“ That’s a somewhat arbitrary but probably sufficient cross section of what you might call 1Q84’s plot. I say somewhat arbitrary because there is much more in the way of storylines and characters … and I say it’s probably sufficient because, well, what happens in the story is important, but just as important is what does not happen. What does not happen, for large stretches of the book: anything exciting. In fact, for most of the last third of the book, the characters really don’t do much of any thing at all. Instead, we get detailed descriptions of people cooking, preparing to cook, and eating. We get long passages in which characters read books, or look out the window, or just sit in their apartments waiting for the NHK subscription collector to go away. After the action-packed first two sections, the third section is curiously devoid of narrative momentum. What is going on?
Tags:
1Q84
— Charles Yu of Los Angeles Review of Books
