After Dark (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.01 You Save: $5.94 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.75 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of After Dark (Vintage International)
Book Review: After Dark is the distilled essence of everything Murakami has ever written.
Summary: 4 Stars
"It's not as if our lives are divided simply into light and dark. There's a shadowy middle ground. Recognising and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does. And to acquire a healthy intelligence takes a certain amount of time and effort."
2007 has been a good year for short novels. Ian McEwen returned to form with `On Chesil Beach,' his best work for years and I was desperately excited to get my hands on the long awaited return of Haruki Murakami with his latest novel, `After Dark'. After all, Murakami, like McEwan is one of the leading short story writers in the world and `Sputnik Sweetheart' remains his finest work to date.
The first thing to say is that this is a very short novel. At just 201 pages it took me barely 4 hours and I am not a fast reader. Some may say this is not value for money but does quantity really equal quality? This, like everything Murakami writes, is worth every penny you spend on it.
The story is that of Tokyo after darkness, when the sun goes down and the lights go on. It is the perfect setting for a Murakami novel: jazz records play leisurely in the background of late night bars, the streets are deserted and his usual ensemble of well meaning loaners in search of themselves have deep, revelatory conversations which unwind slowly over a cup of coffee and a cigarette. `After Dark' is like the distilled essence of everything Murakami has ever written.
Mari, a nineteen year old girl, is sitting alone in a coffee bar reading a thick novel and waiting for the night to pass. Takahashi is savouring his bands last all-night rehearsal and has stopped in for some coffee. It is almost midnight. Back at home, Eri Asai (Mari's sister) has been asleep for two months, a sleeping beauty. As we watch the strange events of the dense night unfold it is as if the night has been personified, and the people are just encroaching on its time. Revelation and transition is in the air, it is `After Dark' and the possibilities are endless.
The atmosphere lurks somewhere between awake and asleep, we feel the neon signs lighting up the darkness and smell the hazy smoke of insomnia in the gaps between the words. Murakami is incapable of writing a dull story and `After Dark' is no different. It may not be his best ever work, but once you pick this book up and feel the darkness enshroud you like a blanket you will not dare put it down until the morning has arrived and there is nothing to do but wait for night to return.
Book Review: Magical novel
Summary: 4 Stars
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!
Check out my blog: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
Book Review: Under Surveillance
Summary: 4 Stars
After Dark is a very short novel, almost an extended short story, so I was sure I was going to really like it. The action takes place over the course of a single night in a city `like a single gigantic creature'. During this night we are going to meet nineteen year-old Mari, her sleeping sister Eri, a young man called Takahashi and Kaoru, the retired female wrestler and currently manager of a love hotel, together with sundry peripheral characters. There are all living their lives in the darkness of the night, `when everybody's supposed to be asleep'. It is an alien environment, as alien as being under water.
The novel is narrated in the first person plural, often as if through a camera. We have the characters under surveillance, even the sleeping Eri. At the love hotel, we watch CCTV images of a `guest' who has beaten up a Chinese prostitute and later, on the same screen, watch Creatures of the Deep along with several of the characters. We see `weird deep-sea creatures. Ugly ones, beautiful ones. Predators, prey'. Geddit? One of the characters moves from one side of the TV screen to the other, and mirror images remain in the mirror long after the reflected character has departed. This is Murakami, after all.
After Dark is always interesting, and the ending nicely satisfying. Another very, very good novel from one of my favourite authors.
Book Review: Tokyo story
Summary: 4 Stars
After Dark tackles some classic Murakami themes; isolation, the randomness of life, urban existence and the play of light and dark - all served with a serving of the surreal. I liked how the city was more of a character than in many of his other novels. Having lived in Tokyo, I really felt it come alive through the pages. The descriptions of bleary-eyed people emerging in the early hours and heading for the train stations particularly brought back a flood of memories. There are criticisms that he relies too heavily on western cultural references. Anyone who's lived in Japan for any length of time will know this is simply an accurate reflection of current society. But I think this book, in its night time portrayal of Japan's unique capital, goes some way to painting him as an author in touch with the distinctiveness of contemporary Japan.Book Review: Indescribably tedious
Summary: 1 Stars
Oh, do come off it. Four stars for this??
I've been a great fan of Murakami for many years, and I've generally loved his style and his stories. But in this one, he just doesn't bother: he could have knocked this off in his lunch break.
Just to save you the trouble, there are two main characters in After Dark. One spends the entire book asleep (which tells you something). The other sits in a cafe. Someone comes along and orders a chicken sandwich or whatever. Um ... that's about it. Oh yes, they feed some cats. And somebody gets attacked but, er, that's not mentioned again. The sleeping girl occasionally twitches, but doesn't wake up.
I know exactly how she felt. Never thought I'd say it, but this might just be the most boring book I've ever read.