Exclusive: The First Lines of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 - The Millions

Update: Read our review of Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, his "finest work," according to our reviewer.

One of the fall's most hotly anticpated novels (on this continent, at least) is Haruki Murakami's massive new book 1Q84. The book's release was a publishing event in Japan in June 2009, selling over 100,000 copies there in its first week. Now, after over two years, the three-volume novel (released here in one volume and in the UK in two volumes, with parts one and two translated by Jay Rubin and part three by Philip Gabriel) will hit shelves.

Because of the very long lead time and because Murakami has an engaged and sometimes bilingual fan base, anything you might want to know about the book is available just a Google search away — and fans have tried their hands at translating snippets and sections as well — but until now we haven't gotten a glimpse of how the novel will open, with Murakami's prose rendered in Rubin's translation. As is often the case with Murakami's work, music figures prominently in the opening paragraph of 1Q84, specifically mentioning Sinfonietta by Leoš Janáček a Czech composer of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Here it is, the opening paragraph of 1Q84:

The taxi's radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast. Janáček's Sinfonietta—probably not the ideal music to hear in a taxi caught in traffic. The middle-aged driver didn't seem to be listening very closely, either. With his mouth clamped shut, he stared straight ahead at the endless line of cars stretching out on the elevated expressway, like a veteran fisherman standing in the bow of his boat, reading the ominous confluence of two currents. Aomame settled into the broad back seat, closed her eyes, and listened to the music.