It was a quiet weekend on the literary front. The Sundays bristled with reviews, most of them about Murakami’s 1Q84. The voluminous novel has already acquired the sobriquet ‘epic masterpiece’ and breathless weekend reviewers have conferred more epithets on it: read Anthony Cummins in the Telegraph, although he sounds a note of caution, urging the reader not to “think too hard” about “this mammoth shaggy dog story”. Cummins also says that this is perhaps a publishing event masquerading as a literary event, which qualifies his enthusiasm a little more.
The chorus of gentle criticism builds in the Sunday Times, where Robert Collins notes (£) that the worlds of 1Q84 are not developed much beyond their “sketchy, initial concept”. Writing in this week’s Spectator, Philip Hensher perhaps goes furthest of all, describing Murakami’s plot and style as “dismayingly slim”.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in