Lehman book club discussion

At the beginning of Book 3, I guess Aomame and Tengo have entered their chrysalises, each living in isolation and seclusion (hence, getting rid of the other characters).

Early stages of Book 3, and I am still curious about links between 1984 and 1Q84. In Chapter 6, Tengo has a conversation with Komatsu, the editor. Komatsu is different that he was - reticent, introspective and with flat, uninflected speech. I wonder if he has been taken over by the Little People and is now, in effect, one of the masses under the thumb of Big Brother, himself now one of the little people. Perhaps that is what is happening to the other characters as well, the Dowager, for instance. Every time an NKH official comes hounding at the door, I get tense and shout in my mind, "Don't open the door," which, of course, the reader is meant to do. Murakami is very good at building tension. Aomame and Tengo are protected as long as they don't open the door to the NKH people. But protected from what? Thugs bent on revenge or something larger. With the emphasis placed on the fact that neither Aomame nor Tengo watch television, but supposed NKH collectors track them down, there seems to be an anti-technology message here - a link between television and a controlled mind. But, maybe it's just my monkey brain working overtime.

Mom, earlier you mentioned that you were having trouble picking the book up but not having trouble progressing through your reading once you had started. I, too, have had that problem. In my case I think it was because the reader is still in the dark as to the ultimate purpose of the book, and we had just passed a kind of climax (the death of Leader) which left the reader feeling a bit aimless.

Interesting hypothesis about the NKH technology connection. NKH subscriptions seem to be a voluntary involvement in a widespread government control of all televised news media. I have wondered if 1Q84 is meant more as a balance for 1984 than as a re-imagining. I don't think we'll know until the very end. I do think there is a ton of emphasis on balance. The numbers are mirrored on the pages, the "shadow of your heart" aspect, the viewer and the receiver, the active and the reactive, law vs morality... I suspect the message might be one of trying to find a balance between socialism and capitalism, but that's just a hypothesis.

Your idea of this novel being a reimagining Orwell's 1984 instead of being the same story from a different view makes sense, particularly given how often we are told that Tengo and Aomame's 1Q84 is a different 1984. Seems obvious now that you have pointed it out. Of course, Murakami pointed it out too, but he was too subtle with the two moons and everything.