Andrew Markham > Recent Status Updates

Tengo wakes up the morning after the thunderstorm and calls Komatsu’s office to see if there are any updates from him. He discovers that Komatsu called in sick a few days before but apart from that nobody has seen him in a week. Tengo tells Fuka-Eri about his feelings for Aomame and she says she may be able to help find her.

Aomame covers the Leader in a blanket, tells Buzzcut and Ponytail he’s in a deep sleep and leaves. On the way to the safe house, Aomame learns the metro line she needs to take is out of commission due to the rain and suspects this could be caused by the little people. She eventually settles in to the safe house and reflects on what she’s done and how things have just monumentally changed.

Fuka-Eri tells Tengo to embrace her and hold her while the thunderstorm rages on outside. Tengo falls asleep and awakens paralyzed in a similar fashion to what The Leader had previously described. He has a vision of kissing Aomame back in the classroom many years ago and shortly afterwards, the thunderstorm subsides.

Aomame continues to talk with The Leader about 1Q84 and the little people and what it all means. The Leader also reveals that he knows Aomame and Tengo still think about each other romantically. He explains that she has a choice where she can kill him to save Tengo but likely die herself or spare The Leader but bring harm to Tengo instead. The chapter ends with Aomame plunging the ice pick into The Leader.

Tengo arrives home from the cram school and begins preparing Fuka-Eri and himself a simple dinner. They notice the weather beginning to turn stormy and Fuka-Eri says the Little People are becoming active and that “something is about to happen”. Tengo retells her the story of the Town of Cats which appears to be impactful to her and she asks him if they can go to a Town of Cats together because “they are one”.

Aomame continues to perform the muscle stretching exercises and eventually gets to the point she’s been preparing herself for, to plunge the ice pick in the special spot but she can’t bring herself to do it realizing that the leader knows what’s about to happen. The leader demonstrates the abilities he has to Aomame and invites her to kill him in order to restore some sort of balance to the world.

Tengo leaves his father and returns home to Tokyo. He gets a call from Fuka-Eri that she is at the grocery store by his house and needs a place to stay. He lets her stay at his house while he goes to teach at the cram school where he is confronted again by Ushikawa who says more ominous and vaguely threatening things. Fuka-Eri tells Tengo to rush home before the thunder begins as the little people are active.

Aomame enters a very dark room with the leader and speaks with him about his ailments and afflictions. He explains that he enters states of paralysis for hours at a time and they have been becoming more frequent and longer in duration. Aomame begins to feel strange learning all of the deep secrets of a man she is planning to imminently kill.

Tengo has a free day and decides to go visit his father who lives in a sanatorium by the coast due to his dementia. On the train, he reads a story about the town of cats. The father and son have an at times deep and at other times confusing conversation which spans many topics as they haven’t seen each other in two years. Tengo ends up reading the town of cats story to his father who seems enthralled by the tale.

Tengo has a free day and

Aomame arrives at the hotel and uncharacteristically begins to get nervous about her last job. She meets the different-haired bodyguards who escort her to the Leaders room. Aomame clocks them as amateurs who don’t do a thorough enough search to find her gun or ice pick before being told she is about to step into a sacred space with an extraordinary being.

Tengo is still trying to come to terms with everything that’s happened when he gets a call from his girlfriend’s husband saying that she won’t be able to visit him anymore because she is “irretrievably lost”. Later that evening Tengo gets a call from Ushikawa now claiming to be an intermediary negotiator for an anonymous client. He urges Tengo to take the grant and help himself out of his situation.

Tengo spends the whole day daydreaming about Aomame, the girl who kissed him when they were young before sitting down to do more writing. Aomame continues to mourn Ayumi but eventually decides to move on with things, later that night she gets the call she’s been waiting for. As she clears out her apartment she daydreams about Tengo, the young boy she shared a kiss with as a child.

