1Q84

[John Bailey]

The Q isn't a question mark, it's a pun on the way the Japanese word
for 9 (kyu) sounds like the English letter Q. So it still sounds like
1984 but one of the terms is thought of in a slightly different way.
How do you translate that? When even a book's title can't really be
translated we're up shit creek.

Eric I'd recommend a palate cleanser while reading the book - grab
something by the other Murakami (Ryu Murakami) who is like the
flipside of Haruki. In the Miso Soup and Piercing are two
terrifically-paced shortish works, probably the darkest books I've
read that have still made me laugh (and think). Very violent and
unsettling but weirdly humanist. Real page-turners, too.

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 5:14 AM, Michael Bailey
<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> aha, John Bailey does know a lot about Murakami!
> Thanks for that.  also thanks, Mark, I didn't know Murakami was a
> translator himself.