I recently finished the mind-bending book, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Here are some quotes I want to share to see if they spark discussion. I'm still processing what I think of this book. I have given the quotations numbers to make them easy to reference. If you like, pick one and tell me what you think he is saying, whether you agree with it or not, and why you may think it is true or not.
1) Number one on the list now was a diet book entitled Eat as Much as You Want of the Food You Love and Still Lose Weight. What a great title. The whole book could be blank inside and it would still sell.
2) Humans see time as a straight line. It's like putting notches on a long straight stick. The notch here is the future, the one on this side is the past, and the present is this point right here...But actually time isn't a straight line. It doesn't have a shape. In all senses of the term, it doesn't have any form. But since we can't picture something without form in our minds, for the sake of convenience we understand it as a straight line. At this point, humans are the only ones who can make that sort of conceptual substitution.
3) There are always far more people in the world who make things worse, rather than help out.
4) It was a well-known fact that certain members of the so-called elite had disgusting personalities and dark, twisted tendencies, as if they had taken more than the share of darkness allotted to them.
5) Most people in the world don't really use their brains to think. And people who don't think are the ones who don't listen to others.
6) I was confident that I was a special person. But time slowly chips away at life. People don't just die when their time comes. They gradually die away, from the inside. And finally the day comes when you have to settle accounts. Nobody can escape it. People have to pay the price for what they've received.
7) If you do the same things everyone else does, in the same way, then you're no professional.
Murakami's book has been a heavy heavy read. I don't recommend it for everyone. But it has given me lots of pause to stop reading and just think about what he has said.
I love the first quote. I think I'd buy that book. lol. Hey, I've probably already bought it at some point.
ReplyDeleteAh, I have been working on getting my hands on a copy of this book for some time. Moving it up the to read list some more.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite the heavy read. I had to plow through it in a week before the library loan expired, but it's not the kind of book where you can do that really well.
ReplyDeleteHmm...
ReplyDeleteI remember you posting a paragraph or two from this book before. I remember it having a negative slant and it still does. I get the drift that this guy thinks he's a genius, but I think any one can make these comments. I don't find them all that heavy. The quote about time doesn't impress me either.
He sounds like quite the grumpy bulldog. I probably have this on my To Read list on Goodreads. It's a long list.
ReplyDeleteWow, this sounded so interesting until I realized that it os 900+ pages. I have issues with books that long, though this makes me want to read another book by him.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you asked us to weigh in on the quotes. I do tend to agree with #5. I don't think all thinking is "brain-thinking". I disagree with #2. For a long time, particularly since I read a huge pile of books on theoretical physics, I have not seen the word as linear. Not at all. It sounds like a conceit on his part. But then, in #6, he (or his fictitious persona) goes on to say that he no longer thinks of himself as special. This leaves me slightly confused. In order to really speak with confidence on this, I'd have to read a book of his to grok his fuller metaphysical stance.
Sounds interesting. Maybe I'll check it out, after i read Slipstream.
ReplyDeleteThose quotes go in a lot of directions.
ReplyDeleteThese all make me sad, for some reason. Still, it sounds like a fabulous novel.
ReplyDeleteNumber six made me think of one of my favorite quotes from author Martine Leavitt's book "Keturah and Lord Death."
ReplyDeleteWhen a character asks Lord Death what hell is like, Lord Death replies, "There is no hell. Each man when he dies sees the landscape of his own soul."
Something to think about. Your posts are always so thought provoking.
I need to read this book. It sounds fascinating.
ReplyDeleteMost people in the world don't really use their brains to think. And people who don't think are the ones who don't listen to others.
I think that's true. We filter data and we react. Most times. And our decisions most times are based on our emotions and not logic.
I found it very refreshing to read something that dealt with the surreal and bizarre without relying on shock value, like they do in modern art (where they don't bother to explaion themselves). It's a slow, meticulous read with lots of weirdness to it, which means I don't have to worry about Hollywood coming along and fucking it up. Which can only be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI think #3 makes this guy a total ass. “There are always far more people in the world who make things worse, rather than help out.” Oh really? I guess it would depend on what he means by “make things worse.” Is it my cooking? The environment? The economy? Really, most people on the planet are just trying to survive. If we assume he’s talking about “things” on a grand scale, then I’d say it is but a small percentage of people (rich and powerful) that have managed to make “things” worse, not the over three billion people that live on less than $2.50 a day.
