false 11299 24 Haruki Murakami, a writer both mystical and hip, is the West's favorite Japanese novelist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murakami lived abroad until 1995. That year, two disasters struck Japan: the lethal earthquake in Kobe and the deadly poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. Spurred by these tragic events, Murakami returned home. The stories in <I>After the Quake</I> are set in the months that fell between the earthquake and the subway attack, presenting a world marked by despair, hope, and a kind of human instinct for transformation. A teenage girl and a middle-aged man share a hobby of making beach bonfires; a businesswoman travels to Thailand and, quietly, confronts her own death; three friends act out a modern-day Tokyo version of <I>Jules and Jim</I>. There's a surreal element running through the collection in the form of unlikely frogs turning up in unlikely places. News of the earthquake hums throughout. The book opens with the dull buzz of disaster-watching: "Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at the crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways." With language that's never self-consciously lyrical or show-offy, Murakami constructs stories as tight and beautiful as poems. There's no turning back for his people; there's only before and after the quake. <I>--Claire Dederer</I> 6179815 book 2000 After the Quake total:3562|5:768|4:1516|3:1081|2:176|1:21| 3562 13520 4716 290 5 4 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 08:14:14 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 29 07:57:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 13:42:13 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 15:26:09 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Nov 25 16:26:45 -0800 2008 Tue Aug 26 03:54:37 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 25 16:26:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Aug 07 20:58:39 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 21:04:13 -0700 2008
It was okay.

Not revelatory. There were some nice passages, only one in the whole book I really wanted to share, but I can't remember it literatim so won't butcher it.

Maybe because the expectation was so high beca...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 23:44:46 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 21:45:37 -0700 2008 Norwegian Wood. In any case, After the Quake did nothing to halt my appreciation for his work. Despite the fact that many of his themes are here regurgitated. It's true, the flow of love for Haruki Mu...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 26 10:53:14 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 26 11:40:02 -0800 2007
UFO in Kushiro:
It had a promising beginning, but the ending disappointed. I almost felt as if I were rea...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 19:32:42 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 00:50:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 19 09:07:20 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 09:07:20 -0800 2007 The play/producti...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 14:45:49 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 14:46:24 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 14 18:05:48 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 18:07:17 -0700 2009 1 After the Quake is a series of six short stories with one common element – they all take place after an earthquake in Kobe, Japan. I had high hopes for the collection, as I’m still quite smitten with Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. Yet I found the stories in this offering dull and the character...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 07 08:19:51 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 14:25:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jul 29 11:50:03 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 09:13:10 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 11:50:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 15:18:47 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 02:33:45 -0700 2009
My favourite of the six was .. I rather think it’s actually quite difficult for me to pick a fa...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 08 07:00:19 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 07:01:31 -0700 2009
Un terrible tremblement de terre survient à Kobe.

Cette catastrophe, comme un écho des séismes intérieurs de chacun, est le lien qui unit les personnages de tous âges, de toutes conditions, toujours attachants, décrits ici par Haruki Murakami.

Q...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 18:03:09 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 06:57:48 -0700 2009
This is a collection of short stories that all deal with the earthquake in Kobe indirectly....more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:19:45 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:30:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 19:55:57 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 20:11:42 -0800 2009
When I think of what you did to my life, when I think of the children I should have had, it's the least you deserve. "Thail...more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Mar 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 20:03:50 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 09 11:46:39 -0700 2008 4 2 false false Wed Mar 05 09:51:46 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 10:06:45 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 04:35:57 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 01:55:31 -0700 2009 more...]]>