Haruki Murakami's new novel may triangulate three pieces of fiction to reach its coordinative narrative. Let us look at the opening sentence of each work to determine the exact literary location of "1Q84."
The obvious reference, its observation point, is George Orwell's "1984," which opens, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
The second could be Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis," — "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from a troubled dream he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect."