1Q84

This novel was originally written in Japanese and published in 2009. The auther is Haruki Murakami, one of the most popular authors in Japan. The novel quickly became a sensation. Its first printing sold out the day it was released and one million copies sold within a month.

The events of this story take place in 1984. In Japanese, the pronunciation of 9 is same as Q so the title "1Q84" means 1984.

The narrative is composed of two storylines. Each storyline has a main character. The chapters of odd numbers are about a woman whose name is Aomame. She works for a sports club as an instructor but she murdered a man at the beginning of the story. (I haven't found out yet why and for whom she killed him.) She gradually realised she had a problem with her memory. She was confused about it and tried to think the world was funny, not her. And then she named this funny world "1Q84". Q is for "question mark".

And the chapters of even numbers are about a man whose name is Tengo. He is a math teacher. He also has written several novels wishing to be a writer. One day he found a story which had been written by a 17-year-old girl. While her story was very interesting, he realised the literary style was not good enough to be published. So he contacted the girl to ask if he could revise it for her to win a new writers' prize. Now he is planning to sell her to the public as a writer even though he feels guilty about that.

It took a couple of chapters to get into this novel but I enjoy reading it now. I'm curious to find out how those two storylines are connected each other.