' You'll never get away , ' a man's voice says instantly . ' You will never get away . No matter how far you run , we're going to get you . . . We're going to tap you on the shoulder someday . We know what you look like . . . If somebody taps you on the shoulder somewhere someday , it's us , ' the man says . ( 217 ) Takahashi subsequently mulls over this message : Somebody , for some reason , is being chased by a number of people , Takahashi imagines . Judging from the man's declarative tone , that somebody will probably never get away . Sometime , somewhere , when he is least expecting it , someone is going to tap him on the shoulder . ( 218 ) Thanks for giving me that play-by-play , I couldn't have done without it .
This goofy , repetitive tone is everywhere . Murakami thinks that the night-time makes ordinary settings mysterious and sexy . Fine , I'm with him all the way on that . But as a result , he adopts a tone of heavy poetic gravitas and piles it on everywhere . The most mundane and trivial descriptions are weighed down with ridiculously serious intonation . Takahashi . . . carries only a shopping basket . His hand reaches out , grasps a carton of milk , but he notices that it is low-fat , and he frowns . This could be a fundamental moral problem for him , not just a question of the fat content of milk . ( 104 ) Edge of my seat here ! Next he moves on to the fruit case and picks up an apple . This he inspects from several angles beneath the ceiling lights . It is not quite good enough . He puts it back and picks up another apple , subjecting it to the same kind of scrutiny . He repeats the process several times until he can find one that he can at least accept , if not be wholly satisfied with . ( 104 ) The best part is the way the description insistently goes deeper and deeper into hilarious , needless pedantry .
The scenes with Eri Asai sleeping in her bed are all entirely unnecessary . Eri does not do anything outside these scenes , she's a total cipher . Other characters talk about her , but that brings out aspects of their own character , it reveals little about her own personality . Yet the book spends considerable time hammering on these drawn-out , grave descriptions of her bedroom , always heavy on the faux-mysterious intonation : Our point of view . . . picks up and lingers over things . . . in the room . We are invisible , anonymous intruders . We look . We listen . We note odors . But we are not physically present in the place . . . We observe , but do not intervene . Honestly speaking , however , the information regarding Eri Asai that we can glean from the appearance of this room is far from abundant . ( 33 ) You don't say . The sleeping woman appears to be totally unaware of these events occurring in her room . She evidences no response to the outpouring of light and sound from the TV set but goes on sleeping soundly amid an established completeness . For now , nothing can disturb her deep sleep . ( 35 ) And on and on it goes .
The more realistic scenes are better , but there too , the tendentious writing provides much merriment : She reaches out at regular intervals and brings the coffee cup to her mouth , but she doesn't appear to be enjoying the flavour . She drinks because she has a cup of coffee in front of her : that is her role as a customer . ( 6 ) It sounds like what you'd write in high school if you wanted to evoke the emptiness of life . And let's not forget Murakami's supremely awkward way of working in a Jean-Luc Godard reference ( really , Godard is still hip ? ) into the dialogue . Mari says , In
Alphaville
, you're not allowed to have deep feelings . So there's nothing like love . No contradictions , no irony . Kaoru wrinkles her brow and queries , Irony ? To which Mari readily replies , Irony means taking an objective or inverted view of oneself or of something belonging to oneself and discovering oddness in that . To which Kaoru replies , I don't really get it . . . But tell me : is there sex in this Alphaville place ? ( 72 ) No comment .
If you strip away the filler , the core story is promising . It uses a lot of well-traveled Murakami tropes : the cool and collected protagonist , who never allows the girl's rudeness to perturb him ; the pretty and successful older sister ; the reserved and troubled younger sister ; the earthy but friendly , unattractive older woman . These types appear in both
Norwegian Wood
and
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
, but that's not really a problem . The world could always use another story about alienated young people whose routine is shaken up by nocturnal mystery and sleaze , enabling them to establish a certain rapport . The scene in the love hotel ( which is referred to as a love ho , possibly in order to sound cool and trendy ) early on is pretty good . This would have been a much better book if Murakami tried to flesh out the story of the Chinese prostitute . Or , if that's asking too much , he could have focused more on the main characters ' wandering . For instance , he could have shown more of the musicians in the basement . But the world he depicts has no texture , because he spends his time on these inane descriptions instead .
Basically this book is pointless . It would have been better as a short story , but even then it wouldn't be especially memorable . If you're interested in Murakami's take on human connections , read Norwegian Wood ; if you prefer his fanciful side , try
Hard-Boiled Wonderland
. After Dark adds nothing to either of those areas .
001 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
Writing about one's favorite author is a hard thing to do . Like many other Murakami fans , I have been anxiously waiting for the release of After Dark after the short story collection Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman whetted my appetite . However , after having been a fan of Murakami's fiction for almost six years now , I am well aware that in all likelihood that After Dark would be a lighter work after the considerably larger volume of Kafka on the Shore . Also , having read bits of the Japanese edition , I was aware that After Dark was written in a different style than Murakami's previous novels . Most readers are familiar with Murakami's deadpan , first-person narrator and not with some of his latter third person work and some critics wonder if Murakami's style is truly suited for third person writing . Yet , in this slim volume , Murakami takes things even further . Our omniscient narrator continually uses the pronoun We throughout the book thereby smashing the fourth wall and bringing the reader into the mix , but he continually reminds us that we are a powerless spectator that out personal actions have no bearing on what occurs in the book itself , but the personal involvement within the book and Murakami's use of cinematic style in framing scenes , including detailed lists of montage , adds considerably to the book . The reader might notice that this book is Murakami at his most descriptive . Never have I seen him detail the setting as much as he does within this book .
As for the story itself , in some ways it is not quite as interesting as the mechanics of writing that Murakami uses in this book's fewer than 200 pages . The story centers around a nineteen-year old girl named Mari who one night decides that she wants to spend the night reading within the confines of a Denny's instead of going home . While there she encounters a young man named Takahashi who invites himself to sit at her table to order a chicken salad . During their conversation we soon learn that Mari has an older sister named Eri who is strikingly beautiful and Mari is considerably less than happy at home . Also , we learn that , although she is Japanese , Mari is quite fluent in Chinese and in fact speaks it more than her native language . Takahashi soon leaves , but soon a large woman , pure muscle not fat , named Kaoru comes to seek Mari in order to gain her help . It seems that a young Chinese prostitute was beaten severely by a patron and she does not speak a word of Japanese . We also learn that the name of the love hotel is Alphaville and for those who are fans of Godard's film of the same name will have many levers switched .
Like in many of his other novels , the conscious and the unconscious states of mind play large parts within this book , but unlike many of the earlier ones , Murakami writes directly on the subject and many of his common themes are tied together within this book . Also , it is quite interesting to read Murakami's take on urban life in Japan and making the city itself a living , breathing creature and how it thrives off its denizens . While not one of his best books , After Dark displays Murakami's evolution as a writer and shows him breaking away from some of the plot devices that are common in his novels , no missing women in this one ! , some might find this change to be a bit much , but it shows growth within the being of a writer in his late fifties , and makes one wonder what is to come in the future .
002 4 Writing about one's favorite author is a hard thing to do . Like many other Murakami fans , I have been anxiously waiting for the release of After Dark after the short story collection Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman whetted my appetite . However , after having been a fan of Murakami's fiction for almost six years now , I am well aware that in all likelihood that After Dark would be a lighter work after the considerably larger volume of Kafka on the Shore . Also , having read bits of the Japanese edition , I was aware that After Dark was written in a different style than Murakami's previous novels . Most readers are familiar with Murakami's deadpan , first-person narrator and not with some of his latter third person work and some critics wonder if Murakami's style is truly suited for third person writing . Yet , in this slim volume , Murakami takes things even further . Our omniscient narrator continually uses the pronoun We throughout the book thereby smashing the fourth wall and bringing the reader into the mix , but he continually reminds us that we are a powerless spectator that out personal actions have no bearing on what occurs in the book itself , but the personal involvement within the book and Murakami's use of cinematic style in framing scenes , including detailed lists of montage , adds considerably to the book . The reader might notice that this book is Murakami at his most descriptive . Never have I seen him detail the setting as much as he does within this book .
As for the story itself , in some ways it is not quite as interesting as the mechanics of writing that Murakami uses in this book's fewer than 200 pages . The story centers around a nineteen-year old girl named Mari who one night decides that she wants to spend the night reading within the confines of a Denny's instead of going home . While there she encounters a young man named Takahashi who invites himself to sit at her table to order a chicken salad . During their conversation we soon learn that Mari has an older sister named Eri who is strikingly beautiful and Mari is considerably less than happy at home . Also , we learn that , although she is Japanese , Mari is quite fluent in Chinese and in fact speaks it more than her native language . Takahashi soon leaves , but soon a large woman , pure muscle not fat , named Kaoru comes to seek Mari in order to gain her help . It seems that a young Chinese prostitute was beaten severely by a patron and she does not speak a word of Japanese . We also learn that the name of the love hotel is Alphaville and for those who are fans of Godard's film of the same name will have many levers switched .
Like in many of his other novels , the conscious and the unconscious states of mind play large parts within this book , but unlike many of the earlier ones , Murakami writes directly on the subject and many of his common themes are tied together within this book . Also , it is quite interesting to read Murakami's take on urban life in Japan and making the city itself a living , breathing creature and how it thrives off its denizens . While not one of his best books , After Dark displays Murakami's evolution as a writer and shows him breaking away from some of the plot devices that are common in his novels , no missing women in this one ! , some might find this change to be a bit much , but it shows growth within the being of a writer in his late fifties , and makes one wonder what is to come in the future .
003 4 As much as it pains me to say this , After Dark is by far my least favorite Murakami novel . Murakami had already begun to experiment with his style in Kafka on the Shore , but After Dark is clearly a large leap in a new direction . Unfortunately , I can't say this first effort is successful . The story is cryptic as expected but for a Murakami novel the pace and writing is oddly flat . Unlike works like Wind-Up Bird and Hard-boiled Wonderland , I just was not able to care enough to fully immerse myself in this book . In some ways this story just felt like a bit of a private experiment of sorts , where Murakami spent more time focusing on technical issues ( perspective in particular ) rather than developing the story . In the end , as an old Murakami hand , I can't give this story more than 3 stars based on the high quality of his other works .
Where Murakami will go next is a bit of a mystery . The final five stories in Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman were written after After Dark and bear more of a similarity to his earlier style than they do to this novel . Will he return to a brand of the mystic realism that has made him popular both in Japan and abroad , or will he continue the difficult process of reinventing himself ? I hope Murakami has not run out of steam , but if After Dark is a sign of things to come then I'm afraid the period from the mid - 80s through the mid - 90s will be remembered as Murakami's halcyon days . His next work will be the key - - as a fan of his work , I hope that my pessimism is unfounded and his next novel is a return to the greatness he is capable of . Personally , I look forward to reading other reviews of this book ( as well as feedback on my own ) to see what other readers think . . . I have a feeling opinions will be divided .
004 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
The latest from Haruki Murakami , After Dark is more meditation than novel . And yet that floating sensation I got when I read the best of Murakami , Windup Bird Chronicle , Kafka on the Shore , didn't happen for me with After Dark .
One character never awakes and her sister never sleeps . The plot , such as there is one , revolves around a brutal midnight attack on a girl by a john at a love motel .
One of the characters says , It used to be after the sun set , people would just crawl in their caves and protect themselves . Our internal clocks are still set for us to sleep after the sun goes down . After Dark is about how we resist this biological imperative and how that resistance messes with our heads .
I'm a huge Murakami fan and I admire what he does here . Yes , it has some of the usual touches ; alienated youth , the pop culture references and weird points of view . But there is very little of his trademark magical realism or narrative development in After Dark . So while I liked After Dark and respect Murakami's willingness to venture into new territory , I can't recommend a newcomer to his work to start here .
005 4 The latest from Haruki Murakami , After Dark is more meditation than novel . And yet that floating sensation I got when I read the best of Murakami , Windup Bird Chronicle , Kafka on the Shore , didn't happen for me with After Dark .
One character never awakes and her sister never sleeps . The plot , such as there is one , revolves around a brutal midnight attack on a girl by a john at a love motel .
One of the characters says , It used to be after the sun set , people would just crawl in their caves and protect themselves . Our internal clocks are still set for us to sleep after the sun goes down . After Dark is about how we resist this biological imperative and how that resistance messes with our heads .
I'm a huge Murakami fan and I admire what he does here . Yes , it has some of the usual touches ; alienated youth , the pop culture references and weird points of view . But there is very little of his trademark magical realism or narrative development in After Dark . So while I liked After Dark and respect Murakami's willingness to venture into new territory , I can't recommend a newcomer to his work to start here .
006 4 After Dark , by Haruki Murakami ( a new to me author ) provided for me , what I would have to call a surreal reading experience .
Totally bizarre , but addictive , I listened to this audio book for the last 5 evenings , well into the night . The reader , Janet Song , was amazing , and did an excellent job describing what the reader was seeing as the story unfolded in what I would have to describe as a book without a plot .
Curious . . . . well the story starts out pretty much at a Denny's in Tokyo , and the entire story takes place in one night , beginning at just minutes before midnight . It is here at Dennys that we meet Mari Asi , an insomniac who seems to never sleep , and Takahashi a trombone player , and an old aquaintance . The two strike up a conversation about whether to order chicken at this restaurant . Mari seems to spend her nights at Denny's with a large book she carries around . Mari and Takahashi continue to meet at night and they become friends . It is through some profound conversations by the two , that we learn more about the other characters . There is Mari's sister Eri , who seems to do nothing but sleep as she suffers from some sort of social withdrawal , along with ( 2 ) other equally troubled souls , who have a story to tell : a prostitute and a software manager . Though the course of this story these people will find their lives intersecting .
