1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After listening to 38 audio disks -- I wish I had those hours back.

A couple of things attracted me to this book. I enjoy parallel worlds and a bit of light fantasy and have read very little set in Japan. So I embarked on reading this highly reviewed book by a Japanese author. Maybe I was expecting something similar to Umberto Eco but from a different direction.

IMHO: Not really enough happened, nor was the text evocative enough, to justify 40+ hours of listening (or a 1000 pages or so if you're reading). There was just enough interest to keep me going and I was hoping for some great payoff in the end. Didn't happen.

I don't usually write reviews, but thought I'd leave this little signpost for future readers. Give it a try, but if you find yourself starting to wonder if it'll change significantly (for the better or worse) after a 100 pages, it doesn't.

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