号外 – 『１Q８４』フィニッシュ！
I finished reading 1Q84! It took me 19 days at an average of 55.5 pages a day. That average is, of course, increased by the 300+ pages I read over the first weekend. Still, not too shabby. I was planning on writing something more substantial and posting pictures of celebratory beers, but my throat swelled up and I started to feel really bad over the course of the day. Clearly I’ve had an allergic reaction to the end of this novel.
Now to gather my thoughts and figure out what the hell just happened. Expect a review in the not too distant future.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Congrats, must have been an epic read.
Must say, I’m jealous. I wish I could read the Japanese release, but I’m nowhere near that level. I’ll have to wait for the English translation, and hope I can read Murakami’s next novel in Japanese, whenever that’s released.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
That’s great. Motivation for someone like me, still on my Lower Intermediate textbook-
June 16th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Oh yeah! I will. For a non-Japanese speaker this is my ultimate Waiting Room for the 1q84.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Thanks for the comments, guys. It’s still kind of amazing that I got through it all. ANYTHING IS POSSIBUUULLLL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyjOy7fRzs0
Jason from facebook says: Interesting. The top review on Amazon.co.jp makes me feel like I have read it too. Have to love that I’ll have to pick it up though. I can pretty much imagine what the reviewer means when he/she says「前編は、新しい芽のような変化が見られて面白かったのだが、後編は、ストーリー展開が結局いつもと同じパターンになってしまっている。」 and then describes that pattern in the way that all Murakami books unfolds.
To which, I say: Yeah, it was interesting to say the least. Still digesting it. I’ll be very interested to see how it’s reviewed in translation.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:00 am
I’m so curious as to what you thought…interesting could mean so many things! Are you leaning towards overall good or overall bad? You mention that you didn’t like Kafka on the Shore in previous posts which I find surprising because I thought it was strong as did a lot of literary critics…I can’t wait to read 1Q84 (although with the Japanese I know now I probably wouldn’t get a whole lot out of it by the time the English translation is released in a few years…still I want to make it a project of mine to at least give it an attempt.) Can’t wait to see your review post!
June 27th, 2009 at 12:32 am
I have to admit, I’m looking forward to the review. I’ve gotten a little colder on Murakami over the years (doesn’t help, really, when your favorites are the Rat Trilogy, particularly Pinball, 1973), but after the Constant Coverage on sales in the Japanese papers, I took a look at it in NYC this week.
And damn, but didn’t I like the sections I skimmed over. So I probably will pay the $52+ that it’ll cost in the US. Just not until after I finish moving again.
But what grabbed me so much was the “sound” of the Japanese. So I’m not completely confident that even should the book hold up for me that I’ll be recommending it to my non-Japanese reading friends. (Sorry Rubin, I’ll concede your skill in translation far exceeds mine, but your English and mine just don’t sound the same. And I’m not sure I like your English quite.)
May 7th, 2010 at 8:57 am
[...] I read Books 1 and 2 of 1Q84, I stormed through them, reading an average of 55 pages a day. I then promptly fell ill and did not venture far beyond the edges of my futon for the next week. [...]