ReplyDeleteAh haha, yes the first quote is very telling. You can put anything, no matter how ridiculous, in a book about losing weight and people will buy it and try it.
ReplyDeleteEat only cabbage for a month and lose fifty pounds! Sold! Now that I think of it, I should go write a diet book...
This is a huge book. I wanted to read this book last year, but since I was not able to finish any book( because I keep forgetting the previous chapter)it takes me forever to finish any book. I got scared. I might look into it after I finish the books that are sitting on one of my end table.
ReplyDeleteI found #7 interesting. Made me wonder if he used the same definition of professional that I do. Why wasn't the last word 'unique?'. That would have made more sense I think.
ReplyDelete#5 - I think there's truth to that one, at least in some situations. A few people who don't pay attention are probably thinking about something else (who hasn't spaced out because of another issue on their mind?).
ReplyDeleteThe Golden Eagle
The Eagle's Aerial Perspective
Intriguing. I like #7. Only because I like to be different. I don't want to have the same ol' thing. I wanna be me.
ReplyDeleteI love all the quotes but especially #3. How true. If people were less selfish and thought more of the people around them, how much better the world would be. Road rage would be down for sure.
ReplyDeleteI agree to a certain point on almost all of them except for #3. I think people just naturally focus on the negative, so that's all they see. Good deeds are done when there's no audience and nobody else knows about it. But something negative gets plastered all over the place, is subject of gossip, and gets Tweeted.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a philosophically dark read. Me? To the light, always to the light!
ReplyDeleteMichael, I agree that sounds like heavy duty philosophical stuff but very interesting. I think I like number 7 the best but three is unfortunately right on.
ReplyDeleteOh the time question gets me every time. Is time horizontal or vertical? Is time an allusion? Can we stretch time to suit ourselves? Can we move through time. It fascinates me. Done a lot of reading on this subject and still have no hard and fast clear answers.
ReplyDeleteTime slowly chips away at life? Eeek. I think you can let that happen, but it's totally your choice. Unless you get sick, like terminally ill, then that's literally true but doesn't have to be true of your spirit. I dunno - living on 4 hrs sleep a night.
ReplyDeleteMan, number 3 is sure accurate. Sorta goes with one of my fav bits of wisdom: "No good deed goes unpunished."
ReplyDeleteVery interesting quotes! The first one made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteSonia Lal, A to Z challenge
I liked many of the quotes, but #2 Time, jumped out at me. I have believed for years that time is an illusion and that in our physical forms, we are not able to realize that everything is happening at the same time. For me, I let go of the past and future. What matters is what is happening now --I want to experience the present, because it is all I have. Have lived too many years and had many experiences to know what matters most. :)
ReplyDelete3 is true and deeply sad :((
ReplyDelete#2: I wrote a short story once that had this as the jumping off point. Terrible story, but I still believe #2 to be true.
ReplyDelete#3: I don't agree. But if you believe that to be true, then that's the reality that you're going to experience.
Interesting quotes. I think I'll give the book a skip, though.
#2 it is... looking up the dimensions always gives an inaccurate view. You only see the whole picture while looking down.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like I'm the only one who hasn't heard of this book. I guess I need to crawl out of the editing cave and check it out.
ReplyDeleteHmm I still think time is linear. Until someone can prove that timetravel is real, I'm sticking to that opinion.
ReplyDeletequote 5 is so true, the world is full of people who don't use their brains and try to fill the silence by constantly talking and never listening....
ReplyDeletebeyond that I'll only say, for my tastes. It's the best book I've ever read, bar none (and I read a lot)
I will never look at the moon, or think about it, without thinking of 1Q84 and its main characters.
@Anon: I too loved the book. There are a lot of things to think about with Murakami. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's among them.
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