2011 book 271

Haruki Murakami's 1Q84
I don't want to say too much about the plot, b/c all I knew going in was that it was the story of a man and a woman, told in alternating chapters (and of course, what I read in the New Yorker excerpt, which interestingly comes from at least three different parts of the book). And I liked being surprised at every turn, trying to guess what would happen next. I think I agree with the assessments that this is Murakami's strongest work--it takes a lot of the themes he's touched on before and goes someone totally different and outlandish and awesome with them. I mean, there are some really weird things in this book (weird in a good way), more so than even in his earlier stuff (which is also pretty weird). Ah, but Tengo and Aomame. GREAT characters. My only problem was minor--too much of the third section was spent on another character entirely, and while I get why that was, I just was not super interested in his inner life when I could have been reading about Tengo and Aomame instead. But still just a great great great book. A, and best of the year list for sure.