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Feb 02, 2012

Stephen M rated it:

"Eye's mark the shape of the city"

There is something about Murakami that ignites connections in my brain that I don't know what to do with. Such as the scene with the man on a television screen staring into a real room with a girl lying on the bed. He is said to be looking in from the "other side". Murakami uses this same phrase when a main character is looking into a mirror. When she gazes at herself in the mirror she is said to be looking in from the "other More...

17 comments like (28 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Daniel rated it:

Murakami is not a great author for passive readers. If your main interest in fiction is plot and story, and especially if you tend to be the sort of reader who plows straight through a book and then thinks about it only after you're done, "After Dark" is going to be unsatisfying.

To me, Murakami is a great author for teaching you how to read (forgive me) proactively. He works a lot with impressions and mood, so that it's most rewarding when the reader stops after every few More...

3 comments like (42 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2011

Saman added it

مرد: به نظرت می‌توانیم به زودی باز همدیگر را ببینیم؟
زن: منظورت این است که قرار بگذاریم؟
مرد: می‌شود این جوری هم گفت
زن: اما چند بار بهم گفته‌اند که شخصیت تاریکی دارم
مرد: این جور نیست که زندگی‌مان فقط به تاریکی و روشنایی تقسیم شده باشد. یک منطقه‌ی میانی سایه‌دار هم هست. کار عقل سالم تشخیص و فهم این سایه‌هاست. کسب عقل سالم هم قدری زمان و جد و جهد می‌طلبد
زن: ولی چرا باید به من علاقه‌مند باشی؟
مرد: سئوال خوبی است. در حال حاضر خودم هم جوابش را نمی‌دانم. اما شاید – فقط More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jason rated it:

(My full review of this book is larger than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find it at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

"You know what I think?" she says. "That people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel. Advertising fillers in the newspaper, philosophy books, dirty pi More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Kelanth, in tenebris lux tua rated it:

Questo è il primo libro che leggo di questo autore giapponese e devo dire che mi ha convinto ed entusiasmato. Una scrittura limpida e pacata, quasi come una neve leggera, portano questo romanzo breve ad una più che alta gradevolezza.
Il tutto da una sensazione di pace e di tranquillità, malgrado le visioni oniriche di questa lunga notte rivelano più cose di quello che sarebbe consentito sapere.
Una combinazione tra sogno e realtà, vita reale e vita sognata, conscio ed inconscio: trasmet More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 28, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

As I Murakami fanatic, I feel justified in saying, Eh. I suppose he's the master of fashioning a career resting on two or three great novels (Kafka... Windup...) and then keeping his name in the news by producing plenty of light as air oughtta-be-short stories padded so thick with fat margins and linespaces that make your eyes vibrate that they actually seem like 244 -page books, in fact are 244 pages for that matter. According to my calculations this is about 40 - 45,000 words. Call me bitter, More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 28, 2011

Shannon rated it:

Ah me I love Murakami. This is only the fifth book of his I've read but they never disappoint. I started with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I read when I lived in Japan. Seemed fitting. Followed up with A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance and Underground, a non-fiction book where he collected and told the stories of survivors from the Tokyo Subway gas attack. I have more on my shelf. I plan to read every single book of his.

After Dark is definitely one of his more approachable b More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

Jeremy added it

What a weird, beguiling little book. You just sort of float around while this Altman-esque point of view shifts back and forth between a little ensemble of strange, endeeringly damaged people. Murakami's narration is what really makes this work so well, the voice he uses is almost mesmerizing at times. The whole thing is just suffused with this jazzy, hypnotic stlye that occasionally veers into something darker, something more primevally resonant. If William Gibson and David Lynch wrote a book t More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2009

selena rated it:

After Dark is the first book by Haruki Murakami that I’ve read. I was warned by many that I would not enjoy it. But they’re all delusional and wrong.

