1Q84-Haruki Murakami

Just finished the novel yesterday. First of all, even though I say that every single I finish a long novel by Murakami, no matter how much doubt or hate he may be receiving as of late, it's an objectively challenging task to write a novel 1318 pages long and have the reader's boredom or weariness be minimal (or to be honest close to nonexistent) and he absolutely achieved that, so I take my hat off to him. Having said that, I found 1Q84 to be a particularly enjoyable and gripping page turner. This is not always necessary to make for an amazing read, and every novel that is enjoyable to read is not necessarily amazing, but if I'm being honest, the best reads are those in which those two qualities come together. That in my humble opinion of course. And 1Q84 certainly was one of those for me. As a reader I generally tend to believe that the journey is more importnant than the destination, but it would be a blatant lie to not admit that 1Q84 had one of the most satisfactory endings of any piece of fiction I've read in recent momory both from a somewhat objective literal standpoint and my personal view/interpretation/liking/preference of the its characters and story (with the exception of Ushikawa's death which I found totally unfair and frustrating but I guess that wonderful scene featuring the creation of an Air Chrysalis out of his dead body by the little people). All in all, despite the novel's main thesis being relatively simple and old as time (basically a slightly more sophisticated take on the whole concept of soulmates and the inescapability of fate), Murakami always has his special ways to make everything so magical, so vivid, multi layered and lively that even though it's not always entirely necessary, it's always what I want going into a novel of his. And it was welcome especially in this kind of novel which in my eyes is far less cold and distanced compared to other novels by Murakami and which demands its reader to surrender his own life a bit for the ones of it characters, for quite some time due to its length.  I guess that's all I wanted to say for now, but I would love what other people who have read it feel about it. Specifically I would also like to hear the other readers' opinions and thoughts on Fuka-Eri as a charcter and her significance to the story. To me, she really was the border that ended up bringing Tengo and Aomame together, but what I'm not sure about is whether this was her real mission from the very start.>! Did the guys from Sakige, knowing that Leader would sooner or later die costing them the hearing of the voice, send Fuka-Eri just to bring these two together so that Aomame would produce in heir/a dohta to whom the ability would be passed (but why would that have to be Tengo's and Aomame's baby?) or was it just a coincidence, planned to by some human factor but simply the universe itself (if there is such a thing)?!< Intrigued to hear your thoughts.