known about Haruki Murakami for many years, friends told me to give him a try, and I did by purchasing 1Q84. This is actually a trilogy and I am really glad that I tried it. Interesting characters, a vivid world, an original plot and good narration makes it a great narrative experience.

My first Murakami book and I loved it

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My first Haruki Murakami book, but it will certainly not be my last. What an amazing story. Very well written, very descriptive. The only thing I was not crazy about is that he would sometimes describe things he had described two or three times before, but it really wasn't that big of a deal. I loved the characters and how they developed through the book. Mr. Oshikawa was written so very well, I really despised him. The narration of the book is excellent too. If you can invest the time, I would highly recommend this book!

Great story. Very well done beginning to end.

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This is a very long book that took me months to read, but was worth it.
The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies
in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 - "Q" is for "question mark". A world that bears a question.
Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that,
soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. As Aomame's and Tengo's narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of
the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that
instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator;
a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector. A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of
self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell's, 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami's most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan,
and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers. BONUS AUDIO: Audible interviews the translators of 1Q84, Jay Rubin
and Philip Gabriel.

Intriguing novel sort of a 1984 plot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

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