After Dark

By: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin - translator

Narrated by: Janet Song

A short, sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakami’s masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore.
At its center are two sisters–Eri, a fashion model slumbering her way into oblivion, and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Denny’s toward people whose lives are radically alien to her own: a jazz trombonist who claims they’ve met before, a burly female “love hotel” manager and her maid staff, and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman.
After Dark moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency. Murakami’s trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

...So what?

I loved Kafka by the Shore, but am stumped by this story. I liked the protagonist, and really, most of the characters, but the plot leaves too many points open and neither redeems nor damns the characters in the end. Murakami has us watch from the outside in like were behind a camera lens, which left me cold and distant to the whole story. Everyone, male and female, are objectified in this world. Narration was great, however.

Beautiful imagery

It was so well written and very atmospheric.. the narrator was so good.. the monotone and robotic tone emphasized a certain character and highlighted the strange eerie feeling of Tokyo after dark. If you’ve been to Japan and wondered around after the trains stop this book EMBODIES that tip of your toes other worldly feeling.. it was sooo Japanese in the best ways possible. If you like those types of indie movies you watch and at the end you’re still kind of like.. ‘wait huh.. that was dark and deep but.. it’s over?’ while simultaneously feeling like you just witnessed *art* this book is for you.

Very enjoyable, but loose ends

I'm a Haruki fan, enjoyed this because of the usual juxtaposition of the ordinary and the surreal, the wonderful use of language. BUT just when I felt that I was getting to know and love the characters, the book ended. It needs a sequel.

Good read

I love Murikami anyway and was in the mood for one of his quirky stories and this satisfied perfectly. I love how his mystical elements are never explained but make sense in terms of the story. The reader was great! Listened straight through in just a couple of days.

A different take

A meditative experience blended in with neurology and psychology. Murakami has mastered his style but he still includes the typical portions that occupy the conscious and unconscious mind as subject matter. His characters can be extremely farsighted yet narrow minded.

This particular book is largely about a select group of women, and most of the characters are young adolescents. It’s not as groovy as his other books, but for a change of pace, does utilise the bird’s eye view of things. That is when we ignore the external stimulus, we can narrow our focus to experience, and hopefully, through novelty.

It’s an accomplishment, and encompasses the literary talent that is so very adaptable, that is Murakami.

The narrator did a fine job. Not exceptional, but it was well tuned for mostly female characters which appeared in the story.