This story is so different , so strange , yet so vivid , descriptive and haunting . I am really at a loss for what else to say about this unique book , except that although this is my first book by this author , it will not be my last . I plan to explore more books by this author , as I get the feeling I could be on to something new and pretty great with this author .
Although the audio book was excellent , in the future I plan to read the print version by this author if possible , as there were parts I would have wanted to reread and ponder ( not so easy with a audio book ) . RECOMMENDED .
007 4 Let's just be honest here and not mince words with our darling author Mr . Murakami . Yes , we all love his earlier work . Hard Boiled Wonderland , Wind Up Bird , Kafka on the Shore are deep bright wells of metaphysical insight and terror . After Dark is just terrible . It's boring , and intellectually light to say the very least . The characters are flat and the plot refuses to budge . I applaud Murakami for his bravery in breaking with his traditional style and his takes on the Japanese I novel and trying something different with his narrative structure , but that alone does not make it an interesting or well written novel , just unique in his oeuvre . Let's not let our love of his previous work cloud our reception of his current novel .
008 4 Haruki Murakami's twelfth novel is a short , sleek novel of encounters set it Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn . It is set in a seven-hour period of real-time . The reader follows a skeletal outline of the interactions between six lost souls . We meet 19 - year-old Mari , studying late at night in a Denny's and her sister , Eri , a beautiful model in a semi-comatose state , being watched by someone evil . Other alienated souls of the night include a former fighting champion working at a love hotel , a prostitute , a jazz musician , and a sadistic office worker .
Murakami is an author known for his mysterious characters and minimalism . With this book , however , he was too minimalist , leaving far too much up to the reader for not just interpretation , but invention of a story line . He doesn't provide the reader any conclusions , which is his trademark , but with this book , he has released a lot of story threads , loosely wound together , without the true structure of a novel .
At least it was short and sleek , so it wasn't terribly painful to finish . As a reader , I was left wanting more , left wondering too much about the dream-like nighttime landscape of these characters . The story around the sleeping sister is ostensibly the most eerie , with hints of something terrible that drew her into social withdrawal , but the lack of action or reason behind her coma renders those chapters listless and sluggish .
After Dark was originally released in Japan in 2004 , and had Russian , Dutch , Chinese , and French translations before it was released in English in May 2007 .
009 4 After reading through some of the reviews , i think it would be safe to advise people that if they like stories that are concrete , explained , & make sense , they maybe shouldn't read After Dark . Any plot is very loose , & there are parts that some may feel are pointless .
Personally , i liked this book quite a lot , maybe in part because of its strangeness . Not everything is resolved ; some things are simply introduced or hinted at . Things aren't tied up in a neat little bow ; not everything makes perfect sense . But instead of being agitated by this kind of experimental style , i found it engaging & interesting , & it draws a closer parallel to life . After Dark seems more like a time frame - - starting from 11 : 56 PM & moving on from there - - & watching people pass through it . The reader finds out some things about them , but not everything about everyone is given away , & the reader parts ways with the characters without knowing where things will take them . It's more like a long observation that's allowed to follow people throughout the night ; there is no big climax at the end .
Some people , it seems , also feel that the parts with Eri are pointless , maybe in large part because they are so strange & nebulous & there is no explanation , ultimately , for what takes place with her . Regardless , i would say they still have their place in the story & lend to its late night kind of atmosphere ; to remove them would hurt the overall story considerably .
Overall , as the first book of Murakami's that i have read , i can say that i'm not disappointed . I really liked After Dark , but i would caution those who like more normal books .
010 4 I am glad that I am comfortable with ambiguity . That personality trait came in helpful while reading this , AFTER DARK , the first book by Haruki Murakami I had read . I had heard that Murakami is a writer heavy on the esoteric , the metaphysical , the ambiguous . I heard correctly . That was not a concern of mine . But what about the prose itself ? Some authors write in such a way that the optic nerve just slides over the words , transmitting the wonderfully drawn pictures instantly into the brain . Others write prose as thorny and difficult as walking on a rusty nail .
Fortunately , Murakami falls into the first category . Although AFTER DARK's plot ( is it even that ? ) may be way out there , the writing itself is quite accessible . That comes in handy when we dive in .
AFTER DARK alternates between a realistic thread and one created of the bizarre , set over about seven hours of night . Mari , 19 year old college girl , is trying to get some pleasure reading in at an all-night Denny's when she is interrupted by Takahashi , a trombone player about to hit practice . They had met a couple of years ago through Mari's sister , Eri . Before the night is through , Mari will also meet the manager of a love hotel ( that's where unmarried couples in Japan go to get some luvin ' on ) and a Chinese prostitute , beaten to a mess by some john . We , though not Mari , also meet that john in his personal and professional life . The strands of the relationships between these characters gets , if not exactly woven together , at least loosely connected with one another .
Interposed with this is the story of Eri , the older sister . Stuck in a very deep sleep for months , we encounter her as pure spectator , Murakami using an extreme objective point of view for this encounter . Something bizarre is about to happen , and the flickering and static of an unplugged television lets us know that that something is not of this reality . A masked man , perhaps threatening , appears but with the sole aim , it would appear , of watching Eri , as well .
Is this a dream ? Is this the projection of someone's inner psyche onto a blank space for pure observation ? We do not know . It is , however , a world unfamiliar and strange to us and interesting to explore . The ambiguous nature of the fantastical plot allows for considerable speculation . Feel free to do so , pick up AFTER DARK and start reading . But do not expect to solve the mystery of what is , in this book , unanswerable .
011 4 Murakami is excellent with mood pieces , and ' After Dark ' is a brilliant study of characters who inhabit the after hours for various reasons ; some to jam with bandmates in a jazz ensemble , others to flee a checkered past , or to seek some solace away from a difficult home condition .
Chapters are marked out with timings as the night progresses , as the ensemble of characters cross paths with cinematic precision , reflective of Murakami's clean sharp prose ( once again brilliantly translated by the ever-reliable Jay Rubin ) .
This novel is an insomniac's dream come true , with detailed description of the nightscape that betray undisguised film aspirations . This is especially seen in the dream-like sequences , featuring a girl who is ( perhaps willingly ) lulled into a comatose state . The narrator beckons the reader to take on the ' viewpoint . . . of a midair camera ' and the scene transforms into a still from Through the Looking Glass .
Beautifully written , and like most Murakami pieces go , there's little resolution in the end , which is arguably fitting as a detached observation of the slice of time between midnight and daybreak .
012 4 I find myself thinking about Murakami's books long after I've read them . Murakami compares writing to jazz music and with his writing it is true . Just as I find myself humming memorable bits from songs like Take Five , I also come back again and again to passages of Murakami's novels and short stories . I don't always recognize the deeper meaning in his works right away , but like a piece of music his writing continues to work on me over time .
After Dark takes place in Tokyo between the witching hours of midnight and dawn . The nighttime setting lends itself to the loneliness and alienation of the characters . We are never drawn too close to these characters , but instead we watch and listen , along with the narrator , as though through a camera as it zooms in or out and then pans around at times giving us mere glimpses of the wider setting . The story is told in scenes of dialogue between six characters within segments of sequential time . Mari is a 19 year old university freshman who perceives herself as plain and dull , especially compared to her beautiful older sister Eri . Mari has for some reason , known only to her , decided to stay up all night reading at a Denny's . She is joined several times throughout the night by Tetsuya , a young jazz musician . Mari is unexpectedly drawn into the lives of a large female ex-wrestler who now manages a love hotel , a Chinese prostitute , and two women with mysterious backgrounds who hide under cover of night and transient jobs .
These scenes are interrupted occasionally as we , the camera , look in on Mari's older sister Eri who sleeps . Her sleep is reminiscent of that deep and complete slumber of Sleeping Beauty . Several months previous to the night our story takes place , Eri announces to her family that she is going to sleep for awhile ; she has not woken since . On this particular night she is watched by something or someone menacing . Eri has withdrawn completely and may or may not find her way back . We are not sure if she is being controlled by the menacing presence or if her continued slumber is by choice . The scenes with Eri are eerie and unexplained .
Much in this short novel is left unexplained . In one of the more magical scenes , an image of a man wavers , his outline bends , quality fades , static rises . Murakami's story is very much like the image of this man . We can't always see clearly what it is that the author is showing us . I don't think this is an accident or poor writing . I believe Murakami does this intentionally and the reader must look for meaning in a less cognitive way . As the author says through his character Tetsuya :
You send the music deep enough into your heart so that it makes your body undergo a kind of a physical shift , and simultaneously the listener's body also undergoes the same kind of physical shift . It's giving birth to that kind of shared state .
Murakami's works are very much a shared state . Not everyone will find his writing to their liking , but those who can resonate with the author will find themselves coming back for more .
013 4 First off , to address the ( vanishing ) elephant in the room , After Dark is not Murakami Haruki's best novel to date . And I say that as someone who habitually enjoys Murakami's fiction , and as someone who liked this latest novel of his well enough . It is not nearly as excellent as the hyper-laudatory critical blurbs planted strategically all over the surface of the book tell you . But then again , it is not nearly as bad as the knowingly harsh naysayers claim , either . If it's a rather lukewarmly average work for an author of Murakami's caliber , it's still way ahead of the game overall . Familiar and yet compellingly surreal , hauntingly eerie and yet laced with an offhand casual humor , unpretentiously grappling with the big questions in life while avoiding pat answers , hip in just the right measure , putting the fun back in literary again , embedding a deeply ethical human quest within the surface trappings of a cleverly postmodern runaround - - all those beloved elements that make up the bizarre alchemical blend of a Murakami novel are right here in After Dark as well , even if the mix is a bit off this time around .
Time will tell , but my sense is that this novel is a transitional work in Murakami's development as a writer . Old themes and literary tropes echo here in a somewhat weak form : the double-helix structure from Hard-Boiled Wonderland , the nagging unrest with Japan's submerged imperialist history from Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , that ubiquitous other side perhaps most clearly delineated in Sputnik Sweetheart and Kafka on the Shore and many more . It's rather as if Murakami is taking stock of his twilight landscapes before moving on . And this novel does find him trying new things . The book begins and ends with some of the most amazingly meditative and lyrical passages I've yet seen from him . He is more self-consciously experimental than usual with point-of-view ( giving the novel a strangely cinematic feel , though what a weird movie it would be ! ) . Structuring his rather diffuse tale according to the advancing hours of one single night was satisfyingly inventive , and helps contain what would otherwise be a ball of yarn spinning utterly out of control . Devil that he is , he denies the poor reader narrative closure as usual , but he tries his best ( not so convincingly , perhaps ) to end on a brighter note of hope than is usual for him . He is also starting to transcend the self-absorbed first-person male narrator and some of that persona's usual hang-ups , the possibilities of which he has pretty much fully explored and perhaps more or less exhausted .
As the oddly omniscient narrator accompanying the reader says on page 237 , Many people go on mumbling the old words , but in the light of the newly revealed sun , the meanings of words are shifting rapidly and are being renewed .
On a different note , I highly recommend reading this novel late at night . Some of what Murakami writes herein might seem flat and maybe just a bit insipid in the cut-and-dry daylight , but those same passages hit the mood just right and give a mild case of the metaphysical chills * after dark * . Indeed , Murakami masterfully gets at that unsettlingly surreal , sort of spooky atmosphere that lingers from the witching hour to the first rays of dawn . And of course , if you can find an all-night Denny's , all the better .
014 4 Let me start of my saying , I liked it . This is my intro into the world of Murakami .
Something to remember , Murakami lives in Tokyo and wrote this in Tokyo . I lived in Tokyo for several years as well and I strongly believe that having done so made this book more enjoyable and easier to relate to . Even being in one of the most populated cities in the world there is a certain loneliness that engulfs one while living there . The two main characters are totally people I would expect to run into there . I believe that Murakami wanted to give us a glimpse of the complexity of the souls of all these people . He does a good job of remaining a third and neutral party . I feel as though I was the assistant to an invisible camera man who was taking me on a journey into the night life of a few select Tokyoites . I like the way it felt as if we just zoomed in like a spy satellite from space and we just happened to zoom in on the characters mentioned . . by chance . All that said , I believe the book could have been better . It could have been a bit longer . None the less it has left me pondering several things . Maybe this is just as Murakami planned it to be . Here in the west we always tend to seek closure in stories and movies . This is however not always the case in the real world . I would recommend it if anything else to enjoy the narrative ability of this writer . Will I read more Murakami ? Yes , in fact I plan to read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle next .
016 4 Reading After Dark , for anyone who's read any number of his other novels , is like drinking light beer ; sure , it tastes okay , but it's clearly watered down and has less alcohol , less punch . The novel has a nice structure , following a number of characters during the course of a night , but too much is left unresolved - and not in the good , Chekhovian way . Finishing it is like waking up from a dream that was captivating while it transpired but remains mostly forgettable and unremarkable when you wake up .
If you haven't read anything by Murakami , don't start w / After Dark ; give Norweigan Wood or Kafka on the Shore or a short story collection a read first .
017 4 It's so hard to live up to your early masterworks . Wind up Bird Chronicle was a brilliancy , and many of his books that came afterwards while still fun to read where always a bit of a let down in comparison .
