Sam Strives For 55 - Week Six

Here is week 6 of Sam's reading journey, the metrics and first week can be found here

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 

1. Intrigue 
   1. Exceptional intrigue. A young woman, Aomame, gets out of a car one day, walks down a path, and suddenly it is a parallel year. Instead of it being 1984, she starts referring to this parallel universe as 1Q84. Full of the mystery and slow reveal of the unnatural that Murakami’s best books have, 1Q84 delivers on what Murakami fans love most. 
2. Writing Style
   1. Murakami is, in my opinion, one of the best contemporary writers today. I hope someday to learn Japanese enough to read his books in their original language, although his translators, Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, do a great job on their own. 
   2. Juicy Quote: 
      1. “I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.”
3. Flow of Storytelling 
   1. This is what really brought the book down for me. I found this book dragged in the middle section, which can happen with Murakami books. I can put up with a good old middle of the book plod, but the thing is, for the first time with Murakami, it distracted me. 
4. Re-readability 
   1. As with almost all Murakami books, I think this is worth a reread someday. There are such tiny details that become clearer on a second re-read. 
5. TESS
   1. Does not qualify. 

Final Rating: ★★★

J. Sam Williams is an illustrious black-tailed hawk, longing to eat as many vegan mice as possible. In his human form, he is a High School English Teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife, one dog and two cats. A somewhat retired breakdancing teacher, he is now a co-host on the Alohomora Podcast! He has been published on Lunch Ticket, immix: a journal for justice, Mugglenet, and a slew of small sports journalism publications. You can find him on twitter @Jabbernator.