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Comment by no_butterscotch | Hacker News Reader

Was IQ84 any good? I meant to read it a while back but the wiki page scared me off - it won a "worst sex scene in literature award" and wasn't well liked by critics.

I read two other stories by him (Kafka on the Shore and some short story about Yakuza). Neither really made me hunger for more though.

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I personally enjoyed 1Q84 slightly more than Kafka on the Shore, but if you actively disliked KotS, you probably won't like 1Q84 either. It has a bit more forward motion to the plot, but it is still in my opinion best enjoyed if you embrace the Murakami-style dreaminess. I love all of his books enough that I try to limit myself to reading one per year on vacation when I can really focus on it.

I haven’t read anything else from Murakami but The Second Bakery Attack and absolutely loved it. It’s a short story so quick to read, and thoroughly enjoyable. Might want to give that a try!

[0] https://web.mit.edu/norvin/www/somethingelse/murakami.html

I enjoyed it a lot although it definitely leans heavy on all of his usual Murakami-isms while trying to do something new. It's been almost a decade since I read it so I can't say I remember it with a lot of detail.

It receiving a "worst sex scene in literature award" doesn't really surprise me that much considering most of his books could be given that reward...

It's a very long book. It was good when I read it years ago but if "Kafka" didn't make you want to read it, I have a hard time imagining you'd like 1q84. That said, after that long book, I've been good on murakami. I tried too but felt like I wasn't gaining anything anymore.

I had read a few of his works before that one, and found it didn't reach as high of a bar. But it was fine. Personally most enjoyed Windup Bird Chronicle, Hardboiled Wonderland, Colorless Tsukuru.

The bad/weird sex is kind of a trope in his books

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