With After Dark Murakami returns to his masterful form . This book is short but each line is near perfect - - there is no literary flab . Murakami's writing has been honed to a fine edge . The characters are recognizably Murakami , but still unique and wonderful and you not only want to spend the night in their company , you want to follow them through the upcoming days as well . Alas , like the night in the book , it ends too soon . Yet we feel we have stayed up with them throughout and when its over an ethereal barb remains in the reader .
I look forward to his next book and I'm glad to see Murakami back in top form .
018 4 I ordered this book from the US because as a UK citizen I stood to get it from my own country a month later and at a 50% price markup . For US translations , this is generally the best policy , especially in the era of the low dollar .
Murakami is often accused ( by friends of mine , at least ) of going on for ages about the vaguest things with very little happening . For my part , I see little point in this rich and complex whimsy if it can't be fully explained in a natural time span - however Murakami has addressed these criticisms with After Dark , a novel less than 200 pages long and taking course entirely over the span of one night .
Murakami's style has also shifted in parts . There is definitely more of a TV script feel about the whole thing - at moments you can visualise almost Lynchian scenes , albeit with a little less terror . In other scenes he literaly describes camera movements and writes as a director might shout .
As for specifics , we are dealing with the adventures of three central characters , all fairly typical of Murakami - but with far less detail and complication , and most of all far less experience . On the one hand , everybody likes a character who is ' trapped ' , a character who is ' confused ' , a character who is ' friendly ' . Everybody certainly loves characters who are kooky . But Murakami readers , as far as I know , don't care much for characters who have no great adventures , have no great insights or diseases , and learn nothing . Interesting anecdotes and coincidences occur , but they are of no great consequence ( except perhaps in Lynchian logic - but then without severe repercussion ) .
Overall it creates no great lasting impression , and even though it would seem the author is trying to get out of a rut it is not a book I would recommend for any newcomer to Haruki Murakami . It is still fantastic writing , but still ultimately blissfully free from the concerns of most pulp writers while taking many of their gimmicks . An enjoyable read , but the worst Murakami novel yet translated .
019 4 Thus goes Takahashi's motto in life . In After Dark , spanning a single night in people's lives , Takahashi and others form a web of stories of people who have their problems and their worries . From Mari , trying to deal with a reality that she can't fathom , to her sister Eri , sleeping herself into a blissful nothingness sheltered from reality , the characters are real and messy . Interwoven through it all is Murakami's unique weaving of reality and the ethereal nothingness that lurks just beneath the surface .
This would have to be one of Murakami's more accessible novels , and one that leaves a somewhat pleasantly disturbing after glow . I thoroughly enjoyed this novel to the very last page . I had intended to read it just while commuting , but I got absorbed into it and had to finish it . It is one of those books , I think .
For people who have not read Murakami before , I think this is the ideal novel to start with . It is not too surreal for people and it is has a depth of perception that is still able to be shared with readers . It is a great book and one that I will be thinking about for some time .
020 4 Books don't come with sound tracks , but if they did , there's no doubt that trombonist Curtis Fuller's breathy opening notes in Five Spot After Dark would be the perfect entree to Haruki Murakami's AFTER DARK . Low-key piano , soft drums and high hat played almost entirely with brushes , and a haunting solo trombone create the perfect noir accompaniment for Murakami's seven-hour , overnight jaunt through a Tokyo of lost and lonely souls . It is a Tokyo that seems about as un-Japanese as anyone could possibly make it - with a small leap of the reader's imagination , this story could have taken place just as easily in New York , London , Paris , or any other large , modern city .
The story line of AFTER DARK hardly seems important . Suffice to say that the author introduces a small cast of characters who suffer the loneliness of urban nighttime existence and yet manage to interact witth and rely upon one another in unpredictable ways . There's Tetsuya Takahashi , the trombone-playing band member out for the last time for an all-night practice session with his band before hoping to return to school to study law . Then there's Mari Asai ( an anagram for Asia ? ) , also a college-age student of Chinese language with her textbook in an all-night Denny's , sitting quietly alone until joined by Takahashi . And there's Kaoru , former professional wrestler and now part of the clean-up crew at a seedy love hotel named Alphaville . And Guo Dongli , a Chinese prostitute who gets beaten up in the Alphaville and is assisted by Kaoru with Mari acting as translator . And another night bird , the programmer Shirakawa , who toils away fixing his company's software in an otherwise empty office and who also happens to be Guo Dongli's assailant . Finally , there's Eri Asai , Mari's stunningly beautiful older sister who has been asleep , but not in a coma , for two months .
Chapters of AFTER DARK that follow the night's events ( each is labeled by the hour and minute at which it begins ) are interspersed with Twilight Zonish scenes of Eri Asai asleep in her room . We watch her as though we are a camera slowly panning the room , reducing us in Murakami's parlance to a mere point of view . Eri's TV mysteriously turns itself on , gradually revealing another watcher , the Man with No Face . Over the course of the night , Eri is magically pulled into the room inside the television and then released , but not before revealing an inexplicable connection to the prostitute-beating programmer Shirakawa and finally offering a sense of resolution between the estranged sisters Mari and Eri .
In a book riddled with weird events and odd connections , a major clue has to come from the love hotel , Alphaville . Jean-Luc Godards 1965 film of the same name was an avant garde masterpiece , a work of futruristic science fiction shot without special effects in the back streets of Paris . In Godard's future , Alphaville is run with ruthlessly efficient logic by a massive Alpha 60 computer . Pictures of the machine's inventor , Vonbraun , are everywhere - he is the new god of Alphaville , to the extent there can be one . In Godard's futuristic city , there is no place for emotion ( a man who cries over his wife's death is eliminated ) , and even love is reduced to its barest mechanics . Language is controlled through the bible , actually a dictionary of permitted words that is continually revised and simplified . Yet the citizens of Alphaville are supplied to excess with their material needs . Into this fascistic mixture comes an Outsider , Lemmy Caution , and through his eyes , we witness a battle for love , the power of free will , and the triumph of personal conscience .
Perhaps the indirect allusion via Alphaville to the German rocket scientist Werner Von Braun is a clue to Murakami's Man with No Face . That was the name given by Western agencies to the quite real Markus Wolf of the Stasi , the East German secret police , a man who harbored the international terrorist Carlos the Jackal and provided terrorist training to the PLO . Then again , the faceless man in the TV could be a riff on Procul Harem's song , In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence . In that song , which takes place among the remnants of the evening , the faithful but rusty old retainer may have once been just as we are and now has no face at all . Still as the song declares , his blunted sword is sharp enough , and so may it be with us . Who besides the author can truly say ?
Leave it to Mr . Murakami to blend elements of American jazz , French cinema , and American commercialism ( Denny's and 7 - Eleven ) with the peculiar formality and structure of Japanese society . AFTER DARK as a jazzy riff on commercialization , modern technology , alienation , and the loss of souls could be a commentary on Japan or equally on the industrialized West , or the modern technological world in general . Who else but Murakami would have an abandoned cell phone sitting on 7 - Eleven shelf , spouting vague threats of You probably think you got away with it and You can run , but you'll never get away to any hapless shopper who responds to its plaintive rings ? And how many of us would react by thinking that the message was indeed intended for us , that the call was not just a random accident of chance ? While some readers will no doubt differ in their judgments , I found AFTER DARK to be Murakami at his teasing , infuriating , intellectually subversive best .
021 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
After Dark , by Haruki Murakami , is the most recent work by this fascinating novelist available in English . Murakami's signature is all over the novel though his entrancing and effortless prose coupled with new and experimental elements of narration and story time-line . Of course he adds his signature reference to music , and if you happen to know the songs he references , the musical score continuously plays in the background . The action takes place over a seven hour period from just before midnight through just after sun rise . It is very short ; you should get through it on a Sunday in much less than the seven hours of darkness that he describes .
Although it is short read Murakami is still able to build multiple stories and create a handful of memorable characters including a jazz trombonist aspiring to become a lawyer , a retired female wrestler with a good heart , a sadistic computer programmer who takes and beats prostitutes , and the two main characters , Mari who is awake throughout the night and witnesses firsthand what happens After Dark , and her Sleeping Beauty of a sister Eri who chooses to go to sleep one evening after dinner and then refuses to wake up , trapped in a prison of sleep , induced through vanity and pharmaceutical drug use , throughout the entire novel . Their stories intertwine after the trains from the city stop a-rollin and the streets grow quiet with only all night diners , convenience stores , and hotels providing a haven for those who choose not to sleep .
There are places Murakami can take his story but fails to go , human sex trafficking , organized crime , mental health . He even lays the foundation for two love stories - one between Mari and the musician and one between Mari and her sister , but the stories themselves fail to materialize . Perhaps this is part of his experiment to leave the stories hanging , as how could any complex relationship between individuals be resolved over the course of seven hours ?
For those familiar with his other novels , After Dark , will almost certainly be a disappointment . Whereas his style is vintage Murakami , he keeps holding the reigns , not walking through the doors he opens , abiding more by his discipline to keep the novel experimental , one in which the reader must feel and experience the effects after dark , that occur continuously night after night to nameless faceless characters in every city throughout the world , rather than know what happens to the specific characters , we learn about on this single evening in Tokyo .
022 4 After Dark , by Haruki Murakami , is the most recent work by this fascinating novelist available in English . Murakami's signature is all over the novel though his entrancing and effortless prose coupled with new and experimental elements of narration and story time-line . Of course he adds his signature reference to music , and if you happen to know the songs he references , the musical score continuously plays in the background . The action takes place over a seven hour period from just before midnight through just after sun rise . It is very short ; you should get through it on a Sunday in much less than the seven hours of darkness that he describes .
Although it is short read Murakami is still able to build multiple stories and create a handful of memorable characters including a jazz trombonist aspiring to become a lawyer , a retired female wrestler with a good heart , a sadistic computer programmer who takes and beats prostitutes , and the two main characters , Mari who is awake throughout the night and witnesses firsthand what happens After Dark , and her Sleeping Beauty of a sister Eri who chooses to go to sleep one evening after dinner and then refuses to wake up , trapped in a prison of sleep , induced through vanity and pharmaceutical drug use , throughout the entire novel . Their stories intertwine after the trains from the city stop a-rollin and the streets grow quiet with only all night diners , convenience stores , and hotels providing a haven for those who choose not to sleep .
There are places Murakami can take his story but fails to go , human sex trafficking , organized crime , mental health . He even lays the foundation for two love stories - one between Mari and the musician and one between Mari and her sister , but the stories themselves fail to materialize . Perhaps this is part of his experiment to leave the stories hanging , as how could any complex relationship between individuals be resolved over the course of seven hours ?
For those familiar with his other novels , After Dark , will almost certainly be a disappointment . Whereas his style is vintage Murakami , he keeps holding the reigns , not walking through the doors he opens , abiding more by his discipline to keep the novel experimental , one in which the reader must feel and experience the effects after dark , that occur continuously night after night to nameless faceless characters in every city throughout the world , rather than know what happens to the specific characters , we learn about on this single evening in Tokyo .
023 4 I have to admit that I love a book with a good ending that ties up all loose endings , so I might not be the best person to review Murakami books as he often ends with many questions lingering . . . but I will try to put my bias aside for the sake of other readers . I think that this book was rushed and the story wasn't well constructed . He seemed to randomly insert supernatural occurrences for fun , and they didn't really add to the book .
I loved the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , and would recommend it across the board ( with a warning to not expect everything to be explained ) . After Dark was not so great . I did find the characters compelling and the scenes were once again very vivid and interesting , but there wasn't much of a story and I felt that it was too short - I think he could've expanded on the world he created in this novel because I loved that it all took place in the middle of the night in such a vibrant city as Tokyo . Read the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle instead .
024 4 Short compelling novel that speaks of loneliness . The backdrop is Tokyo at night . You can almost see the cheap florescent lighting casting a sickly color on the characters who inhabit the city after dark . Almost magical realism except that it is written by a Japanese author .
026 4 Lost souls in Tokyo .
A girl whose sister decided to go to sleep and still hasn't woken up a few months later . She can't stand sleeping in the next room , so finds ways to stay out all night . Hangs out at Denny's .
A kid in a band who once had a crush on the sister ; now intrigued by the girl in Denny's .
A former female wrestler , now manager of a love hotel - - where a Chinese prostitute gets beaten up by a frustrated businessman .
The businessman who doesn't like to go home at night either , works all night and occasionally hires prostitutes .
The sleeping sister , who is being watched by a man on the other side of a television screen . At times the sister also appears on the other side of the television screen - - trapped , confused , lost . A metaphor for someone whose identity is bound up in representations : a model ?
The enigmatic watcher , who has gotten dirty somehow , and we never know why .
It's an intriguing constellation of characters , who circle vaguely around one another , but whose trajectories never quite develop into a compelling story . All inconclusive in the end .
There is a speculative edge here : something to do with sleep as a metaphor for inaction , or for the condition of being nothing more than an image , a model , an empty ideal . This element felt undeveloped to me : mere speculation without anything conclusive .
This is the second book I've read by Murakami , and I don't know if this is true of all his works but both translations sound a little odd . Reading him is almost like reading subtitles for a foreign film . It never quite sounds right , but suggests something intriguing behind it all . The Wild Sheep Chase worked for me : odd and twisty , but with intriguing ideas that went somewhere . In this case I'm not sure . I might have to read it again , but first impressions on a first look aren't strong enough to motivate the second read .
