Category: Books

1984

· 3 Comments ·

As we move into a new year, it is traditional to reflect on the year past and think of the year future. And I do that by looking at the books I’ve read and thinking of those I plan to read. 2024 was, of course 40 years on from the year of the title of George Orwell’s seminal dystopian masterpiece ‘1984’. 8 June 2024 was the 75th anniversary of the its first publication. So, a rather appropriate year to re-read the book although I can’t remember when I first read it – it certainly wasn’t in 1984!

Let’s move on or, as George Orwell, did, let’s move to an isolated corner of the Hebredian Isle of Jura in Scotland to a house he described as being in a ‘most un-get-at-able place’. It sounds like a perfect writing retreat especially as he wanted to escape from polluted London due to his worsening tuberculosis (TB).

The Isle of Jura
Orwell’s House, Barnhill

Set in totalitarian London, far from anyone’s imagination, the story tells of the citizens under surveillance and monitoring from Big Brother with the key character, Winston Smith, being employed by the Ministry of Truth to forge and re-write the truth whilst being under constant threat of ‘vaporisation’ should he step out of line. An illicit affair with a Party member when both are suspected of ‘Crime-Think’ threatens their futures and lives. Reading it in an age of cyber-attacks and A.I. taking over our lives made me realise how advanced it was for its time and relevant to today’s society.

Another book I’d been meaning to read was 1Q84 by my favourite Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. Written as a trilogy, I had the single volume paperback version which runs to 1380 pages and the sheer size of it had been putting me off. But the title 1Q84 is a play on1984; the word for nine in Japanese is ‘kyu’, pronounced just like ‘Q’. With 1984 being the year in which the novel’s action takes place in Tokyo, a long way from Orwell’s London, it seemed like a good time to flex both my arm and reading muscles. As with some of his other works there are parallel universes and timelines with the ‘heroine’, Aomame setting off on a journey to find a childhood sweetheart, Tengo, as well as ‘reality’. Confused? Not surprising as Murakami, complicates things by telling the story from the viewpoint of both protagonists, introducing a third narrative voice along the way, as well as additional plotlines.
Despite this not being my normal genre of choice as I like to keep both feet firmly on the ground, Murakami’s imagination captured mine not least because I could relate to several of the settings from the opening scene of a traffic jam on the Metropolitan expressway at Ikejiri in my local Shibuya district to an anodyne children’s playground in Koenji in the western suburbs which becomes important towards the end of the book. My nearest station, Yoyogi, even gets a mention, though in 2024 these places will be rather different to the 1984 locations which appear in the book. I also enjoyed, as is customary from Murakami, regular musical references, sometimes pausing my reading to say ‘Alexa, play…’!

Ikejiri interchange, Shibuya
from below
Small park in Koenji
Koenji
A children’s slide features
Koenji children’s park
Yoyogi station

As is often the case with Murakami, 1Q84 attracted mixed reviews and even a ‘bad sex award! But as a friend, who is not a natural Murakami fan, said, “it’s a fun read”. I certainly had fun reading the entire trilogy in August 2024.

And now, the final part of my literary triptych. Sandra Newman’s ‘Julia’ retells Orwell’s 1984 from the viewpoint of Julia who becomes enamoured of Winston Smith and they start an affair which was not meant to be and doomed to fail, or maybe that was the intention? (Spoiler alert) A fascinating and imaginative take on the original enabling the reader to see Orwell’s world from a feminist angle. However, I felt that Newman was trying too hard to emulate the style of Orwell, the master wordsmith, and it may have been better writing in 21st century language. Perhaps I read it too soon after the original and was naturally comparing the two?

Mission completed!

That’s looking back to 2024 so now forward to 2025, or should that be even further back to

A true 21st century writer whose books I admire and whom I follow on Substack.

Whatever you’re reading now or plan to read I wish you a very Happy New Year. But remember:

Noble efforts

· 5 Comments ·

An avid reader, my usual genres of choice range from historical to literary fiction, epic sagas and espionage and psychological thrillers as well as, obviously, books either set in Japan or written by Japanese authors. So, that gives me plenty of scope to hit, and usually exceed, my annual Goodreads challenge of 100 books. Not included on that list is either fantasy or science fiction but I will make an exception if there’s a crossover with one of my other genres of choice. Therefore, I recently read ‘Klara Under the Sun’ by Kazuo Ishiguro a novel about Artificial Intelligence and in particular Artificial Friends or android. It was his first published novel since he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017.

Kaz, or, to give him his full name and title, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro OBE FRSA FRSL, was born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1954 and moved to England with his parents when he was five years old. Now, a naturalized British citizen, he writes in English and much prefers to talk in my mother tongue rather than Japanese. His books range from post-war novels set in Japan (A Pale View of the Hills), to the fictional memoir of an English butler in a stately home (the Booker prize winner, ‘Remains of the Day’) to historical fantasy (A Buried Giant), to the more speculative works such as Never Let Me Go and now Klara Under the Sun. Despite my misgivings about the latter’s subject matter, the purity of his prose had me entranced from the beginning. Told through the eyes of Klara who is chosen from a shop window to be an Artificial Friend to Josie, it explores the developing relationships between Klara and her adoptive family. Suspenseful and at times emotional (yes, robots do have feelings), it’s easy to understand why the author has won some of the world’s top literary awards.

When he won the Nobel, Japanese TV news programmes interviewed residents of Nagasaki for their reaction. Few had read his books, which would have to be translated into Japanese in order for them to do so but most were proud that a native of their city had reached such literary heights.

Unlike Haruki Murakami, another Japanese author whose books I’ve read and thoroughly enjoy who is a long-term contender. Despite having had his books translated into many languages and being the recipient of many prizes, he’s always missed out on the ‘big one’ much to his fans’ disappointment. Although his best known books are probably the earlier ones such as ‘Wild Sheep Chase’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’, one of my favourites is ‘Kafka on the Shore’.

Murakami is a great music fan. A former owner of a Jazz café, music often features in his writing, and as the day of the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature approaches, his fans ( known as Harukists) gather in Jazz bars waiting to celebrate the success of their hero, whilst bookstore owners prepare to stock the shelves only to have to put his books away until the next year. Divine help is also called upon, as some will visit the Hatanomori Hachiman shrine, tucked away in side street close to the National Stadium to pray for the result. Maybe, his next novel and his first for six years, the publication of which (theme  and title unknown) has been announced for 13 April will prove to be the trigger that will bring him and his loyal band of fans the ultimate prize.

A modern day ninja waits for the message to call her into action:

But win or not, I shall certainly buy the English version once published as well as other novels written by a growing list of Japanese authors whose unique style is increasing in popularity and meeting my reading needs as well as filling my bookshelves.