FICTION
AFTER DARK
AFTER THE QUAKE
BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN
DANCE DANCE DANCE
THE ELEPHANT VANISHES
HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD
KAFKA ON THE SHORE
NORWEGIAN WOOD
SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN
SPUTNIK SWEETHEART
A WILD SHEEP CHASE
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE
NONFICTION
UNDERGROUND: THE TOKYO GAS ATTACK
AND THE JAPANESE PSYCHE
WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING:
A MEMOIR
Translation copyright © 2011 by Haruki Murakami.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.aaknopf.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in Japan in three separate volumes as 1Q84 Books 1, 2, and 3 by Shinchosha Publishing Co Ltd, Tokyo, in 2009 and 2010. 1Q84 Books 1 and 2, copyright © 2009 by Haruki Murakami. 1Q84 Book 3, copyright © 2010 by Haruki Murakami. Adapted for this single volume with the participation of the author.
Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data and permissions to reprint previously published material may be found at the back of the book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Books 1 and 2 translated by Jay Rubin.
Book 3 translated by Philip Gabriel.
Jacket photograph: [apply pictures]/Alamy.
Jacket design by Chip Kidd.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
First United States Edition
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Epigraph
Copyright
Book 1 April-June
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Book 2 July-September
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Book 3 October-December
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
A Note About the Author
Reader’s Guide
BOOK 1 APRIL-JUNE
CHAPTER 1
Aomame
DON’T LET APPEARANCES FOOL YOU
The taxi’s radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast. Janáček’s Sinfonietta—probably not the ideal music to hear in a taxi caught in traffic. The middle-aged driver didn’t seem to be listening very closely, either. With his mouth clamped shut, he stared straight ahead at the endless line of cars stretching out on the elevated expressway, like a veteran fisherman standing in the bow of his boat, reading the ominous confluence of two currents. Aomame settled into the broad back seat, closed her eyes, and listened to the music.
How many people could recognize Janáček’s Sinfonietta after hearing just the first few bars? Probably somewhere between “very few” and “almost none.” But for some reason, Aomame was one of the few who could.
Janáček composed his little symphony in 1926. He originally wrote the opening as a fanfare for a gymnastics festival. Aomame imagined 1926 Czechoslovakia: The First World War had ended, and the country was freed from the long rule of the Hapsburg Dynasty. As they enjoyed the peaceful respite visiting central Europe, people drank Pilsner beer in cafés and manufactured handsome light machine guns. Two years earlier, in utter obscurity, Franz Kafka had left the world behind. Soon Hitler would come out of nowhere and gobble up this beautiful little country in the blink of an eye, but at the time no one knew what hardships lay in store for them. This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: “At the time, no one knew what was coming.” Listening to Janáček’s music, Aomame imagined the carefree winds sweeping across the plains of Bohemia and thought about the vicissitudes of history.
In 1926 Japan’s Taisho Emperor died, and the era name was changed to Showa. It was the beginning of a terrible, dark time in this country, too. The short interlude of modernism and democracy was ending, giving way to fascism.
Aomame loved history as much as she loved sports. She rarely read fiction, but history books could keep her occupied for hours. What she liked about history was the way all its facts were linked with particular dates and places. She did not find it especially difficult to remember historical dates. Even if she did not learn them by rote memorization, once she grasped the relationship of an event to its time and to the events preceding and following it, the date would come to her automatically. In both middle school and high school, she had always gotten the top grade on history exams. It puzzled her to hear someone say he had trouble learning dates. How could something so simple be a problem for anyone?