027 4 After Dark by Haruki Murakami : In Haruki Murakami's latest novel , After Dark , he tells a unique and compelling story of what goes on after midnight on the streets of Tokyo . It is a very different world from that of the daytime , with very different people . Murakami makes this clear by revealing that the rules of physics and reality don't necessarily apply .
The story begins with a young girl , Mari Asai , reading a book at Denny's after midnight , but it immediately jumps to the unusual , as Mari is greeted by a boy she hasn't seen in a while who sits opposite her and begins conversing . She admits she plans on spending the night out , doing anything other than sleeping . The boy , Tetsuya Takahashi , tells her about his late night band practices - he is a trombonist . After he leaves for his practice , a short while passes before a strange , rough looking woman comes into Denny's and walks straight up to Mari , telling her she is the manager of a love hotel and has found a beaten girl who only speaks Chinese in one of her rooms ; Takahashi told her Mari speaks Chinese . So begins an adventurous - and at times dark and morbid - night .
After Dark tells of various characters who all go about their lives during the early morning hours in Tokyo , but who are intrinsically linked and will cross paths one or more times during the night . At the heart of the story is Mari and her love for her beautiful sister , to whom she is no longer close . Eri Asai was a girl born with a special beauty , but recently gave up on life and now spends her days and nights in a deep , almost catatonic sleep . But she is just one cast member whose life is affected on this particular night .
Murakami uses a floating camera narrator to take the reader everywhere and anywhere , where there are no bounds , where things are dark and scary . After Dark is a short , but haunting tale with some special characters who will stay with you long after you have closed the book and put it aside .
[ . . . ]
028 4 The downside : this is no Wind-Up Bird Chronicle . It's still one of the best new books I've read this year , as you would expect from Murakami . I read it on a long flight and came up blinking at the sunlight at the end , with that feeling that reality shifted just a bit while I was reading . It's gripping and powerful and well worth the time and money .
029 4 As is almost always the case , strange yet familiar things happen in Murakami's latest novel . Over the course of a single evening , Murakami weaves together the stories of two sisters , one of whom is in a perpetual sleep-state and another who lives on the fringes , reading books in late night diners , an amateur trombonist , and a love hotel called Alphaville where a Chinese prostitute is beaten by a computer programmer who goes days without ever seeing his wife or children . The regular loneliness all of the characters , yet when you read about them on the page , you always can't help but wonder why it is they are so lonely or why it is no one in the fabric of Murakami's world , people are not all over them .
The narrative goes back and forth between the two sisters - Mari and Eri - and you keep reading at a faster and faster pace so as to find out how the two storylines intersect . Reading Murakami is as addictive as everyone says it is . I'm in my first year of law school and was still so engrossed that I finished this book in less than two days .
Both long-time Murakami fans and new ones alike will marvel at this work .
031 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
Having been a fan since stumbling onto Norwegian Wood , and having been through A Wild Sheep Chase and taken to Hard-Boiled Wonderland , maybe my expectations were too high . This is not Murakami's best work . In fact , this is probably my least to second least favorite Murakami work ( Underground was the other disappointment ) . The story line is flat and the characters are thinly developed . Takahashi is a decent Murakami hero but throughout , I simply could not get into / behind him or any other characters . I kept waiting for those moments when I am kept on the edge of the seat but those moments never arrived .
Of all his works , this is probably the most suitable for screen adaptation . In fact , the whole things reads like a screen play . Maybe a better movie than a novel .
032 4 Having been a fan since stumbling onto Norwegian Wood , and having been through A Wild Sheep Chase and taken to Hard-Boiled Wonderland , maybe my expectations were too high . This is not Murakami's best work . In fact , this is probably my least to second least favorite Murakami work ( Underground was the other disappointment ) . The story line is flat and the characters are thinly developed . Takahashi is a decent Murakami hero but throughout , I simply could not get into / behind him or any other characters . I kept waiting for those moments when I am kept on the edge of the seat but those moments never arrived .
Of all his works , this is probably the most suitable for screen adaptation . In fact , the whole things reads like a screen play . Maybe a better movie than a novel .
033 4 This is a poetic book , a dream full of suggestion and implication . It resembles his love stories ( Norwegian Wood , South of the Border ) more than the epics ( Wind-Up Bird , Kafka on the Shore ) , but as in every Murakami novel there are enough mysteries and coincidences to keep the reader guessing and pondering long after the final page . I'd suggest reading this one in one sitting , like a novella . I read the first half before going to bed over several nights , thinking that maybe it would give me cool dreams , but that kind of reading prevented me from feeling the flow that runs through the work . Reading the second half all at once was more rewarding ( though second halves usually do have more to offer . ) I'd also suggest reading the book late at night - even if you don't , you'll feel like it's late at night . The book is an excellent journey through Nighttown . It's less inventive than , say , Joyce's trip to the other side , but Murakami makes great use of the cell-phones , plastic , televisions , and love hotels of our contemporary reality . At first glance , this book is familiarly saturated with the detritus of the 21st century , but in the end the ghosts , spirits , loss , and love are the timeless stuff of dreams , faith , and literature . The book is slighter than Murakami's great works , but it's still well worth reading . And the cover of the hardcover edition is really cool . Thanks to the bars in front of the image , I can't tell if it's a video arcade or a 7 - 11 with weird lighting , but either of them seems right .
034 4 Haruki Murakami's After Dark is more novella than novel . Indeed , the US edition weighs in at only 191 pages . I was a bit put off by its length , to tell you the truth , yet I discovered that the book is as long as it needs to be . Murakami's tale draws you in and won't let go , and soon the number of pages becomes meaningless .
This magical realism story is an intimate narrative that follows the interwoven storylines between a number of disparate characters : Mari , a young student determined to spend the night away from home ; Eri , her sister , a fashion model who's been slumbering inexplicably for the last two months ; Takahashi , a jazz trombonist who stumbles upon Mari and recognizes her ; Kaoru , the manager of a love hotel and her staff ; a Chinese prostitute brutalized by a customer ; Shirakawa , the businessman who beat up the hooker . After Dark explores how these men and women are all related , with everything occurring during the span of a single Tokyo night .
In this flawless translation , Haruki Murakami's impeccable , evocative prose expounds on the different states of loneliness .
The dialogues , even when they appear innocuous , show a lot of insight , while the deep and more thoughtful conversations are a delight .
Still , it's the atmosphere created by the author which makes After Dark a special read . The ambience is sublime , as if the night became a character in its own right . The darkness becomes a time of revelations , a period of transition in the lives of the cast .
As a short , sleek book , After Dark is perfect for the beach , the plain , or the train . Bring this one along with you on vacation and you won't be disappointed !
035 4 Murakami's characters are often conversant with either jazz , whisky or both . After Dark is diluted compared to his classics such as The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World . Lightning can only strike so many times . . . we should be happy that these works exist . Many of the previous reviewers are correct that this isn't his best work , but still much better reading than 99% of anything one can read . The cinematic style , at once detached yet fully engrossing is fascinating . His ability to capture the intelligence and naevity of youth balanced by the wisdom and folly of age is nothing short of beautiful . As one may acclimate to the nuances of a martini by starting out with a liberal dose of olive juice , this short novel can serve as a initation Murakami's inimitable style . Read up and mix your own metaphors .
036 4 I've always thought the great thing about reading Murakami's novels is how effectively he makes you feel as if you've been transported into a Salvador Dali painting . Murakami always uses words so effectively to create a real feeling of being at or near the border between reality and something more ethereal .
After Dark accomplishes the same thing as Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore but not as much so . This doesn't mean this isn't a good novel , or even that it's not good for Murakami , it's just a less intense Murakami experience . The book reads like an extended short story . It is a very quick read and only takes you a little ways into the worlds that Murakami typically explores .
After Dark looks into peoples ' dual nature , how each of us have lightness and darkness within us to some degree . It accomplishes this exploration by telling the story of a young man and young woman's single night in a Japanese city .
If you've never read Murakami before , this is a great place to start ; it won't take much time and if you like it you can invest the time in his bigger novels where you can expect more , deeper and better . If you're already a fan of Murakami , you'll like this , but it'll probably leave you wishing there were more to it .
Great as a Murakami snack , but I definitely recommend his entrees if you've never read them .
037 4 Haruki Murakami has always been one of my favourite contemporary writers . My passion towards his literary works is so intense that I insist on writing a chapter on him in my postgraduate thesis . However , I regret to know that AFTER DARK is probably the worst novel he has ever written . Yes , I agree with other reviewers that the style is different from his ' Boku ' tradition in his previous novels and I do feel a strong cinematic style spread throughout the narrative . Nevertheless , if we think about the overall meaning of the plot and the way the story is told , AFTER DARK is nothing compared to the writer's previous works . The novel opens with an ambition - to adopt a god's eye view on the organic nature of the city . Then the ' darkness ' of the setting brings forward the ' darkness ' of the characters . For a novel of such length , the writer does not do a good job in ' utilizing ' the characters to enrich the plot . There are too many characters , but not many of them are involved in backbone of the story , not to mention that many of them ( though interesting ) gradually fade out in the middle of the story . Readers are confused by the lack of direction of the novel even in the middle of the story . And of course , to end the novel by viewing the city with the daylight at dawn is also predictable . Murakami has successfully trapped us in the mysteries of the darkness , but fail to bring us back to a point of illumination when the day breaks . After reading the novel , I ask myself : What is the point of writing this ? Especially when Murakami has established himself as one of the key internation authors at this moment . Then , a second question comes : What is the point of reading it ? I always believe writers should be diversified . Writing the same stuff over and over again simply does not do the readers and his writing career any good . With the attempt to try something different but disappointingly disastrous , I have decided to give two stars of the latest novel of my beloved author .
038 4 Haruki Murakami is a master at meaningful misdirection , which makes him something of a kind of magician on the page . Elements present themselves to create a kind of supernatural mystery . For example : early on in this book , an unplugged television presents the darkened image of a man watching the sleeping figure in the bedroom beyond . Naturally , such an image is out to create a driving curiosity in the reader - - a curiosity to find out who this person is , what power is at work here .
But , as the seasoned Murakami reader might soon realize , mysteries like this often go unresolved in his books . Murakami's characters are often at the whim of grander powers that they will never understand nor control . Instead , they must learn to live under the thumb of such powers . It all sounds like a kind of existentialism , but Murakami's characters are suprisingly casual in this position .
This novel is an exploration of night dwellers , those who exist after midnight , when the trains no longer run and those stuck in the city have to wait until dawn for release . Whether they are managers of love hotels who once had profitable careers as professional wrestlers , or Chinese prostitutes , or those who like to beat up Chinese prostitutes , or young students who like to practice their trombones in all-night jam sessions , these are all people with pasts , with stories that darken their shadows just a little bit more . The story revolves around Mari Asai , a young girl who has always felt a far second from her sister , Eri , who is a model . But Eri has been asleep for two months , so Mari likes to spend her nights at a Denny's , reading books .
From this Denny's , Mari encounters most of the other odd characters of this book , characters who have stories to tell and histories to relate , advice to give . They come across not as people scared of the powers that hold sway over them , but of people trying to get through their day-to-day existence , no matter how messy that existence can get at times . Like a lot of Murakami books , Mari and Takahashi are characters searching for connection , maybe even searching for emotion itself . The scenes and dialogue are very organic and natural , interspersed with little reminders that something more powerful is at work , something mysterious that may never be resolved , but hopefully the characters will find their own resolutions within the realm of forces they will never understand , though they may leave their own reflections behind in mirrors .
Though not one of the more compelling Murakami books because of a rather seemingly loose set-up and beginning , and there were times that I was a little dubious of Jay Rubin's translation choices , _ After Dark _ has a satisfying conclusion and a smooth read throughout . Perhaps this was Murakami enjoying the kind of conversational tones he got to present in
Underground : The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
in his interviews of the victims of the Tokyo Sarin attacks , where tuna fish and jazz history is a more prevalent point of conversation than the mysterious power that steals people's reflections .
039 4 If you've read Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , you know you're in the presence of a genius who just needs to get himself under control sometimes . He can juggle a million interesting objects at once - - hammers , torches , scarves , chainsaws , other jugglers - - but sometimes he just gets bored , and while the audience is staring up , jaws agape , he lets all those colorful objects drop and walks off to have a sandwich . That's Wind-Up Bird in a nutshell . Yet I still think most people would really enjoy it , despite its suffering from attention deficit disorder .
After Dark isn't like that , in no small part because it spans a single night ; I like to think of this as a Murakami setting for himself what the economists call a precommitment strategy : he knows that he can run off the rails if he's not careful , so he sets up a story to keep himself in check .
And what a fun story it is . We meet a charming musician named Takahashi as he ambles into a Denny's , late one night , and intrudes on a quiet , studious girl named Mari Asai who's poring over her books . As it turns out , Takahashi knows Mari's sister Eri , who is at least some kind of astonishing looker and probably something more like a model . She's the kind of girl whom Takahashi would go out of his way to talk to , if she would only give him the time of day . When Mari veers into his orbit , and Takahashi realizes who she is , he has no choice but to ask about her gorgeous sister .
What we , the readers , know about Eri is that she is asleep in the alternate chapters . We jump back and forth between the Takahashi-and-Mari thread and the camera-focused-on-a-sleeping-Eri thread . And I say camera literally : we're watching her through a television , the camera end of which is inside Eri's bedroom . Only , not really her bedroom ; more like Eri on a bed in an otherwise empty room . Is it a jail cell ? What is this strange room with the camera ?
While she sleeps , craziness ensues in Mari's world . Takahashi spends long enough with Mari to know a ) that she speaks Chinese , and b ) that she'll be studying in that Denny's all night . He steps out to practice with his band , and while he's out he runs into a friend of his who runs a pay-by-the-hour hotel frequented by prostitutes and their johns - - a love hotel , as they call it . Turns out there's - - surprise surprise - - a Chinese prostitute in there , badly beaten and scared , and no one knows how to talk to her . Takahashi knows just the translator . He sends the hotel's manager into Denny's to pick up Mari , who gladly comes along to help . She was bored in the diner anyway .
In one world we have the beautiful sister , asleep in a strange room . In the other we have the bookish sister translating for a bruised prostitute . The story has one toe in a beautiful world , one toe in the filth . At times those worlds collide , or at least pass each other on the street with a curt nod . Laying on the seam between the two worlds is a cell phone that literally passes messages between them ; it's a very clever trick that can only make the reader smile . ( This reader , anyway . )
At just over 200 fairly-large-print pages , with rapid-fire dialogue between charming or menacing characters , you'll finish After Dark within a couple hours . Murakami sometimes writes candy , but it's intensely nourishing candy . ( In this I liken it to early Beatles albums . ) It may be tempting to avoid Murakami , but it's even more tempting to read him .
040 4 Sure , it's not quite The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore , but it's still a simple , engaging read . I read it mostly on the train , coming home from work late at night , and the novel works well in that setting : it is , as some reviewers have already noted , like a quiet late-night jazz album , like Miles Davis . I agree with the reviewer who said it ought to be read in one sitting , during a long sleepless night .
I can see why some readers could not get into it , but I hope those who've said , This was my first Murakami book and it will be my last will give his other works a chance . Starting with this would be like watching Fire Walk With Me when you haven't seen Twin Peaks .
041 4 In a suburban home in Japan , Eri Asai , a young model and college student , is sleeping - - - and has been doing so for two months . We watch her sleep peacefully , yet inexplicably , in an almost empty room in her parents ' house .
Strange things then begin to happen : an unplugged television comes on and the screen shows a solitary man in a bare room with a clear mask over his face . He seems to be watching Eri as she sleeps . Can he really see her ? Is she dreaming about him ? And what are we to think when she disappears from her bedroom and is trapped in the room on the TV screen ?
As we ponder this puzzle , so too does Eri's younger sister . Unable to sleep , Mari has fled the house to seek solitude in the night of the city . What she finds is violence and compassion , art and work . Her journey - - - which brings her into contact with city dwellers who are awake while most people are asleep - - - may provide her with both rest and peace .
AFTER DARK , the latest novel from Haruki Murakami , is stylistically similar to his other many notable works ( KAFKA ON THE SHORE , THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE ) - - - a sort of Japanese magical realism and lyricism verging on surrealism or fantasy .
During her night in the city , Mari first meets Tetsuya Takahashi , a young musician who claims to have met her before when they were brought together on a double date with Mari's sister and Takahashi's friend . Mari and Takahashi subtly flirt over coffee until he heads off to late-night band practice , leaving her alone in the restaurant again . But soon after his departure , a woman named Kaoru comes in looking for Mari . Kaoru runs a love hotel , where a Chinese prostitute has just been beaten and robbed but speaks no Japanese . She calls Takahashi for help , and he tells her he just left Mari who , coincidentally , speaks Chinese . With this , Mari is drawn into the world of the hotel and the lives of the people who work and stay there .
While Mari moves through the night , we follow her and also return back to her house to watch Eri in her sleep . As the story unfolds , we are left to unravel the connection between the individual who beat the prostitute and Eri . Is he the man in the bare room ? By the end of this short novel , Mari is safely back home and has plans to leave Japan to study in China - - - but her sister is still in a deep sleep . Mari is undeniably altered , learning about herself and her city and finding a new love for the sister from whom she has felt emotionally estranged for so long .
AFTER DARK is delicate and engaging , despite some scenes that would seem right at home in a David Lynch film . It is a mysterious and odd novel about boundaries , both physical and emotional , and daring to cross them . Think of this as an elegant Japanese version of the 1985 Martin Scorsese film After Hours , in which Griffin Dunne found himself woefully out of his comfort zone when he stayed up all night in Soho meeting a cast of strange and sometimes scary characters . Feeling odd , sad and lonely , Mari also navigates the night in a seedy unfamiliar neighborhood populated by interesting individuals .
AFTER DARK is another compelling and weird story from one of Japan's most original writers . Though not a typical beach read , it definitely should be on your summer reading list .
- - - Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
042 4 I wanted to give the book five stars , but I just couldn't because when I compare it to the Wind-Up Bird and Kafka , even to Hardboiled Wonderland , I can't say honestly that the book is five stars ( I consider the above books to be the Murakami books ) .
If you are new to Murakami and are wondering about how drastic his style changes are in this book , and whether that is affecting his writing negatively , I would say no . I have read all of his books , and the core elements of Murakami's genius - - the bizzare , almost psychotic , elements that occur in in the midst of people leading terribly mundane lives still remain , and works here just as well as it does in any of his other books . His new style of narrative isn't too different from Kafka on the Shore ( where he used the third person for the first time ) . He takes great pains to make his prose self-conciously catchy , through the use of repitition of words and key phrases , because the book is short , I felt as though it worked . Sometimes he sets the scene too much , and you get the sense that he is describing some elements of a scene just because he has to . Although it certainly doesn't hurt the story .
As a fan , having read so many of his other books written in the first person , I almost don't want him to change , or at least , hope he doesn't give up writing first person like he used to . But the book is very good . My only problem is that the book was short . It was quite good , and I really wanted more . If people have criticised people of Murakami for not having control over his stories ; After Dark reflects a writer very much in control of his plotting .
044 4 After hearing about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , I had been wanting to read Murakami , and came across After Dark in a thrift store . Since it was one of his lower reviewed books on Amazon I didn't know what to expect , but I was very pleased . Murakami is for the most part easy to read , and the language , even though it is translated , flows beautifully . A good portion of the book is dialogue ( very good dialogue ) and gives a great insight into a culture I hardly understand . The novel is a quick read , it's full of loose ends and symbolism , and it remains intense throughout . The intensity ranges from quiet to screaming , but it's always there . And the scenes that involve the main characters sleeping sister are a delight , and even have elements of magical realism .
If this is supposed to be one of Murakami's weakest efforts , I can't wait to read his other books , because After Dark was very enjoyable . Just start reading . You will be hooked .
045 4 A couple of chapters in , it hit me hard that this almost seems like a script for a play . Most of the descriptions ( and there are many ) are the exact same kind you would find in a script . To a lesser extent , it could also seem like a movie , but I kept seeing each scene in my head on a stage .
I wasn't a large fan of this , but as this is supposed to be a review and not an opinion piece , I won't carry on about this .
I do , however , believe that all of the desciptors were over-doing it . Making someone ' feel ' a story is a large part in making a novel enjoyable , and I'm a huge fan of most every single other Murakami story and his descriptions , but these eventually just felt tedious - particularly in the Eri sections of the story . I often found myself speed-reading these sections , before going back and reading them more closely as I could give a more accurate review .
Other than those particular sections , I found it mostly enjoyable . One could really feel the late nite vibe of it , which I'm particularly fond of . I often try and find music that just ' feels midnite-y ' and spend a lot of time in the dead hours of cities myself , so I really liked that aspect of it .
The content itself was also interesting , but there are plenty of reviews already going more in to depth in that , and my main point was to mention the script-feel of this .
046 4 I read this book after reading Murakami's book about running , which I picked up for three reasons , it combined writing , running , and an author I wanted to read but hadn't yet . So I came to this novel expecting , I guess , something a little more substantial . After all , I'd read many glowing reviews of the author's work , and I liked his straightforward style in ' What I talk about . . . This novel reminded me of ' On Chesil Beach ' by Mcewan , in that it's so spare it hurts , yet every word is important . Although the difference with this story is that it didn't resolve into anything . I found the story too esoteric to remain with me after I'd finished . The writing is beautiful , and although I've only been to the Tokyo airport , I had the feeling of being in a modern day Japanese city , but ultimately the story itself didn't have the substance to hold up those fragile sentences .
047 4 After Dark was first published in Japan in 2004 , and was translated into English by Jay Rubin in 2008 .
The book opens up in an ` amusement district ' - an area dedicated to gaming centres , karaoke clubs and bars . It's approaching midnight and - while plenty of others are enjoying themselves loudly - Mari Asai is sitting alone in a Denny's Restaurant . She's apparently missed the last train home - almost deliberately , by the looks of things - although she still occasionally glances towards her watch . She doesn't appear to be expecting any company either - she's buried in a book , nursing a coffee and occasionally lighting a cigarette and buried in a book . ( Mari lights a lot of cigarettes , but she doesn't do much smoking . . . they tend to burn themselves out in the ashtray . ) However , Mari isn't left alone for long , however - she's joined by a lanky young man called Tetsuya Takahashi . The pair had met a couple of years before at a swimming pool - a friend of Takahashi's was dating Mari's glamourous and beautiful sister , Eri .
Takahashi and Eri had been in class together for a year , but they never spoke - she never gave him the time of day . By the sounds of things , he and Mari didn't speak much on the date either - despite being Japanese , Mari spent most of her time speaking Chinese . The pair communicate a little better this time round , though Takahashi initially won't give his name . However , when he finally leaves for band practice , Takahashi leaves his mobile number and promises to be back around 5am . . . despite Mari's apparent coolness towards him . Nevertheless , Mari doesn't get left alone for too long - she's soon joined by Koaru , who works at a nearby ` love hotel ' called the Alphaville . ( They tend to be ` Big in Japan ' ) . Koaru is obviously an acquaintance of Takahashi's - though she's a little circumspect about how they met . She has a problem , though - there's a Chinese girl at her hotel , in a mess , and Takahashi has told her that Mari is fluent in Chinese . Koaru wants to find out what happened - but she needs someone who can translate for her . . .
Meanwhile Eri is at home in a very deep sleep - so deep and pure , it's just not normal . She's in for a very strange night , though - despite being unplugged , her tv comes on at midnight . The picture , when it finally settles , shows a large empty room - most likely , an office or a classroom . There's only one person in the room - a man , sitting on the room's only chair , apparently deep in thought . Where most people would be happy enough to meet a television star , this is one you'd really rather avoid .
The book's events take place over a single night , with Mari and Eri proving to be the two key characters . . . though I did enjoy Mari's story more . ( Takahashi and Koaru proved two very likeable supporting characters - I finished the book hoping that Mari kept in touch with both . However , there are one or two others who aren't quite so agreeable ) . Eri's story was a little strange , a little like something that might have been used for ` The Twilight Zone ' . It was a little frustrating that there was no real explanation of what was happening to her , or what man in the television set wanted . . . but After Dark is a short , easily read and enjoyable book overall .
048 4 I think this is the most down-to-earth novel by Mr . Murakami that is published now but with a touch of his earliest novels . I admire his recent novels but I also love his previous ones . This one has that mysterious , voyeuristic , supernatural , surrealist feeling of his recent novels but somehow , the depth , the journey of people of his earlier ones . The story evolves in one moment after midnight . Just one night - and it's mesmerizing as always . The dialogs , the encounters , the mystery , seems natural and flowing very nicely . He is truly a master of this kind of novel .
049 4 First of all , let me say , that I have very much enjoyed the book . However ,
just like many other readers I have a hard time explaining what the story is
all about . It has , certainly , very moody character , but leaves so many loose
ends , that it does make one wander if author wrote it as , perhaps , an exercise .
An exercise in a particular screen play like writing style , which would be
another sticky point for some , although quite attractive and appropriate , in
that it seem to help to create the mood of Tokyo after dark . Still , it would
make much more sense for everyone if story was more developed and certainly
Murakami other works show that he is capable of producing complete store , may
be even overwritten , but in this case he clearly took a minimalist approach .
Recommended with reservations .
050 4 Murakami's book takes place between midnight and 6 : 52 am in Tokyo . It could alternatively be called Night People as it traces the lives of two sisters Eri and Mari for these few nocturnal hours . What transpires during this almost seven hours is both the literal reality of that time duration and then again a lifetime of possibilities and the human condition . Recommended .
051 4 Haruki Murakami's After Dark takes place over the course of seven hours during an autumn night in Tokyo . From midnight to dawn we follow five lost souls : Eri Asai , a woman in a quasi-comatose state ; Takahashi , a jazz musician at an all-night practice session ; a prostitute assaulted at a love hotel ; Shirakawa , a salary man working late on a software project ; and Mari Asai a 19 - year-old girl looking to escape from the tension of her strained home life . Before the sun rises , each of these stories will intersect with the others .
In this novel Murakami depicts the isolation and loneliness of modern Japanese life . After Dark also focuses on the theme of Japanese youth struggling to reconcile their ideals with the stifling conformity of the surrounding culture . There is a peculiar , surrealistic tone in Murakami's fiction . We remember Kafka on the Shore with the fish falling from the sky , a man who could converse with cats , and various other strange events . After Dark evokes a similar dream world ambiance . People disappear into television sets , or find that their image remains in the bathroom mirror even after they have left the room . A little disturbing at times . . .
