After Dark - bookrastinating.com

Hardcover, 191 pages

English language

Published Aug. 8, 2007 by Knopf.

ISBN:: 978-0-307-26583-8
Goodreads:: 17803

(6 reviews)

In After Dark—a gripping novel of late night encounters—Murakami’s trademark humor and psychological insight are distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn.

11 editions

isa reviewed After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Review of 'After Dark' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This whole book was like a dream. I'm plopped in the middle of nowhere, simply observing everything that happens around me. Some scenes were vague, and happened so quickly that I didn't have time to process what I had just seen. In other scenes, I was able to absorb everything and take a good look at what has happening. But in the end of the story, all that stands out in my mind is possibly one or two major things that have happened.

Don't get me wrong, I find Haruki Murakami's writing to be absolutely compelling. There's something about the language that just draws me in, that is, if I ignore the choppiness and slight awkwardness of the English translation. Still, the whole book was like a dream. The way Murakami writes is bone-chilling, but in a way, hard to grasp. But you can't deny that he has talent, …

This whole book was like a dream. I'm plopped in the middle of nowhere, simply observing everything that happens around me. Some scenes were vague, and happened so quickly that I didn't have time to process what I had just seen. In other scenes, I was able to absorb everything and take a good look at what has happening. But in the end of the story, all that stands out in my mind is possibly one or two major things that have happened.

Don't get me wrong, I find Haruki Murakami's writing to be absolutely compelling. There's something about the language that just draws me in, that is, if I ignore the choppiness and slight awkwardness of the English translation. Still, the whole book was like a dream. The way Murakami writes is bone-chilling, but in a way, hard to grasp. But you can't deny that he has talent, although probably more so in his mother tongue.

After Dark is a book that you'd probably want to read when you're in those pondering moments or when you're not too tired to think. This book definitely requires a lot of thinking. Although the book is fairly fast to read, it takes a lot of time to just take a good look at the words and understand (and appreciate) it, at least that's how I felt.

Despite this, I really enjoyed After Dark. As my first Murakami book, I'd definitely go and pick up another.