Usually, I breeze through reading a Murakami, especially when it came to my favorites (i.e. after dark, A Wild Sheep Chase, The Elephant Vanishes, etc.) 1Q84 is probably the only exception. I find myself skipping entire paragraphs, sometimes even pages. It was rare that the pace of the story was fast - it was like primera going to segunda, and back to primera again.
I think one of the reasons for this is the sheer length of the book. It's too long. I've read reviews that 1Q84 is the culmination of the themes and ploys Murakami often used in his stories, and I am inclined to agree, but the length of it is just waaaaaay too long for me. I recall that this was released in Japan in three parts. If this happened for the English release, then maybe it would overcome my primera-segunda-primera feeling.
I finally felt that the story break through the primera-segunda-primera monotony when Aomame met Leader and Tengo had that night with Fuka-Eri (am trying my best not to spoil), but when that was over, it went back to segunda, and, yeah - primera. I don't mind the emotional dynamic of the story, but once you go tercera, or cuarta, it's quite difficult to go back to primera after you have built the story up to such heights - unless you have a pretty darn good reason for doing it. In the other Murakami books I've read, once it reached a climax, it didn't go back to a relaxing pace - you're always wary that something else might come up. I don't get the same intensity thus far with this book (at page 783). Sure, there is a sense of discomfort, but not enough to induce page-turning. In other words, you can procrastinate. Nothing makes me more enthusiastic about a novel than the feeling that it must be finished with a sense of urgency.
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I've been working on something the past two days. It's kind of rough, but I'm satisfied with it for now. :-) Mabuti na yung may nasulat kesa sa wala. I think this is my first [finished] short story. YAAAAAY. (Ye gads if you saw how many unfinished stuff I have on the computer or on the notebook...le sigh)
I don't think it merits a warning, but if underage smoking would suffice, then...yeah. XD