054 4 There are two great philosophical passages in this novel that - had they been attached to characters or a story with more at stake - would have been profound character moments . Instead , they're poorly hidden attempts by the author to include a tidbit of personal , casual conversation . The characters come off as slight and forgettable , and some even border on stereotype . I definitely had the impression that the author stayed outside of these characters and used trivial physical details as camouflage for an absence of real understanding . Call girls , love hotel managers , and musicians who occupy late night Tokyo all have reasons for being there , and Murakami seems to be too hypnotized by the world to investigate it fully . It's as if he wanted his readers to feel that he had kept himself clean of too much involvement .
055 4 Pure Murakami in simple , sweet and shortened form . Descriptive and mind numbing to the senses as he tackles a night in the big city from multiple perspectives . I would not start reading Murakami with this one , as it does not define his true creative ability , but it does make for a soothing read after you have already identified with the authors style through one of his modern gems such as Kafka on the Shore , or the Windup Bird Chronicle .
056 4 What do Denny's , a Chinese-speaking night owl student , her sleeping sister , a Love Hotel , a violent businessman , a trombonist , a female former wrestler , and a prostitute have in common ? They all play a part in Murakami's ( as usual ) strange novel , which takes place during one night in Tokyo between midnight and dawn . The Chinese-speaking Japanese girl ( Mari ) meets a trombonist ( Tetsuya ) when he asks to share her table at a Denny's restaurant . He departs . She is later summoned by a stranger to help translate for an injured person , at which point she meets several unusual characters . Alternating between the activities of Mari - - primarily her interactions with the trombonist , who befriends her but pines over her sister , and staff members of the love hotel ; and the slightly changing strange state of the slumber chamber of her beautiful sister Eri , the story seems to focus on the relationship between the siblings . Additionally , there is an attempt to track down the perpetrator of a crime . Although the abnormal tends to be the norm in Murakami novels , the dark part of After Dark , that involving Eri Asai , is overly obscure . Better : The Upside Down Bird Chronicles and Blind Willow Sleeping Woman .
057 4 I bought After Dark at the suggestion of quite a few rave reviews in magazines and even here at Amazon.com . I am unfamiliar with Haruki Murakami and his work but was eager to sink my teeth into his world after such rave reviews .
Having just finished After Dark I ma simply amazed at the sheer praise this book has been given . It is , without a doubt , one of the most inane stories I have ever read . I was about three quarters through the book when I was trying to explain the book to a friend :
It's about this irritable girl who meets up with this nerd musician in a Denny's one night . Later on this psudeo-lesbian asks her to interpret some Chinese . There's some talking between the irritable girl and the psudeo-lesbian and the nerd musician and . . . oh yeah , her sister is asleep . But I'm sure it will all makes sense soon , I've only got about 50 more pages to go !
Unfortunately , that's it . That's all that happens . Personally , I just did not even remotely see the beauty or the poetry of this story or the characters in it . . . not even in the writing itself ( it read like a hastily written screenplay by a first year film student ) . There was nothing at all about this book that seemed to carry any sense of resonance or passion and I left feeling cheated , disappointed and extremely boggled as to why anyone would consider this a good read .
058 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
Some books and movies make great strides by engaging the audience with the ever-unknown world of the deep hours of the night .
George Lucas made his initial fortune with the all-night high school escapade of American Graffiti where nice kids meet not-as-nice people - those who awake late each day so as to rule the roads during the midnights hours .
In this book , a good 19 - year old university student named Mari decides to stay away from her dysfunctional home . Strangely , she chooses to play hooky from home in the red light district of Tokyo . This book , like Graffiti , takes place in one night - - Mari's night away from home . At the beginning of the night , an old acquaintance recognizes Mari and sits next to her in a Denny's . The remainder of the book has them meet on and off throughout the remainder of the night . During the off moments , she meets a mugged Chinese prostitute housed by Kaoru - a former female wrestler whose personality is light and friendly ( reminds me of Evanovich's Lula ) and , the Chinese motorcycle pimp - whose machismo is only outdone by his limited use of words ( reminds me of Evanovich's Tank ) .
Mari encounters muggers , thieves , people on the lam , and other surly characters of the night . This underworld awakens the impressionable personality of its protagonist , Mari .
But , writing straight novels is not Murakami . Interwoven with the story is the story of Mari's sister , Eri . She is the parent's wonder child - with movie star or model looks , she is the adoration of all men . But , somewhere , somehow , something went astray . And , in the middle of her funk , she falls into a deep sleep - not a coma - but a deep sleep . She manages to somehow eat food and use the rest room , but the others around her do not witness either event . And , the writing of Murakami has you see this Sleeping Beauty of Tokyo in different perspective . He directs you to her image being in the room , and then she somehow disappears , but can be seen in the screen of the room's television . Poltergeist-like transfers occur . . . or do they ?
The ending surprises you . Not everything is well , but not anything is worse . Most everything goes where it either should be or you accept as being .
Mixing science fiction with modern ( not futuristic ) events makes him reminiscent of Stephen King - but with a lot less volume and less intensity for the abnormal . This and his other books are engrossing .
059 4 Some books and movies make great strides by engaging the audience with the ever-unknown world of the deep hours of the night .
George Lucas made his initial fortune with the all-night high school escapade of American Graffiti where nice kids meet not-as-nice people - those who awake late each day so as to rule the roads during the midnights hours .
In this book , a good 19 - year old university student named Mari decides to stay away from her dysfunctional home . Strangely , she chooses to play hooky from home in the red light district of Tokyo . This book , like Graffiti , takes place in one night - - Mari's night away from home . At the beginning of the night , an old acquaintance recognizes Mari and sits next to her in a Denny's . The remainder of the book has them meet on and off throughout the remainder of the night . During the off moments , she meets a mugged Chinese prostitute housed by Kaoru - a former female wrestler whose personality is light and friendly ( reminds me of Evanovich's Lula ) and , the Chinese motorcycle pimp - whose machismo is only outdone by his limited use of words ( reminds me of Evanovich's Tank ) .
Mari encounters muggers , thieves , people on the lam , and other surly characters of the night . This underworld awakens the impressionable personality of its protagonist , Mari .
But , writing straight novels is not Murakami . Interwoven with the story is the story of Mari's sister , Eri . She is the parent's wonder child - with movie star or model looks , she is the adoration of all men . But , somewhere , somehow , something went astray . And , in the middle of her funk , she falls into a deep sleep - not a coma - but a deep sleep . She manages to somehow eat food and use the rest room , but the others around her do not witness either event . And , the writing of Murakami has you see this Sleeping Beauty of Tokyo in different perspective . He directs you to her image being in the room , and then she somehow disappears , but can be seen in the screen of the room's television . Poltergeist-like transfers occur . . . or do they ?
The ending surprises you . Not everything is well , but not anything is worse . Most everything goes where it either should be or you accept as being .
Mixing science fiction with modern ( not futuristic ) events makes him reminiscent of Stephen King - but with a lot less volume and less intensity for the abnormal . This and his other books are engrossing .
060 4 Ten years have passed since I encountered for the very first time , the enigmatic , but fascinating , psychological and cultural landscapes conjured by Haruki Murakami in such spellbinding works as Dance Dance Dance , A Wild Sheep Chase , and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World . At first , I thought he was a Japanese version of J . G . Ballard and Angela Carter , drawing upon both contemporary realities and classic fairy tales to render vivid , surreal versions of the present , in a literary style that I thought was so reminiscent of modern science fiction and fantasy . But soon I realized that he was such an astute , and elegant , observer of the real world too , in novels like Norwegian Wood , Sputnik Sweetheart , and especially , The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ( The latter a most treasured part of my personal library , blessed with his autographed signature in both English and Japanese , that I still feel quite lucky to have acquired while meeting him in person at a New York City literary festival book signing a few years ago . ) ; a realization that I may have overlooked if not for the persuasive , eloquent advocacy of his work by fellow Stuyvesantian Muriel Cleary ( A once - and hopefully future - great writer who may one day become as fine a stylist as Lewis Thomas and Perri Klass . ) . Here , in After Dark , Murakami has written among his best novels in recent memory ( Quite possibly among the very best published this year too . ) , emphasizing a realistic , quasi-documentary film exploration of the hours between midnight and dawn , set in a recognizable , if slightly surreal , Tokyo landscape of American diners ( Denny's ) and prostitution dens ( love hotels ) .
This tersely-worded novel on nocturnal encounters features the intertwining tales of two sisters ; Eri , a fashion model who appears occasionally as an ever-present sleeper - and whose appearances seem most pregnant with meaning - and Mari , a young college student , who is drawn inexplicably into a series of chance encounters with a brutally beaten Chinese prostitute and a Japanese jazz trombonist . These chance encounters move inexorably from mere happenstance to elaborate excursions into empathy , compassion , and love . Mari becomes not simply a casual voyeur into this nocturnal realm , but rather , an active participant , whose very presence determines the fates of those she has met . Throughout , Murakami's keen sense of mordant humor and crisp , snappy dialogue remains quite acute , demonstrating that he is still a literary master in depicting the human condition . A literary master who has rendered such a captivating , almost universal , tale that is so rich in scope , even if it is so terse in its length ; one which ought to be well-received by his legion of fans across the globe .
061 4 We've been led to expect novels to be of great length and deal with major issues . That expectation can result in disappointment because it flies in the face of the definition of a novel .
By Webster's definition , a novel is a fictitious tale or romance . By further definition , A fictitious prose narrative , involving some plot of greater or lesser intricacy , and professing to give a picture of real life , generally exhibiting the passions and sentiments in a state of great activity , especially the passion of love . The romance deals with what is heroic , marvelous , mysterious and supernatural , while the novel professes to relate only what is credible .
Those latter standards of what constitutes a romance and a novel are no longer exact since writers have been experimenting and expanding the concept of both over a long period of time . But , no where is the novel defined as of a particular length . The divisions of novella , novelette , etc . , are purely arbitrary and of no real consequence .
By the definition quoted above , After Dark falls into the category of romance and it combines all the usual elements of Murakami's style - - fusing the realistic with the fantastic , allusions to the influence of the West on modern Japanese life , nostalgia and an odd streak of humor .
It takes us to a world unknown to those who live and work during the day . Mari , a naïve young girl of some education but with a distinct lack of self-confidence , has come into the city at night in response to questions that trouble her . At the root of her search appears to be guilt over the plight of an elder sister afflicted with hikikomori , a Japanese term for those young people who choose to withdraw from society , and has drifted into somnolence .
Sitting and reading in a Denny's , Mari encounters Takahashi , another alienated young man , who claims they've met before through her sister . This leads to encounters with a number of other people whose lives are alien to her own . In an engaging cinematic style , Murakami directs us through the night and a wide range of emotions that will haunt the reader long after the final chapter is read .
To say that a novel must be a book of 300 - plus pages would leave out Wuthering Heights , Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row , The Old Man and the Sea , the best of Mark Twain , most of Simenon , to name a few favorites . I enjoy a long novel as much as the next person . Still , I believe a novel should be just as long as it takes to tell the story involved and not a word longer or shorter .
062 4 In Jay Rubin's biography , Murakami describes his style : First of all , I never put more meaning into a sentence than is absolutely necessary . Second , the sentences have to have rhythm . . . To maintain the rhythm , there must be no extra weight . His latest novel , After Dark , embodies that style in lean , clear prose .
The story takes place between 11 : 56 one evening and 6 : 52 the next morning . In those few hours and with 5 or 6 key characters , the author explores the solace of sleep , memory as fuel and man's emergence from the prison of the dark . Murakami demonstrates the fragile nature of the human condition , the prison of personal beauty and the immense gulf that exists between individuals .
What I most appreciate is his ability to present the unreal in such a visual manner . Like Kafka , Murakami leads you incrementally to a strange and unconnected place .
After Dark is quick but rewarding . I prefer earlier Murakami efforts but this new entry is shorter than his recent work and achieves the nearly weightless rhythm towards which the author strives .
063 4 I have been a Murakami fan for years now , having read all of his novels as well as most of his stories . I argued with myself for a while about whether to give this novel a five or four star rating . On the one hand , I fully recognize that it is not his greatest novel . Wind-up Bird and Kafka are both broad-reaching epics , while After Dark lacks the ambition and scope to compete with . Even amongst his shorter novels , After Dark is overshadowed by Wild Sheep Chase and South of the Border West of the Sun . But , after much deliberation , I realized that a middle of the road Murakami novel is still miles ahead of nearly all the other literature that is being produced in this day and age .
The story goes something like this : Mari , a college student , wanders the night in a somewhat rough area of Tokyo as her sister , Eri , sleeps eternally in a hidden room somewhere . But , like all Murakami , the story is deceptively simple but contains a mastery of story telling skill that competes with Borges and Kafka in both its lyricism and craft . Layering plot device over plot device , we realize that the actions of the story are entirely symbolic yet entirely real . Murakami imbues his plots with a devastating sense of inevitability , as they get pulled further and further down the rabbit hole . Yet , when they emerge , nothing seems to have changed , the world continues as always . Of course , for Murakami , the interior and the exterior are permeable , constantly shifting between each other . The reader must resist any attempt to figure out the plot and instead see each real-world event as simultaneously being a psychological development .
All in all , this is yet another stellar effort by one of the most innovative and skilled writers alive , which should give hope to all of those who fear that the art of the novel is forgotten .
