65 Books in a Year: #7 1Q84: Day 5

1Q84...The References and a Review

I started Haruki Murakami's 1,000+ page novel on the 3rd of February and finished on Sunday. A book that long doesn't really get covered properly in one blog post, so I'm thinking this is going to be a week of 1Q84...lots of spoilers, lots of commentary, so be warned should you choose to read on. 

So, I've been looking for a definitive list of all the allusions in this novel...

Small Demons has a list all about it
On Goodreads they've got an on-going music list, and you can listen at Spotify
There are couple of really good food list here, here, and  Edible 1Q84

And, if you want to have a book club party Buttery Books has all the answers.

I've been reading lots of reviews about this book, not because I wanted answers or closure, I believe those are carefully and purposefully drawn out, but, because I really wanted to see what other people were saying about this book that I found so incredibly thoughtful, fun, suspenseful and real. Real and true-to-life despite it's elements of fantasy and science fiction.

The reason is simple...1Q84 is a story about love and in this book, there are myriad interpretations of love.

There's the love (or in most cases the lack of love) that comes from family, there's obsession, the love that comes from manipulation and power, there's tender first love and the craziness of long term love and there's love's derivatives: lust, infatuation, and even hatred.

Most importantly, it is about how love transforms and shapes us and it is about the little instances with people long forgotten that change and define us. And, no matter what...religious fanaticism, assassins, spies, bodyguards, strange little people, strange girls with learning disabilities and even stranger stories...love conquers all.

I'm reminded of something Jodie Foster said when Home for the Holidays, a movie she directed, came out in 1995:

I love the montage at the end of 'Home' that shows moments in these characters' lives that mattered the most to them, moments that define them. 

There are flickers of seconds that define you in your life that only two people can ever understand ‑ you and the person who's with you. The truth and reality of your life is only known 5 inches from your face. If somebody's not 5 inches from your face, then they don't understand that time, that moment.

It's these moments that are fleshed out and examined in this novel. It's these moments that show us the various examples of love; everything else is tertiary.