She is quickly caught up in a plot involving Sakigake, a religious cult, and her childhood love, Tengo, and embarks on a journey to discover what is "real".

While well received in Japan, 1Q84 was met with mixed reviews from international critics, who condemned the novel's excessive repetition, clichéd writing, clumsy styling and unyielding plot.

[9][10] The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized version of the year 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and December.

In book three, a third protagonist is added in Ushikawa, a character who had appeared in Murakami's earlier novel, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

The two later find each other and escape into what they hope is the real version of 1984, but which appears to be another world due to subtle differences they notice.

Aomame (青豆) Tengo Kawana (川奈 天吾) Ushikawa (牛河) Komatsu (小松) Fuka-Eri (ふかえり) The Leader The Dowager (老婦人) Tamaru (タマル) Professor Ebisuno (戎野隆之先生) The novel was originally published in Japan in three hardcover volumes by Shinchosha.

[17] As in many of his previous works, Murakami makes frequent reference to composers and musicians, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi and Leoš Janáček, whose Sinfonietta pops up many times at crucial points in the novel.

Religious othering is a major theme in 1Q84, as Murakami places sacred ideas as existing separately from everyday reality.

[23] Prosenotes gave it a "C" (68%) based on critic reviews with a consensus saying, "There is some very creative writing in "1Q84", but its mammoth length, repetitiveness, and somewhat convoluted narrative may be too much for some readers and may overshadow the excellent prose and well-plotted love story".

[27] Among the negative reviews, Time's Bryan Walsh found 1Q84 to be the weakest of Murakami's novels in part because it eschews his typical first-person narrative.

Club had Christian Williams calling the book "stylistically clumsy" with "layers of tone-deaf dialogue, turgid description, and unyielding plot"; he awarded a D rating.

[32] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks criticized the dullness of Murakami's prose in the novel, calling it "banal and cliché-strewn".

[33] In his negative review on The Atlantic, Allen Barra labeled the book "2011's biggest literary letdown" and "a big disappointment after years of hype", while disapproving its excessive length.

[34] Among the positive reviews, The Guardian's Douglas Haddow has called it "a global event in itself, [which] passionately defends the power of the novel".

[35] In another review for The Japan Times, it was said that the novel "may become a mandatory read for anyone trying to get to grips with contemporary Japanese culture", calling 1Q84 Haruki Murakami's "magnum opus".

[36] Similarly, Kevin Hartnett of The Christian Science Monitor considers it Murakami's most intricate work as well as his most ambitious[37] and Charles Baxter of New York Review of Books praised the ambition of the novel down to the typography and attention to detail.