1Q84 - A book review

There are times when you suddenly wake up in middle of a night with a feeling of being gripped in a sort of dream that you find almost impossible to recall with any exactness. There is a rush of lot of thoughts, feelings, images and emotions but anything hardly concrete enough to survive complete consciousness.

Reading 1Q84, Haruki Murakami’s 1157-page book, is like experiencing such a dream. There are multiple strands of story in the book involving its lead characters – Aomame and Tengo. Aomame is a professional killer of men who abuse women while Tengo is a math teacher and an aspiring author who unwillingly becomes a part of literary scam by ghost writing a book called “Air-Chrysalis”.

Tengo and Aomame have a romantic connection and the undercurrent of their desire to meet each other fuels the story forward for large part of the book. However, it will be unfairly simple to see this book as only a story of long lost lovers finding each other in midst of a chaotic and complex world.

Book delves very deep into each of its characters and runs through their routine with meticulous, at times boring, details. Through this thorough examination and detailing of each of the characters it successfully brings out many marvellously multi-layered themes. A few of these themes are noted below with its brief description of how they pan out in the book.

Mysterious cult life : Known as Sakigake in the book - the cult represents classic characteristics of all cults like secrecy, power play and engaging in activities that are shady if not totally illegal. Sakigake is also shown as the cause a character known as FukaEri  lost contact with her parents. Its leader is also accused by another character of a heinous crime like child molestation. Aomame is tasked to kill the leader of Sakigake for this very reason.

Little People : A fantasy like beings who come out into the world from a dead goat’s mouth and are powerful enough to slightly shift the yarns of the world in order to cause much havoc in the life of book’s characters. They are probably a rival to “Big Brother” in the classic 1984 novel, or may be just a reflection of our collective consciousness. Author leaves the final interpretation to readers. 

NHK fee collector : Through this character we learn a lot about a life of common man in Japan, his frustrations, fears, challenges and reactions. His troubled relationship with his son, Tengo , is poignant reminder of how people of one considers closest drift so far apart in the usual turns of life. His conversations with Tengo towards the end of his life reveal the core vulnerability of all humans, inability to understand one’s own complex and often conflicting self. 

1Q84 Parallel universe : Title of the book is a wordplay on title of another very solid novel 1984 by George Orwell. It would be unfair to see this book in shadow of 1984. Title 1Q84 merely suggests questioning (Q) the sense of  characters for their reality. Story is set up in the year 1984 but the characters slip through a passage which basically turns their worldview upside down. Readers get an indication of parallel world by existence of two moons! It serves as a spooky yet very vivid and concrete indication of something totally fictitious. The fact that it is in “Other world” is the ultimate and overarching explanation to all things non real in the book. 

Justice or Revenge : Through character of an old lady who runs a safe-house for women who are abused by men book highlights themes of justice and revenge. We learn that dowager had lost her daughter in domestic violence and then taken up the cause to champion for other women in similar situation. Aomame is also driven to collaborate with her by similar experiences of one of her good friends. Their work invoke crucial questions whether ends justify means in today’s world? What are differences between revenge and justice?

The weird thing about half remembered and half forgotten dreams is that though you think you remember them well enough to be able to recount them over a cup of tea in morning, it is only after a blank stare from your family members that you realise that it wasn’t probably a great idea to try explaining it in first place. The best you could do is to merely suggest them reading 1Q84 when time allows. :) 

PS - In times like right now, it is an amazing feat to write a book so long, and only for so successfully achieving that feat, I am a fan of Murakami!

1984

In a world swarmed with fake news, claims of advertising used to mislead huge mass of people, leaders leaning towards pugnacious use of political power, omniscience of machines and increasing unrest of the common man – George Orwell’s classic novel serves as an effective mirror – even after 6 decades of its first publication.

Book is centered around story of Winston Smith who is a member in a government’s department called “Ministry of Truth” – their work is to carefully twist facts and purge anything that contradicts government’s current propaganda. Winston is a hard-working member of his team; however, he does have a small defect; he is prone to have secret thoughts – and is even courageous enough to record them in a small diary! This defect of his is considered a serious crime in his nation and is frowned upon with utmost disgust. Term for this defect is – thought crime.

In Oceania, Government controls every aspect of life of all its citizens. Where even thoughts are scanned and assessed for their loyalty to the ruling party, any kind of deviation is strictly dealt with. Perpetual presence of Big Brother – and his watch over its people - make it very difficult for Winston to continue his journey of thoughts. In a world where none of his friends see or even feel the oppression that Winston is fighting, makes his battle for freedom rather poignant.

Julia – Winston’s love is also a partner in crime with him against Big Brother’s tyranny. She initially sends him a note expressing her love and it is indeed her candid expressions that validate Winston’s own desires against the indoctrination of the party.

Their love affair is a passionate one, and indicates how even the strongest means of propaganda fail to reach most intimate areas of human minds. They continue to breach the Big Brother’s regulations and meet each other stealthily. As their love for each other grows, they try to increase the reach of their rebellion and explore if there are other people in Oceania feeling the kind of discontent they have felt.

In this attempt they run into O’Brien, a member who calls himself to be aligned to brotherhood – an alternative ideology to that of Big Brother. O’Brien’s character is marvelously multi-layered, and it is only in the end that readers come to know him as an ally of Big brother who had been spying on Winston and Julia since long time.

When   they get caught – Winston and Julia are taken to the Ministry of Love – what ensues thereafter is a gut-wrenching torture and indoctrination of both the lovers. They are tortured with their worst fears, and that too continuously – it reaches to such an extreme where Winston – with his face covered with hungry rats - confesses to torture Julia instead of himself.  “Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me.”

After the torture – Winston and Julia are back to being loyal members of the party, they have forgotten about their emotions and ideas – even ones that they thought were outside the reach of the government. Their love and freedom, shine only briefly during the book and overall backdrop remains despotic, dark and dubious.

As a romantic supporter of democracy, I fancy a different end to this story. I imagine, somewhere even after the atrocities of Big Brother, there would be always more Winstons and Julias rooting to taste the freedom from ever expanding propaganda – and more and more of those would find ways to successfully come out of Big brother’s shackles.