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I am posting this as a benchmark, not because I think I'm playing very well yet.  The idea would be post a video every month for a ye...

Friday, July 1, 2022

1Q84 pt 3

 I started part 3 of the Murakami novel. One thing I am not liking is more exposition in Part 3, when the reader learns (again!) information about the characters, simply because another character is learning the information.  At this point in a 1000-page novel we know the characters pretty damn well. Sometimes we learn a tiny bit more, but the level or redundancy is high.  For example, when Tengo explains his life to his comatose father.  When Ishigawa figures out things about Aomame.  

The novel is already structured around duplications. There are two moons in the sky in the alternate reality of 1Q84, the alternate year of 1984. Every character is doubled at least in some way, explicitly or implicitly.  For example, Aomame and Fukaeri. There are two religious sects, and they are mirrored by the Jehovah's witnesses. The novel is not without interest, and does repay close attention, but these redundant or reduplicative structures test my patience.  

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