Winter First Moon of the New Year
Buddy Mark Odegard told me he just finished 1Q84. Me, too. Last night, in fact. This is a good, maybe a great novel. Time will tell on the evaluation. It has a good mix of magic realism, Kafka, contemporary product placements, love story and a peak inside Japanese society at this point in the new millennium.
It affected me in a deep way, wondering about the nature of this reality and alternatives to it. Wondering about the origin of religious beliefs. Wondering if the Japanese appear as similar to us as they do in reading Murakami. 1Q84 will have to set with me for a while, perhaps a long while.
Also saw David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Long and beautiful, it recreates the mood and jarring character of Lisbeth, the mystery of Harriet Vanger and the investigative tenacity of Mikhail Bloomfield. We were part of a small crowd of gray haired folk, a quartet of women in front of us who had one woman explaining the ending to her friends. Over and over.
We’ve also seen the Swedish version, a grittier piece with lower production values. Naomi Rapace seemed to inhabit the angry side of Lisbeth better than Rooney Mara, though Mara exposed her gentle side.
We’re off to Dancing Horses tonight, for something completely different. The last night here with the Denver Olsons. Tomorrow we pack up and return home.