Aomame continues to struggle with reality before meeting up with the Dowager to prepare for the impending assassination. On the way out of the meeting Aomame receives the gun from Tamaru and he teaches her how to use it. Aomame practices the basic moves of loading and unloading the gun, at the end of the chapter she reads a newspaper article saying that Ayumi was found naked and strangled to death in a hotel room.

Tengo arrived at the cram school and is told he has an unexpected visitor looking to speak with him about an important matter. The man identifies himself as being the director of an arts and culture institute and wants to award Tengo a grant for his work. Tengo senses something fishy about the grant and spends time investigating the strange man.

Young Victor contrasts himself to his siblings where they are more interested in the beauty of the alpine countryside and he is more interested in discovering the secrets of nature. He reads lots of Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, but is eventually implored to ignore their works as “unfounded and based in demonology”, but is still drawn by the idea of creating an elixir of life.

Switching from the letters, we learn the upbringing and family history of young Victor. He speaks of his parents feeling a very strong obligation to look after the kid they gave life to. While on holiday with his family in Italy, his mother adopted a daughter, Elizabeth, who Victor is immediately connected very strongly to.

The arctic expedition is trapped by ice for a few days. On the first day they see a very large figure on a sledge racing across the ice. The next day they find a man who also had a sledge but has lost most of his dogs. The ship takes the man in and Robert Walton begins befriending the strange man who claims to be chasing someone who escaped him and that he will tell the full story over the next few days.

We begin the book with two letters to a Mrs Saville in England from her affectionate brother Robert Walton in St. Petersburg, Russia. He describes an upcoming adventure of his to the North Pole to discover “the secrets of the magnet” and potentially and new trade route to the new world. He also admits he feels very lonely without anyone to call a friend on his ship.

Aomame returns to the Dowagers’ compound and learns the the Leader of the Sakigake cult has abused at least four young girls. The Dowager then convinces Aomame to kill the Leader and in return, she could have the Dowager’s fortune. On her way out, Aomame has a strange conversation after asking Tamaru for a gun.

Tengo finds a tape from Fuka-Eri in his mailbox saying that she is okay and trying to lie low for a little while. Komatsu calls Tengo later that day to discuss the strange nature of her disappearance. While with his girlfriend, Tengo tells her a little about his new book and declares that he wishes he could rewrite the past and that is perhaps why he is a novelist.

Aomame and Ayumi go out on the town again and exchange information about their childhoods and habits. Ayumi says she’s learned more about the Sakigake cult and that there is likely more to them than they seem. Tamaru calls and sets up a meeting with Aomame for the next day and lets her know the guard dog, Bun, seems to have had a ‘silent explosion’ originating from her stomach and is dead.

Book XXIV: Achilles greets the suitours in the heavenly asphodel meadows where their ghosts will stay. Odysseus reunites with his father, Laertes, before they begin another fight with the families and friends of the slain suitors. Athene gets Zeus’ permission and eventually stops the fight.

Book XXIII: Penelope is told by the nurse that Odysseus has indeed returned and slain the suitors. In disbelief, Penelope goes to meet Odysseus and listens to all of his tales of woe from the past two decades. The next morning, the reunited family leave the city with the swineherd and neatherd.

Book XXII: A fight ensues between Odysseus and the suitors.

Book XXI: Telemachus returns to the feast and declares a challenge to the suitors that he who can shoot an arrow through the head of a dozen axes can lay claim to Penelope. When Telemachus and the rest of the suitors fail to complete the task, Odysseus reveals his true identity and looses a shot that cleanly goes through the heads of all 12 arrows.

Book XX: Odysseus spends the night in the entrance hall subjected to more verbal assault by the suitors. The next evening at yet another feast, Telemachus becomes more bold in speaking back to the suitors and demanding they treat him and the house with respect. One of the suitors throws a cows hoof at Odysseus’ head which nearly causes Telemachus to snap and begin the slaughter of the suitors.