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15th out of 239 books
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689 voters
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after the quake
The six stories in Haruki Murakami’s mesmerizing collection are set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, when Japan became brutally aware of the fragility of its daily existence. But the upheavals that afflict Murakami’s characters are even deeper and more mysterious, emanating from a place where the human meets the inhuman.
An electronics salesman who has...more
An electronics salesman who has...more
Paperback, 147 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
(first published 2000)
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bila kemaren ulil mendapat kiriman bom yang dibungkus sebagai kiriman buku, maka kemaren pula saya memulai baca buku murakami haruki tentang bungkusan yang gak jelas apa isinya.
judul cerpen pertama dalam buku ini adalah UFO DI KUSHINO.
wong mau menulis kisah tentang jepang pasca gempa kobe 1995 kok malah bicara tentang UFO?
ini kisah seorang lelaki yang ditinggal pergi istrinya seusai gempa di kobe.
si istri setelah kejadian gempa seperti kehilangan dirinya, kerj...more
judul cerpen pertama dalam buku ini adalah UFO DI KUSHINO.
wong mau menulis kisah tentang jepang pasca gempa kobe 1995 kok malah bicara tentang UFO?
ini kisah seorang lelaki yang ditinggal pergi istrinya seusai gempa di kobe.
si istri setelah kejadian gempa seperti kehilangan dirinya, kerj...more
view all 9 comments
K.D.
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006 version)
Shelves:
ex-1001
I am not sure why but this collection of six short stories that happened after the Kobe earthquake just did not impress me as much as his Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman did last month. Maybe because five out of the six stories have no fantasy ingredient like the talking cat, leeches falling from the sky, a TV zooming automatically at the sleeping you or the actual appearance of a UFO. These 6 short stories are mostly pure drama and the usual disappearance, leaving without saying goodbye or saying ...more
My favorite Murakami short story of all time is "The Kidney Shaped Stone That Moves Everyday." So when I realized halfway through the last story in After the Quake that the main character was the same one from "Kidney Shaped Stone," it was as if the planets had aligned, the clouds parted and a single shaft of sunlight shot down to bathe me in a golden glow; everything was perfect in the universe. And of course "Honey Pie" is now my second favorite Murakami story of ...more
Shovelmonkey1
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
murakami fans and 1001 book readers
Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by:
1001 book and my friend Nick
I didn't realise this book was a series of short stories until I opened it and started reading. Murakami presents another weird and wonderful view into his world but this time focusing on the the way that a group of fictional characters were affected by the Kobe earthquake. All of these stories have their own merits but my favourite was probably Super-Frog saves Tokyo. I love Murakami although I have to say that this was not my favourite book by him as these stories don't really give him much of...more
I don't get Murakami. In terms of form and style, the stories in this collection are consistently clichéd and unoriginal. Over and over again he uses the same tired old technique: open the story with a scene set in the present and then go back and give a brief description of the characters' life stories, what brought them here, and so on before returning to the present and continuing the story. It is dull, dull, dull. The language he uses is simplistic and unsophisticated. It is straightforward ...more
I don't know how Haruki Murakami deals with the pressure of being my favorite writer. Does he realize what kind of pedestal I've place him on? Does it keep him up at night? I'm forever waiting to be disappointed by one of his books--I mean, the guy can't be PERFECT, can he? Well it hasn't happened yet.
This slim little volume of short stories (only six of them in all), all loosely connected to the 1995 Kobe earthquake, didn't garner as much critical acclaim as some of Murakami's oth...more
This slim little volume of short stories (only six of them in all), all loosely connected to the 1995 Kobe earthquake, didn't garner as much critical acclaim as some of Murakami's oth...more
This is worth getting your grubby hands on just for the amazing short story "landscape with flatiron". For fuck's sake this guy can write. Sometimes some of his stuff is more appealing to me than others, but I'm blown away overall at his talent and prolificness. I'm also finding myself more drawn to shorter stories lately, having less patience for the modern grand master narrative of the epic novel, preferring instead the more fragmented, shorter, leaner & meaner postmodern narrative i...more
My first post-downsizing read and my first Murakami.
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 because of the GR hype, I expected epiphanies falling like frogs in Magnolia.
This is a book of short fiction. Maybe the novel is his real form.
It was about one cut above Granta, an...more
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 because of the GR hype, I expected epiphanies falling like frogs in Magnolia.
This is a book of short fiction. Maybe the novel is his real form.
It was about one cut above Granta, an...more
Okay yeah, so really on a Murakami kick here. As I write this I'm also in the opening throes of his 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 Murakami continues unabated.
That's not to say that there aren't high and low points in the collection of short stories. In fact a couple of the stories are merely Good.
In any cas...more
That's not to say that there aren't high and low points in the collection of short stories. In fact a couple of the stories are merely Good.
