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Haruki MurakamiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Aomame calls it “1Q84” and Tengo calls it “the town of cats”—but for both it is a symbolic staging ground for working through issues related to parental neglect and intense loneliness. It seems to exist less as a parallel universe and more like a state of mind which follows individuals around and colors their perceptions. Thus, all of the characters, lead and supporting alike, occupy the same physical space, but only Aomame, Tengo, and Ushikawa possess the heightened awareness of their own loneliness to sense what makes 1Q84 different from the world they recognize. Tellingly, when Aomame and Tengo exit 1Q84, they do not reenter 1984. Their trials and hardships change how they perceive the world—for the better—and therefore they can never go back to their pre-1Q84 lives.
Although the book is coy about characterizing the Little People as wholly evil, it is indisputable that their presence brings violence and trauma. Leader explicitly states that his rapes of young girls are done at the behest of the Little People, who seek a new heir to carry their message—though the book never explains what that message is.
By Haruki Murakami
After Dark
After Dark
Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase
A Wild Sheep Chase
Haruki Murakami
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Haruki Murakami
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
Killing Commendatore
Killing Commendatore
Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
South of the Border, West of the Sun
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Haruki Murakami
Sputnik Sweetheart
Sputnik Sweetheart
Haruki Murakami
The Elephant Vanishes
The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami, Transl. Jay Rubin
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami
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