My 2015 consisted of lying on a soft blanket in Bidwell Park and sipping dark coffee in a corner of Caffe Aroma with my hardcover copy of 1Q84. What a marvelous book! 1Q84 epitomizes the beauty in our world (and in our dreams)! 
 This is a spoiler-free review. I don't want to give away any plotlines. I dove into 1Q84 blindly and that was an important part of the journey. The characters of 1Q84 don't know what is going to happen next, so why should we? Also, 1Q84 is part mystery novel, and I took special enjoyment in unravelling the thread of clues and piecing together what was to happen next. After finishing the novel, however, I realize that there was no way for me to know what was to happen next. This is Murakami's phantasmic vision, not ours. Yes, it becomes ours as we become immersed in the story, but it is not ours in the sense that we can decide how the dream unfolds. Only Murakami can decide this important element of the story, and we are merely creatures swept up in this magical journey. 
 I love how powerful the element of creation is in this story. The creation of fiction-writing, the creation of our dreams, the creation of magic, and all of these things are interconnected in some way. Call me a dreamer, but I believe these things are also interconnected in reality. As humans, we create our own story, we create our own dreams, and we create our own magic. As humans we are our own fiction-writers, and the story we write become our living reality. I believe that is what 1Q84 is partly about. 
 The other part, I believe is the foggy distinction between dreams and reality. When we dream, our dreams often feel like reality despite how strange and nonsensical they are. Usually we accept our dreams as reality. Then we have our waking lives. Our waking lives are often monotonous, based on routine, and routine often smashes our ability to create waking dreams. Sometimes, however, we are shaken by profound events, such as the unexpected death of a friend or the burning of our house. It is moments like these that our waking lives seem unreal and dreamlike. How could we have lost our best friend whom we always thought would be there? How could we have lost all of our possessions in a freak fire? It is during these surreal moments of loss and loneliness that reality and dreams become interwoven together. If you've never experienced these traumatic events, you might not understand, but know that life is very much like a dream when you are perceptive to this fact. 
 Is 1Q84 a dream? The answer is up to interpretation, which I believe is the beauty of this novel. Personally, at this time in my life, I feel like 1Q84 is a waking reality for the characters who are in it. Yes, 1Q84 is the world that these characters exist in, but who is to say that 1Q84 is any more real or less real than the world we live in? Yes, I know that breaks down any sense of hierarchal understanding we have of reality, but who is to say that our current understanding of reality is the right one? Who is to say that our understanding of reality is not false due to our false perceptions? That is another element of 1Q84, perception. How do we perceive the world around us? And how do we live our lives with what we do and do not perceive? Because it is not just what we perceive that shapes us to who we are, it is also what we do not perceive. 
 1Q84 is unequivocally a thought-provoking novel. Whether or not you like or agree with the themes of the novel is up to you. There is 1 theme of the novel I found particularly difficult to stomach; however, if you don't mind ambiguity and questioning your understanding of reality, then you may enjoy 1Q84. I can certainly say that this book has affected me greatly. Perhaps it is the book or perhaps it is where I am at in my life, but 1Q84 had the power to bubble certain aspects of my unconscious mind to the surface. Imagine a giant black sea of unknown that exists in your mind, and then imagine a force heating up that darkness like it is this black, murky oil, percolating until certain truths slowly bubble up to the surface. That is what 1Q84 did for me. 
 Other reasons to read 1Q84, I especially recommend this book if you are struggling with not knowing who you are. That is a large part of this book, characters not knowing who they are and slowly learning and discovering things about themselves. I also recommend this book if you have been feeling an inexplicable void inside yourself. I've been there. I know what it's like, and this book can certainly shed light on these things. 1Q84 is truly an inspirational book, and I can see it changing a lot of people's lives. This book has already shaped mine for the better.