064 4 I love Murakami so it is painful for me to give this book such a low rating . But , I guess , even The Master has an occasional weaker moment . I've read almost all of his prose . If you were to read just one HM book : read the Wind-up Bird Chronicle ; if of all books you were to skip one , skip After Dark . Avid HM readers * may * read this book ; if you lower your expectations you may enjoy it more than I did . New readers : don't start with After Dark !
065 4 This the first time I read anything of Haruki Murakami and what a treat . This is not your usual fiction work , nor is it quite of the absurd beautifully yet frustrating style of Kazuo Ishiguro . Like Ishiguro , Murakami seduces the reader with very real and very vivid description of people and events ; so we are there completely witnessing events and picturing very real people and places in front of us . His portrayal of all is sympathetic , not too judgmental at all . The move from a normal novel like style to some sort of a camera or a documentary filming works beautifully in just reminding us not to expect answers or a closure . It feels like a do it yourself novel , the basic characters are laid out for us , some interesting threads for multiple plots are started , then it is really up to the reader to develop further and finish . The possibilities are endless , I finished the book three days ago and I can't stop developing ideas for it .
For people who know and love Japan , they will appreciate the subtleties of the description of the restaurants or the way food is served . The music and the Jazz add to the ambiance . Enjoy !
066 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
Murakami fans don't need any encouragement to indulge in his new masterpiece . It seems to be different from his earlier work and the plot follows the style of movies a la Jim Jarmusch or Richard Linklater . A theme that is focused in a small area over a short period of time is highly appealing in comparison with the multi-site , multi-character plots that overpopulate the book and movie scenes , congratulations !
068 4 The best books sweep you up into a fully realized world , a world through which the authors communicate some small aspect of their sense of the way our lives flow . We see the tragedy , the comedy , the paradox of human existence . This vision is one I often find in Murakami , and in After Dark , the sense of having communed with a complex and fascinating world view is presented in a breathtakingly condensed and economical form . The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a majestic historical canvas , while After Dark is personal and small . Nonetheless , it shows the same tragi-comic vision , an experience that at once threatens to break your heart , while at the same time magically healing it .
069 4 If I could choose only one writer whose works I'd be allowed to read for the rest of my life , odds are that I'd choose Murakami . For me personally , AFTER DARK was as fine as anything he's ever written , a transcendently mysterious tale of sisters separated by darkness , lack of communication , and even for some time occupying separate dimensions . The two main stories intertwine through one long Tokyo night filled with brightly lighted restaurants , dark parks , hungry cats , a television set that transports a young woman to another plane of existence , occasional violence , longing , regret , and aspiration . No one but Murakami could have imagined it , much yet written it .
Several people who have reviewed it here have expressed disappointment that it's not more like his earlier work , much longer novels that ramble through almost magical interludes in people's lives , interludes marked by the disappearance and occasional betrayal of loved ones . These stories are told in a tone that's detached and somewhat bemused . What's most different for me about AFTER DARK is that the tone is so much more intimate , so much more emotionally involved . There's a delicacy to this writing that's occasionally breathtaking .
At the very top of my 2007 favorite book list . And , with the right director , what a film it would make : a uniquely modern , uniquely Japanese variation on A Midsummer Night's Dream .
070 4 When using adjectives to attempt description of a Murakami novel , the same words seem to drift to the surface of most reviews : dreamlike , ethereal , Kafka-esque , and the like . All of these terms can lose their effectivness from overuse , so I will attempt to refrain from any further mention of these depictions throughout the remainder of my reflections here . Just rest assured that while these terms may be absent , they still apply to Murakami's latest , After Dark .
In this striking new work , two sisters exist in parallel realities , one sleeping her life away for reasons that are never entirely clear , while the other goes on an odyssey of discovery that takes her into the night life of her city , encountering a host of memorable characters along the way .
As with other Murakami novels , the plot is never so crucial to the reading experience as the language and the imagery . After Dark has the latter two areas covered in impressive style , leaving the reader spellbound by the journey , even if we are never always sure what is driving the narrative .
If you have been a fan of Murakami's other works ( my personal favorite is Kafka on the Shore ) then you will find reviews an unecessary motivation to seek out the latest from one of Japan's finest .
If you are unitiated to the world of Murakami , After Dark is as good a place to start as any , and will likely drive you to seek out some of his other works as well . You will not be disappointed if you do .
- S .
071 4 After reading After Dark , I feel as if I've just read the first few chapters of one of his earlier novels . All the ingredients are there : interwoven stories , characters with mysterious pasts , an alternate world that overlaps with this one . . .
And then suddenly it ends . Couldn't Murakami simply have kept writing ? I know he doesn't plan his novels before he writes them . There's certainly a lot of potential for a longer , Wind-Up Bird - style novel here . Even in that novel , he added on the last third only after popular demand . Maybe we just need to let him know that ending After Dark on such an inconclusive note is not okay . We want more !
073 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Coleccion Andanzas ) ( Spanish Edition ) ( Paperback )
este libro es excelente , parece mas un cuento que una novela , pero es muy bueno , recomendado para todos los que les gusta Murakami
076 4 Murakami's books haunt you . I'm not certain that they mean to , but they do . You read the book , think nothing of it when you're done , and then for weeks afterward scene's pop into your head . Connections are made that you never thought were there . Themes emerge . And , in the end , at least for me , it leaves you wanting to re-read the book .
Amazing stuff .
078 4 Although I'm the biggest fun of Mr . Murakami , used to look forward to his every new release , I have to say this book is not what I love Mr . Murakami for . Indeed , for the last couple years with each new book something seems to get lost . Where is the author of the early novels ? For me it seems like too much success , too much demand does not work for him . He just can't - - and should not - - spew out a book per year , write under this sort of pressure , after all he is not Stephen King or a Disney studio writer . . .
I miss the magic of his early work . I can't help but feel that each of his new book has been written under pressure which really kills the precariously delicate balance of his earlier works .
079 4 Unfortunately this is not one of Murakami's best . Unlike Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Wild Sheep Chase this skirts around the surreal and mysterious leaving this reader wanting a bit more . Seems like he's writing what is supposed to be a Murakami novel , or another author's attempt at one . Similar motifs float through all of his books , and that's generally admirable ( akin to flying through space seeing the same planets , but always a different side or detail ) , but this time it reeks of the exhausted rather than the tried and true . Is it the translation ? Really . . . I don't read Japanese so perhaps there's something untranslatable that would've made this a great novel ? For Japanese readers ' sake I hope so .
080 4 Wonderful character studies with hints of Kafkaesque and Lynchian environments . It seems that there is a lot going on under the surface of the world these people inhabit and the different levels people exist on . It also shows beautifully the nature of the mind .
081 4 This is a short book , and here is a short review . The novel is enjoyable to read , and follows several interesting characters with intersecting storylines who are up late at night while everyone else is asleep ( and one character who has been sleeping constantly for two months except to eat and go to the bathroom ) , all because they are running away from something . There is also a bit of magic going on , although I'm not sure how it fits in with the rest of the story , except maybe to set a more otherworldly mood . I liked the wind-up bird chronicle a lot better , but this is not bad .
083 4 I have really enjoyed several of Murakami's books - - none more than the last one , Kafka on the Shore which I thought was brilliant . And I was on a roll in my introduction to his work with The Wind Up Bird Chronicle , Norwegian Woods and South of the Border . He is , simply put , a highly imaginative story teller . This is a small book told almost in real time but it gets you quite involved and it is like you are there - - experiencing this brief nocturnal episode along with the characters that Murakami introduces you to . . .
084 4 After Dark is very short . It only takes up 250 pages because of the large print size , margins , and spacing . But even that's too long - - the book is still full of filler . Here's an example from the scene where Takahashi discovers an abandoned cell phone , and answers it to find a message from the mob : ' You'll never get away , ' a man's voice says instantly . ' You will never get away . No matter how far you run , we're going to get you . . . We're going to tap you on the shoulder someday . We know what you look like . . . If somebody taps you on the shoulder somewhere someday , it's us , ' the man says . ( 217 ) Takahashi subsequently mulls over this message : Somebody , for some reason , is being chased by a number of people , Takahashi imagines . Judging from the man's declarative tone , that somebody will probably never get away . Sometime , somewhere , when he is least expecting it , someone is going to tap him on the shoulder . ( 218 ) Thanks for giving me that play-by-play , I couldn't have done without it .
This goofy , repetitive tone is everywhere . Murakami thinks that the night-time makes ordinary settings mysterious and sexy . Fine , I'm with him all the way on that . But as a result , he adopts a tone of heavy poetic gravitas and piles it on everywhere . The most mundane and trivial descriptions are weighed down with ridiculously serious intonation . Takahashi . . . carries only a shopping basket . His hand reaches out , grasps a carton of milk , but he notices that it is low-fat , and he frowns . This could be a fundamental moral problem for him , not just a question of the fat content of milk . ( 104 ) Edge of my seat here ! Next he moves on to the fruit case and picks up an apple . This he inspects from several angles beneath the ceiling lights . It is not quite good enough . He puts it back and picks up another apple , subjecting it to the same kind of scrutiny . He repeats the process several times until he can find one that he can at least accept , if not be wholly satisfied with . ( 104 ) The best part is the way the description insistently goes deeper and deeper into hilarious , needless pedantry .
The scenes with Eri Asai sleeping in her bed are all entirely unnecessary . Eri does not do anything outside these scenes , she's a total cipher . Other characters talk about her , but that brings out aspects of their own character , it reveals little about her own personality . Yet the book spends considerable time hammering on these drawn-out , grave descriptions of her bedroom , always heavy on the faux-mysterious intonation : Our point of view . . . picks up and lingers over things . . . in the room . We are invisible , anonymous intruders . We look . We listen . We note odors . But we are not physically present in the place . . . We observe , but do not intervene . Honestly speaking , however , the information regarding Eri Asai that we can glean from the appearance of this room is far from abundant . ( 33 ) You don't say . The sleeping woman appears to be totally unaware of these events occurring in her room . She evidences no response to the outpouring of light and sound from the TV set but goes on sleeping soundly amid an established completeness . For now , nothing can disturb her deep sleep . ( 35 ) And on and on it goes .
The more realistic scenes are better , but there too , the tendentious writing provides much merriment : She reaches out at regular intervals and brings the coffee cup to her mouth , but she doesn't appear to be enjoying the flavour . She drinks because she has a cup of coffee in front of her : that is her role as a customer . ( 6 ) It sounds like what you'd write in high school if you wanted to evoke the emptiness of life . And let's not forget Murakami's supremely awkward way of working in a Jean-Luc Godard reference ( really , Godard is still hip ? ) into the dialogue . Mari says , In
Alphaville
, you're not allowed to have deep feelings . So there's nothing like love . No contradictions , no irony . Kaoru wrinkles her brow and queries , Irony ? To which Mari readily replies , Irony means taking an objective or inverted view of oneself or of something belonging to oneself and discovering oddness in that . To which Kaoru replies , I don't really get it . . . But tell me : is there sex in this Alphaville place ? ( 72 ) No comment .
If you strip away the filler , the core story is promising . It uses a lot of well-traveled Murakami tropes : the cool and collected protagonist , who never allows the girl's rudeness to perturb him ; the pretty and successful older sister ; the reserved and troubled younger sister ; the earthy but friendly , unattractive older woman . These types appear in both
Norwegian Wood
and
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
, but that's not really a problem . The world could always use another story about alienated young people whose routine is shaken up by nocturnal mystery and sleaze , enabling them to establish a certain rapport . The scene in the love hotel ( which is referred to as a love ho , possibly in order to sound cool and trendy ) early on is pretty good . This would have been a much better book if Murakami tried to flesh out the story of the Chinese prostitute . Or , if that's asking too much , he could have focused more on the main characters ' wandering . For instance , he could have shown more of the musicians in the basement . But the world he depicts has no texture , because he spends his time on these inane descriptions instead .
Basically this book is pointless . It would have been better as a short story , but even then it wouldn't be especially memorable . If you're interested in Murakami's take on human connections , read Norwegian Wood ; if you prefer his fanciful side , try
Hard-Boiled Wonderland
. After Dark adds nothing to either of those areas .
086 4 Murakami has always impressed me . Whether it be the long craftmanship of his bigger novels , which leave plenty of mystery but give enough to not feel cheated in the end . Or his short stories that never felt to short , they always encompassed just enough to create an interesting tale . THIS book however is all fake mystery and stupid tricks . Granted , as i said before i like the mystery in his other works , but this one is nothing but . is he expecting us to fill in the hundreds of gaps on our own accord to come up with a novel in our heads worth reading ? This book is practically nothing . it has the skeleton of his previous works , but that is all . i for one feel cheated by the shortness , lack of interesting characters , scenes , a complete lack of a story , and the cheesy omnipresent narrative style .
087 4 I have a love / hate relationship with Japanese authors . Like many that I have read before , Murakami is very visual and incorporates the sense of helpless - and hopelessness that both intrigues and unnerves me . I enjoyed the slow courtship that the main character unwittingly steps into . The imagery of a big Japanese city that gives itself over to desolate darkness is appealing . I want to wander those streets , but with a knife , as it seems no place for the faint of heart . Some sections were hard for me to understand , and I felt that there were some unresolved issues , but I chock that up to my American sensibilities which want my protagonists to fight until they overthrow the evil . Recommended if you like to peer into the Japanese underbelly .
088 4 My dad recommended this to me , and the blurb of the book sounded interesting . Dad said I could possibly read it in one sitting , but with work , and life revolving around me , I find it impossible to do that these days . When I was younger , sure .
