Superb. | After Dark (Vintage International)

Intriguing, but with too many loose ends. | After Dark (Vintage International) | Haruki Murakami

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	• After Dark (Vintage International) Haruki Murakami Vintage, 2008 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 79 reviews view larger image
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Strangers in the night: intriguing and unsettling, but highly inconclusive

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.

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Superb.

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!

Intriguing, but with too many loose ends.

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.

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Mesmerizing

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.

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A sleek, gripping novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the spooky hours between midnight and dawn, by an internationally renowned literary phenomenon.

Murakami's trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery. Combining the pyrotechnical genius that made Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle international bestsellers, with a surprising infusion of heart, Murakami has produced one of his most enchanting fictions yet.