IQ84 is a beautiful, metaphysical mind trip

Haruki Murakami is, without a doubt, one of the most important authors of his generation. His legacy is already assured on the basis of sheer popularity — his 12 novels have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. alone.

His latest novel, "1Q84," is the most beautiful book I've ever read.

Its beauty lies in Murakami's remarkable talent to combine the mundane with the surreal in an undeniably elegant style. He can spend paragraphs describing a character as he makes his dinner, delicately describing each and every action he makes in the most boring of tasks, while another character notices quite suddenly that there is a second moon in the sky.

The story alternates between two protagonists, Aomame, a gym teacher who murders abusive husbands; and Tengo, a math teacher and aspiring novelist. At first their connection isn't clear, but through several random anecdotes and incidental references we learn that they have been subtly affecting each other their entire lives. We learn of these incidental encounters when both characters reflect on similar experiences, like falling in love with one another in elementary school.

Aomame and Tengo become drawn more and more into a surreal and fantastic world and move further away from reality, moving closer to each other.

The novel is set in 1984, but our sense of time is distorted when Aomame reads a newspaper clipping mentioning the construction of a joint American-Soviet moon base, and then notices a second moon in the sky. After convincing herself of her sanity, she accepts that she has slipped into a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 — the "Q" standing for "question."

Both Aomame and Tengo are part of this world, but in very different ways.

Tengo is hired by a friend at a literary magazine to rewrite a fantasy novel by a 17-year-old dyslexic girl, Fuka-Eri. Tengo and his friend plan on submitting the new ghostwritten novel, "Air Chrysalis," to Japan's biggest literary contest for new authors.

Over the course of the novel, we begin to suspect that the words Tengo writes in Air Chrysalis are constructing Aomame's reality. This bizarre metaphysical mind trip is fairly common in Murakami's novels. To make things trippier, both characters get involved in complex and overlapping conspiracies revolving around murder and a cult called Sukigake.

Contrasting this dark and violent plot is the world Tengo and Fuka-Eri have created, with two moons and four-inch-tall Little People that come out of the mouths of goats. One of the most distinctive elements of Murakami's style is the calm and matter-of-fact way that he describes the extraordinary things that make this book a fantasy novel. The author in the book, Tengo even discusses methods of creating a believable fantasy world with his editor.

"1Q84" is full of these references to Murakami and his literary career. Even the title is a reference to his significance as a writer, suggesting that his books will eventually be as important as Orwell's. He also makes allusions to his own difficulties as a writer with the editorial and publishing process, as well as dealing with the topic of cults and mysticism — topics Murakami has a particular fascination with.

The novel is separated into three books, with the first two books switching between narratives from the point of view of Tengo and Aomame. The third book is from the point of view of a private detective searching for Aomame.

It is this sublime juxtaposition between thrilling adventure, poignant romance and magical dreamscape that makes this book great, showing us that Murakami understands that most bizarre and unbelievable thing imaginable is our own existence.

J. Adrian may be reached at amunger@su-spectator.com