In any cas...more
he stories are succinct, symbolic, and allegorical. They're easy to read, but far from brilliant and earth-shatteringly novel. Many times, I felt as if I were reading fanfiction.
UFO in Kushiro:
It had a promising beginning, but the ending disappointed. I almost felt as if I were reading mediocre fanfiction.
Landscape with Flatiron:
The Jack London bit is apocryphal, sadly! London conceded to charges of plagiarism. He evidently clipped plotlines out of magazines. ...more
UFO in Kushiro:
It had a promising beginning, but the ending disappointed. I almost felt as if I were reading mediocre fanfiction.
Landscape with Flatiron:
The Jack London bit is apocryphal, sadly! London conceded to charges of plagiarism. He evidently clipped plotlines out of magazines. ...more
A very interesting read being my first Murakami book. The stories are very well written with an amazing ability to pull the reader into the story. One aspect that I find perplexing is how Murakami paints images of the border line between reality and fantasy. These leave the reader suspended in a strange sense of fate and skepticism. Is it reality or fantasy? Regardless, the stories definitely makes one think about the characters and the situations they are embedded in. I found this collection to...more
This book seems to merit another reading after the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Murakami wrote this volume of short stories after the Kobe quake in 1995. Murakami is always astonishing. He effortlessly blends the magical with the real the deeply psychological with the mundane. These short stories are lovely crafted little gems. The people in the stories are often experiencing a seismic shift of some sort, not necessarily a literal one. The first time I read the book I read them all in...more
This book of short stories was the first I'd read by Murakami. I read it because I was going to see the 'play of the book' at Berkeley Rep. I liked the book alot. It was low key and gentle. Lots of character development and little overt 'action' - just the way I like my books!
The play/production was great! A great, minimalist set, and very imaginative with the way they translated book to stage. Actors would step in and out of role, moving from character to narrator and first to third perso...more
The play/production was great! A great, minimalist set, and very imaginative with the way they translated book to stage. Actors would step in and out of role, moving from character to narrator and first to third perso...more
This was a fantastic collection of short stories set in Japan [mostly Tokyo] in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake. Most of the characters experience the quake distantly, as something happening to estranged relatives, ex-lovers, people on TV, but the occurence of the quake [or the event, rather, of them hearing of the quake] marks a turning point in each story, and the characters are pushed, either directly or indirectly, to confront their internal conflict and face down the idea of the earth...more
Un casuale incontro
Sinceramente non so di preciso cosa sto provando, sono appena uscito da quel mondo e mi sento spaesato, ho l’anima in subbuglio.
Sono pieno di domande...
Può un incontro casuale cambiare la nostra vita?
In tutti e sei i racconti c’è un incontro, reale o surreale, che muta drasticamente l’avvenire dei protagonisti, gente comune, facilmente confondibile per le strade affollate del Giappone.
Non v’è mai ca...more
Sinceramente non so di preciso cosa sto provando, sono appena uscito da quel mondo e mi sento spaesato, ho l’anima in subbuglio.
Sono pieno di domande...
Può un incontro casuale cambiare la nostra vita?
In tutti e sei i racconti c’è un incontro, reale o surreale, che muta drasticamente l’avvenire dei protagonisti, gente comune, facilmente confondibile per le strade affollate del Giappone.
Non v’è mai ca...more
After the Quake was a quick read. I started it yesterday and in one afternoon, finished the entire book. It's a collection of short stories, all vaguely related to the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It has some weak point, but also some very very strong stories that I found myself swallowed by with the ethereal quality of most of Murakami's work. These were, specifically, "Landscape with Flatiron" and "Superfrog Saves Tokyo".
The style is not standard Murakami. In fact, he...more
The style is not standard Murakami. In fact, he...more
Prior to listening to After the Quake, I hadn't bothered to research this particular title. I had already read two Murakami novels, enjoyed them in varying degrees and developed a preconceived idea of what to expect from this book...and therefore was quite shocked to discover that After the Quake is not a novel but a collection of six short stories which were not connected except they all took place in the days and months after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
I enjoyed the first two...more
I enjoyed the first two...more
Not one of my favorite Murakami books, but very well-written, short and sweet.
