Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 (2009), 3/10

Unfortunately very disappointing. Things begin well enough, but become stale quickly and never fully recover. All three books are repetitive and filled with what amounts to far too many dull sexual encounters and half baked sci-fi tropes. It really is a shame as there are some great and insightful passages sprinkled in, but novel exceeding one thousand pages should undoubtedly offer more to the reader. Murakami has infinitely more interesting and fruitful novels that are a tenth of this length; 1Q84 is almost inarguably the weakest of his novels. The general uneventfulness and tediousness of the writing feels entirely incongruous to Murakami's typically centered style and depth. There are scattered moments of compelling philosophical considerations, but these are quickly drowned out by tired motifs and inattentive prose that feels lifeless at times. Some interesting characters and sub-plots could have assembled as a very interesting, compelling short novel but is instead outstretched much too far like a splitting canvas.