What I thought was kinda interesting / weird about After Dark , is that it reads very much like a film . The start of each chapter ( a different time in the seven hours that the book is based in ) sets up the location , and the people in it , and the surroundings . Very much like a film / screenplay would . I found it a very strange way of reading .
I never really feel like I got to know the characters , the book was that short . Intentionally short , it has been described more of a novella , than of a novel . But intentionally short , that the characters slip away once you have finished reading ? It's not a book I managed to lose myself in - it took me a couple of days to read , but it was in short spurts , on the bus , at lunch etc . There's nothing particularly memorable about the book , for me , just the style of writing .
Yes , it may be short and sweet ( like myself ) , but for me , it was the easy relief between two in-depth books ( The Mystery Of Mr Y and The Book Thief , which is up next . )
089 4 The book looked interesting , but when I began to read it , I became bored with it . I found there wasn't really any plot . It was just a bunch of conversations composed into one book . It certainly wasn't worth what I paid for it .
092 4 Murakami does some interesting things discussing point of view and objectivity . However , it doesn't quite hng together as well as his previous works . In addition , some of the prose is pretty heavy-handed and stilted .
Having said that , After Dark is overall an enjoyable and quick read with some truly likable characters .
093 4 I read a fair amount of translated fiction , and Murakami is one of those writers I feel like I ought to like , but the few times I've tried , just haven't connected with . This latest novella seemed like another chance to check him out without a huge investment of time . The last book of his I read was his collection of short stories After the Quake , which were unified by common themes of alienation and loneliness . Those themes are dominant in this brief story as well .
Set in night-time Tokyo , the book often feels much more like a script for a moody film than it does a work of fiction . Many passages adopt a first-person omniscient voice , written in the style of a script , directing the camera and describing what it / we see . After a while this gets annoying , and made me wish that Murakami had just gone ahead and made a film if that's what he wanted to do . The storyline , such as it is , is arranged around the coincidental intersections of people , which calls to mind the structure of recent films such as ( Short Cuts , Crash , Magnolia , Babel , Amores Perros , etc . ) where we follow characters in and out of each others lives .
These characters include : Mari , a 19 - year-old sitting in a diner reading the night away , Takahashi , a 20 - something trombone player who recognizes her from high school , Karou , the ex-wrestler manager of a love hotel , a Chinese hooker who's badly beaten at the hotel , Korogi , a mysterious handyman at the hotel , Shirakawa , the nondescript but disturbed salaryman who beat the hooker , the hooker's mysterious motorcycle-riding boss , and finally Mari's model sister Eri , who is stuck in some kind of prolonged Sleeping Beauty-like slumber . The final character is Tokyo itself , which like these nocturnal people , is still awake but somewhat surreal .
Once again , Murakami seems fixated on creating a mood rather than a narrative . One gets a good sense of the characters and the strange ambiance of the night , but it doesn't lead anywhere particularly interesting . Once again , alienation and loneliness are the main themes - - but all these tales of missed connections can only take you so far before you start wanting something more substantial . I suspect , however , that ultimately , Murakami just isn't for me . ( Neither , for that matter , is the other Murakami , Ryu , whose graphically violent books focus on the same themes , but in a very different manner . )
094 4 When I learned that Murakami's last novel , Kafka on the Shore , was to break away from his usual first-person everyman narration style , I was intrigued . Could he be breaking out of his increasingly-formulaic template ? Well , kind of , but unfortunately , that was about as far as it went . The novel left a LOT to be desired . Which is why After Dark is such a pleasant surprise - - it deviates even further from the norm , but in a way that really works . I don't want to say it's his * best * novel . . . but , well , it might be . No doubt this means less coming from me - - a decided non-member of the Murakami Cult - - but the fact remains , it's an elegant little novel . There's little question in my mind that it's his most cohesive and least self-indulgent .
I'm bemused to hear people complaining about the After Dark's brevity . It does what it sets out to do , and it does it well . One can quibble about small details , but adding substantially more would have just rendered the novel sloppy and shapeless . What kind of fan roots for the writer to ruin his own work ? Whether it's worth paying hardcover price for a book that you can finish in two hours - - well , that's another , more valid , question .
But at any rate , it's a thoughtful , effectively-understated book . Hopefully , this is a sign of things to come for a writer who until recently seemed doomed to write the same fun-but-shallow novel over and over and over .
095 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
It seems to me that most other reviewers mistook this slim volume for a novel or novelette . It is not . It is a movie script for a new David Lynch film called Snow White and the Night Owls .
HM has given up his usual narrative style , the first person narrator , entirely in favor of a camera approach . He shows us people and lets us listen to their dialogues . True to HM and DL , not all that we see is completely from our world as we know it .
Spaces interchange , like people in TV pictures come out , outsiders go in . Mirror images become independant , move on their own , however probingly . There is a kraken somewhere who is a vague threat , as in the trombonist's life story and in the maid's .
The core is of course the dialogues between Mari and the trombonist , but all the sidelines , about Eri , about the Alphaville ( Godard was an ancestor ) , about the underworld are material for full fledged HM stories .
I do not share the dissatisfaction of the other reviewers , but I still would like to request HM to come up with his next novel soon .
And a request to the excellent translator and to Knopf : do it a little faster next time . 3 years between Japanese and English edition is just too long . Ok ?
096 4 It seems to me that most other reviewers mistook this slim volume for a novel or novelette . It is not . It is a movie script for a new David Lynch film called Snow White and the Night Owls .
HM has given up his usual narrative style , the first person narrator , entirely in favor of a camera approach . He shows us people and lets us listen to their dialogues . True to HM and DL , not all that we see is completely from our world as we know it .
Spaces interchange , like people in TV pictures come out , outsiders go in . Mirror images become independant , move on their own , however probingly . There is a kraken somewhere who is a vague threat , as in the trombonist's life story and in the maid's .
The core is of course the dialogues between Mari and the trombonist , but all the sidelines , about Eri , about the Alphaville ( Godard was an ancestor ) , about the underworld are material for full fledged HM stories .
I do not share the dissatisfaction of the other reviewers , but I still would like to request HM to come up with his next novel soon .
And a request to the excellent translator and to Knopf : do it a little faster next time . 3 years between Japanese and English edition is just too long . Ok ?
099 4 This review is from :
After Dark ( Hardcover )
Perhaps an homage to the film Before Sunrise , with its pop style metaphysical dialog ( a young man and a young woman chatting in a Denny's ) and similar title , After Dark is a minor work from a great writer . With boy meets girl dialog that merely is a faint shadow of Norwegian Wood , After Dark is of interest to Murakami fans but a better intro to his work is the aforementioned masterpiece Norwegian Wood and his story collection Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman , which contains many gems , especially The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day .
100 4 Perhaps an homage to the film Before Sunrise , with its pop style metaphysical dialog ( a young man and a young woman chatting in a Denny's ) and similar title , After Dark is a minor work from a great writer . With boy meets girl dialog that merely is a faint shadow of Norwegian Wood , After Dark is of interest to Murakami fans but a better intro to his work is the aforementioned masterpiece Norwegian Wood and his story collection Blind Willow , Sleeping Woman , which contains many gems , especially The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day .
101 4 This book was chosen for me by my book club . I've never read this author before and won't ever again . I realize that I'm not the reader this book was intended for , but I hated this book so much . I felt that I was reading a screen play , rather than a book . How he describes looking in at the person sleeping , how we're standing at the door , the light coming in the window , the way the sheets move up and down with the breathing . . . so . . . Then the whole real life vs . fantasy world didn't work for me . In addition , the fact that none of the book's plots ever come to conclusion . . . there are at least 3 plot lines here ( possibly 2 more ) that just end . . . I just didn't like it and will never read his books again .
random events coalesce into contingencies , contingencies shape characters , characters search for selves beyond the contingent and random world they find themselves in . Heartbreaking in the simplicity of its language , After Dark is composed of vast stretches of dialog . Within those stretches we come to understand the courage , vulnerability , and transformative power of human speech . Intentional , social , and dynamic , talking , in Murakami's masterful depiction , simultaneously shapes both individual and social self into a mysterious and fragile unity . All else is media noise : violently manipulative , comically disembodied , tragically false . Ultimately , Murakami imagines a world in which conversation is the truest form of compassion and compassion overcomes the alienation of contemporary life . Part fairy tale , part cautionary allegory , After Dark looks beyond ( or into ) the conventional wisdom of urban anonymity and finds human goodness , one conversation at a time
015 4 Like many other reviewers and as a huge Murakami fan , I wanted to like this book but was underwhelmed overall . I found his new writing style incorporating a new perspective unnecessary and irritating . The plot does not have the drama of his other books , and I found the whole plot to be a superficial description of events . Ultimately , it has little of the mystery , dynamism and metaphysical intensity that mark his greatest works .
025 4 Hardly anything happens in this slim novel , which is set entirely over one night in Tokyo . But the wisp of a plot is enough . I enjoyed this book primarily because of the dream-like atmosphere that Murakami creates . His spare style has an almost hallucinogenic effect . In lesser hands I might have been frustrated by some of the surrealism , but I floated serenely through Murakami's Tokyo night in one sitting . Excellent !
030 4 I love other works by this author , and so I expected a better read . There are three mysterious suspenseful threads running through the book , and not one of them is resolved in a way that rewards the reader . Murakami's dialogues and descriptions are so well-written that one is carried by their dark beauty and rich detail . Yet without a meaningful resolution of a single plot line , the story ultimately is only a disconnected aimless journey through a night full of possibilities .
043 4 After Dark gathers narrative logic as it goes : random events coalesce into contingencies , contingencies shape characters , characters search for selves beyond the contingent and random world they find themselves in . Heartbreaking in the simplicity of its language , After Dark is composed of vast stretches of dialog . Within those stretches we come to understand the courage , vulnerability , and transformative power of human speech . Intentional , social , and dynamic , talking , in Murakami's masterful depiction , simultaneously shapes both individual and social self into a mysterious and fragile unity . All else is media noise : violently manipulative , comically disembodied , tragically false . Ultimately , Murakami imagines a world in which conversation is the truest form of compassion and compassion overcomes the alienation of contemporary life . Part fairy tale , part cautionary allegory , After Dark looks beyond ( or into ) the conventional wisdom of urban anonymity and finds human goodness , one conversation at a time
052 4 This is my first Murakami book and I was a bit disspaointed . I loved how descriptive he was but I was expecting more from the story . At the end I thought a couple of pages must have been torn out , it couldn't end this way .
053 4 It's still playing with my mind as his other piece , but not haunting as his others . If this book describe in one word , would be : Exhausting . . .
067 4 Murakami fans don't need any encouragement to indulge in his new masterpiece . It seems to be different from his earlier work and the plot follows the style of movies a la Jim Jarmusch or Richard Linklater . A theme that is focused in a small area over a short period of time is highly appealing in comparison with the multi-site , multi-character plots that overpopulate the book and movie scenes , congratulations !
074 4 este libro es excelente , parece mas un cuento que una novela , pero es muy bueno , recomendado para todos los que les gusta Murakami
075 4 Not his best - - I wouldn't recommend it for someone new to Murakami , but it has a great mood about it that any fan would enjoy .
077 4 I really liked this book . Murakami is my favorite fiction writer and I was not disappointed by this novel . It is a wonderful story of a single night . I just love his writing ; it is like listening to music .
082 4 This is the first novel by Murakami that I have read . Prior to this , I had read a few of his short stories and expected this book to be as absorbing and interesting . Unfortunately , it was neither .
Pros : Murakami's vivid and naturalistic description of the real and surreal . Interesting characters and events . His pre-occupation with sleep or its absence .
Cons : Ultimately , the stories do not gel enough . The surreal aspects seem to be add-ons rather than integral to the events .
A disappointment . Not a failure , but a disappointment .
085 4 Murakami is one of my favorite authors . . . this book does not deliver . The book felt rushed and unfinished .
090 4 I have read this review in the Los Angeles Times and was very excited to receive it on time and in such good condition . I would definitely buy from this reliable seller again .
091 4 You can judge a book by its cover . Chip Kidd , who designs Murakami's book covers , captures the enigmatic , off kilter quality of his work . It takes a close look to reveal the secrets of the cover as it does to reveal the secrets of this enigmatic , hallucinatory , at times insomniac book . I found it hard to put down , impossible to forget .
097 4 Exactly like one : narcissistic , empty , worthless , and plagiarizing one's betters . Murakami's fans ( those he has left ) should realize this guy has become nothing but a brand name , similar to the endless brand names he uses in his Designer Fiction for characterization ( rather than doing some real writing ) . He used to be great . Now he's nothing but an ATM with head and limbs .
098 4 First time I read anything by this author and probably the last . The book was juvenile . The story is written at a slow , low level with poor conversations . Each line was predictable and flat . I could never figure out where the author was trying to go with the silly scenario of the girl endlessly sleeping . Don't waste your time reading or listening to this book .
102 4 Once again it is the same characters , the same plot , the same symbolism , the same themes , same western musical and food references to set a tone . Murakami has been stuck using the same bits and pieces for countless novels now and no one else seems to have recognized this . The main character is always the salaryman who is disillusioned too early in life or the latter aged teen in love with a woman unavailable to him , etc . Always a woman mysteriously disappears . Always there is an element of the underground . . . a well , a building underground , etc . It was really cool and stylish the first two or three times , but come on ! ! ! Enough already . I think that is why his latest work is so short . . . even he is getting sick of doing it .