The reason why I like Haruki Murakami so much is because he has this way of (re)shaping the mundane into something I can't get enough of. Of course in this format he doesn't really go in depth, but I think that's kind of the point; we're getting snapshots of the lives of people around the time of the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Some were deeply affected; others not so much. Life goes on after tragedy, for bett...more
The reason why I like Haruki Murakami so much is because he has this way of (re)shaping the mundane into something I can't get enough of. Of course in this format he doesn't really go in depth, but I think that's kind of the point; we're getting snapshots of the lives of people around the time of the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Some were deeply affected; others not so much. Life goes on after tragedy, for bett...more
don't be fooled by this little book; after the quake contains some of murakami's most profound work. it was one of the few works of his i had left to read and lo and behold, i was coming around to it right as the earthquake and consequent tsunami occurred. since this was written in the aftermath of the kobe earthquake, i figure it would give me some insight into not only murakami's mind about such things, but the psyche of the japanese in general, much like his nonfiction book underground. if yo...more
Murakami wrote this book of six distinct short stories after the devastating Kobe earthquake of 1995. These stories blend and bend back and forth between realism and surrealism in only the manner that Murakami can so smoothly execute. I had been putting this book off for a while but was motivated to read it after the recent quake/tsunami that ripped through Japan's Tohoku region. The timing definitely influenced my emotions as I read this book. Each character in each story is only affected i...more
Given the recent earthquake in Japan, 'After the Quake' seemed like a timely read - a way to peek into a nation's psyche through the looking glass of Murakami. The '95 Kobe earthquake is the unifying thread for this collection of short stories, sometimes a major plot driver, other times, a seeming side note. But more so than the lives of others, I found myself wondering just how much I was reading about Murakami himself. The characters appear to be amalgamations of himself, from one's love for j...more
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I should start by saying, that generally, I actually prefer short stories as they tend to have a great flow, absorb you easily and finish before they become tedious or boring and generally leave you satisfied. These short stories weren't even stories for me, rather they were more like an finished paragraph about a person. I never got invested in any of the characters, none of them are really memorable at all and I'm not really clear on how the earthquake really affected any of their lives.
...more
...more
Not Murakami's best collection of stories but it's still better than 80 percent of the work out there. I still savored each story, taking my time with the slow tome, putting it down in between stories like putting your fork down in between bites. It is a great set of pieces with a well-explored theme, but five out of the six stories were not a revelation
However....the last story "Honey Pie" completely won this short story collection its fourth star. It is a pretty insightful ...more
However....the last story "Honey Pie" completely won this short story collection its fourth star. It is a pretty insightful ...more
There are six separate stories in this slim title. There are no similar characters but all these stories mention [some in passing, and others with more importance:] the last big earthquake at Kobe, Japan.
Murakami is like this. Everything happens as before, nothing extraordinary, just some normal everyday scenes, then suddenly, without warning, there's a strong earthquake and it jolts the reader. In the first story [UFO in Kushiro:] the lovers were in bed after their lovemaking, the g...more
Murakami is like this. Everything happens as before, nothing extraordinary, just some normal everyday scenes, then suddenly, without warning, there's a strong earthquake and it jolts the reader. In the first story [UFO in Kushiro:] the lovers were in bed after their lovemaking, the g...more
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 characters flat – with one exception.
In “Landscape with Flatiron”, Murakami develops a character who cannot sleep with a refrigerator in her house for fear she will die in it. She describes her nightmare...more
In “Landscape with Flatiron”, Murakami develops a character who cannot sleep with a refrigerator in her house for fear she will die in it. She describes her nightmare...more
I don't normally care for short stories (though I have no real reason for this) but I picked up this collection at a used bookstore up the street because ever since my brother bought me A Wild Sheep Chase, I have adored Murakami and when I saw this book in the piles of used books I found myself missing his voice in my head, like an old friend I had not talked to in awhile. So I bought it and read it in a day.
What I have always enjoyed so much about Murakami's writing his the combina...more
What I have always enjoyed so much about Murakami's writing his the combina...more
This is an excellent collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami, who has quickly become one of my favorite authors of all time. Though it is entitled After the Quake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake remains in the background of each piece - a catalyst for some characters, a wake up call maybe - or a haunting reminder of life's precariousness. Those of us who have watched such disasters on television but not witnessed them firsthand can relate to the characters in the story - aware but not outwardly...more
Have you ever noticed that all Murakami characters seem like they're in the grip of a paralyzing major depression? Generally it's a guy in his mid-30s, who's become so apathetic that his girlfriend leaves him, and he just continues going through the motions of daily of life, eating, working, sleeping, until he runs into some insane situation which either jars him out of it or kills him. But sometimes this radical sadness afflicts Murakami women, too. Take this quote, which I could have pulled...more
as murakami has come highly recommended to me for years by those with tastes i respect, i've been somewhat eager to read one of his books. unfortunately, having read this collection of short stories, i cannot see what all of the hype is about. i am still assured that his novels are magnificent, so perhaps i shall give one of them a try, but certainly with a more cautious enthusiasm.
the stories in after the quake are certainly well written, yet they seem little more than post-modern...more
the stories in after the quake are certainly well written, yet they seem little more than post-modern...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| fiction files : super frog saves tokyo | 14 | 15 | Jan 16, 2012 06:17am |
Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described by the Virginia Quarterly Review as "easily accessible, yet profoundly complex." Critics suggest his work draws from film noir and contains elements of magical realism.
Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music ...more
More about Haruki Murakami...
Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music ...more
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“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.”
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