Lehman book club discussion

I just now finished 1Q84, so I haven't processed much, but I agree with Dad's short and sweet analysis - this is an imagined world where two lonely people reconnect. I really don't have much to add except to comment on my frustration with the way the book drags on, leaves things hanging, and lets questions go unanswered. Also, I feel like I don't understand key elements of the 1Q84, but I don't believe this book was big on metaphors and symbolism. For instance, I think the Little People are just a threatening force in this alternate world rather than something more, like followers of socialism, which I had hypothesized earlier.

I like Murikami's secondary characters much better than Tengo, who is incapable of independent action, and Aomame, who seems like a caricature - the tough, sexy assassin with a hidden, tender heart. As I stated in an earlier review, I'm sorry many of them were dropped - and that we don't know their fates. I know that was intentional if Dad's and my interpretation is correct, just as he and I don't know what has happened to many people of our past. Still, I found it frustrating.

I am glad I read 1Q84, but I am even more glad that I finished it.

I've slept on it and have some further thoughts. I do see a strong link between 1984 and 1Q84, but as Sarah says, it is a reimagining of that year rather than a retelling of Orwell's world from a different perspective. Nevertheless, I believe their message is the same - collectives are dangerous to the individual. We see Aomame and Tengo both struggle and suffer in silence against the collective as children, and when they break away, they are lost and lonely, not knowing how to interact with others. The repressive weight of their childhoods is the strongest bond between them, a bond that frees them to have a fresh start in a new world.

In Murakami's imagining, the most dangerous collective of all is that of organized religions; Sakigaki is as repressive and destructive to the individual as Orwell's Big Brother, and individual action and thought is forbidden. For instance, even a good soldier like Buzzcut is afraid of the consequences when he acts on his own initiative at the end and goes to Tokyo to try and capture Aomame and Tengo. Another negative aspect of organized religions is that they literally manufacture their church doctrine out of thin air (the Little People constructing and Air Chrysalis from which a perceiver/receiver will emerge, ala Joseph Smith and Jim Jones). I was amused by a link with 1984 when Ushikawa devised a peephole so he could watch/photograph/catch non followers on behalf of Sakigaki, a nod to "Big Brother is watching you." And the way Ushikawa was described - childlike with a large misshapen head - created a visual image of a rather malevolent big brother who is going to follow instructions so he doesn't get in trouble with Maza.

Murakami's message is anti-religion, but certainly not anti-God. (view spoiler)[The most moving part of the novel is at the moment of Ushikawa's death when Tamaru reassures both of them (and the reader) by having Ushikawa repeat, "Cold or Not, God is Present."

Murakami and Orwell both present worlds in which the collective is destructive to the individual through intolerance, rigid nonsensical dogma, and forced adherence, and yet the individual cannot thrive nor even survive on their own. A human connection with another individual or a family is what gives life meaning, providing strength and purpose. Even a strong person like Aomame whose nature requires action is stuck in place, vulnerable to the collective, because she lacks a human connection. Despite her strong nature, Aomame cannot move forward and regain her agency without Tengo. In Orwell's world the couple is captured and forced to submit to the collective, but Murakami's vision is more hopeful as Tengo, Aomame and their Dohta make their way up the ladder to a brave new world. (hide spoiler)]

It is the human connection, love, that provides the individual, 1984, and 1Q84 with strength and meaning.

And by the way, I like the book much more having had time to absorb it and think about it.

Finished the book today. Will write my thoughts tomorrow when I have a chance to sit for more than 2 minutes.