Japanese Dreams and Stranger Things

I finished two books this past week, both of which were very good.  The first was 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami.  This was a very interesting read.  The theme I got out of reading it was the journey two people trying to find themselves.  The choices they each make turn into very interesting twists that eventually bring them together.

Tengo and Aomame are two people who grew up in worlds that were controlling and slightly oppressive.  The book starts with each of them in their mid-twenties.  Tengo is a aspiring writer and school teacher.  Aomame is a contract worker specializing in "wet work," and a fitness instructor.  The chapters switch back and forth between the two characters, adding in some supporting characters towards the end of the novel. 

The setting is Tokyo in 1984, though the timeline for both moves to "1Q84" at specific points in the story, due to actions taken by each person.  In this "new reality," there exists creatures called the little people, that have the ability to create air chrysalises which contain copies of specific individuals.  Mr. Murakami does not go into a lot of detail about where the little people come from, or what their motivations are.   I think that this is a little distracting from the storyline.  Whenever these plot points came up, I spent most of the time wondering what they were trying to accomplish, instead of focusing on how their actions were affecting the main characters.  A little more background on the little people would have enhanced the story greatly. 

The book was translated from its original Japanese, and sometimes the syntax showed this.  The translation seemed a bit plain at times, though I'm not sure if this was because of the translation, or if it was actually the way the author wrote.

This book is very hard to summarize in a small space.  It is very long, and moves around a lot.  It was very enjoyable to read, and the story proceeds well enough that you are rooting for Tengo and Aomame almost immediately. 

The second book I read was The Night Eternal, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  This is the final installment in The Strain trilogy.  It has very well written action, dialogue, and character development.  It served as a good wrap-up to the trilogy.

The book begins approximately two years after the end of the second book, The Fall.  The world has been subjugated by the vampires, and life is a very bleak existence.  The story centers around one group of "freedom fighters" as they try to destroy the last ancient vampire.  The death of this certain vampire, the one who created all the remaining "living" vampires, will wipe out the entire vampire population on the world.  This goal is complicated by the fact that the ancient has one of the main character's children held as a hostage.  A hostage who also happens to be suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome." 

I particularily enjoyed this series of books.  It is nice to see that some authors still want to show vampires as horror creations, and not the beautiful, passive, moody creatures that many teens have been reading about the past few years (e.g. The Twilight series, quite possibly the worst writing I have ever been exposed to.)  The books were very easy to get pulled in to, and once I started reading one of them, it was very hard to put down. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading both books, and would recommend each to everyone.  If you decide you want to read 1Q84, be sure to set aside enough time to really read it.  It is not a book you can sit down for 15 minutes at a time and get anything out of it.  The plot is deep, the characters are rich, and the end, once you get to it, is very satisfying.