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My First Murakami, It Whets My Appetite For More
“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.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-24.
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.” -
Great characters, but short and a little messy
“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.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-08-18.
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.” -
Compelling read
“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.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-08-15. -
Not even close to Kafka on the Shore
“This was somewhat entertaining to a point, but left me feeling like something is incomplete. Maybe it's a "character study" because, otherwise, didn't bring me around to feeling anything different. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-08-11. -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Haunting
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An amazon user wrote this on 2009-06-29.
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. ”