After Dark isn’t a traditional novel. It isn’t a plot driven story and in fact, not much actually happens. After Dark takes place in Tokyo over a period of seven hours. It begins with Mari Asai, sitting and reading her book in a Denny’s in the middle of the night. An old acquaintance sees her and reacquaints himself. The boy, Takahashi, More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 31, 2008

Terri rated it:

I find myself thinking about Murakami's books long after I've read them. Murakami compares writing to jazz music and with his writing it is true. Just as I find myself humming memorable bits from songs like Take Five, I also come back again and again to passages of Murakami's novels and short stories. I don't always recognize the deeper meaning in his works right away, but like a piece of music his writing continues to work on me over time.

After Dark takes place in Tokyo between the More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2008

Bob rated it:

I didn't like the book very much. It read like something he tossed off, like it was a book between books, like a book to satisfy a contractual obligation: the literary equivalent of a B-sides collection, or maybe a greatest hits collection, only not very good.

There wasn't anything very compelling about the characters. They were wooden, and not very fleshed out, like vaguely romanticized caricatures.

The narrative suffered--I'm guessing--because of the translation; there More...

1 comment like (12 people liked it)

May 11, 2008

Yulia rated it:

Ah, Murakami, why couldn't you have tried harder? Couldn't you have completed this work? Or if it wasn't possible within the always-confining time-frame of 24 hours in the life of these characters, couldn't you have dropped that idea? The story's ending on a note of hope came off as forced, while the admiration for the sleeping beauty by her bookish younger sister was oddly (and not quite intentionally, I can only hope) incestuous. Meanwhile, the plot-line of the salary man who seeks to esca More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 02, 2011

Ian rated it:

Original Review: March 8, 2011

A Midwinter Night's Tale

"After Dark" is probably the easiest Murakami novel to read.
At 201 pages, it's not difficult to finish in one session.
It's also close to what you would call "high concept" in the film industry.
Its execution is not much more than its conception.
All of the action takes place from 11:56pm to 6:52am on a midwinter night, more or less "after dark" when the days are short More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2008

Dean rated it:

I believe that the power of Murakami's work is in it's ability to make the regular irregular. After reading this book I was speaking with someone about how his books generally belong in a genre that I find hard to define. I almost want to consider his work some kind of Science Fiction because they can at times seem to be so fantastically strange...But the truth is they aren't really Science Fiction...I don't claim to be able to define his genre, but I feel that in his work, in particular this More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2008

y rated it:

ugh. what a boring read: another "beautiful" but lost japanese girl + confused sister + dude on a motorcycle... all going nowhere a little slowly, which is the point, i suppose. i don't even care that my copy is signed by mr. murakami... the signature didn't make the book any more interesting.

i read somewhere murakami has just come out with a book of short stories about marathon running (he's a marathoner??) and what he thinks of whilst running. my guesses? jazz, recor More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 14, 2008

Heather rated it:

i have really enjoyed murakami books in the past, so i was quite looking forward to reading this one. after dark feels more like a long short story than a novel. you're never really told what's going on in a murakami book, and this story is no exception. but, if you are willing to go along for the ride, then it's a fun, quick read. it felt more like a friend was telling me about a movie they had written rather than it felt like i was reading a novel. hard to explain, but if you read this bo More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Tiemu rated it:

Easy to read language, plot, and ideas.

There is a creepiness to the book that can grow on you many days after reading it. All cities have their seedy lascivious side, and Murakami takes the reader into one in an original, unassuming, seemingly shallow way by its lack of plot. But the shallowness can become errie, like the thought of the wayward stranger who is sleeping in their bed far away: distant and unrelated to us, but is there nonetheless. Murakami then embraces this outre worl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Margaux rated it:

I read this on a plane, it’s that quick a read. I’ve only read one other book by Murakami, Kafka On The Shore, which I enjoyed quite a lot and on many levels. I’ve only just started on IQ84, his latest novel, but don’t plan to finish it anytime soon; it’s huge and I’ve got a lot of books on the go just now.

After Dark is the story of one night in Tokyo following various intersecting characters. That’s about all you need to know.

Murakami’s characters are always enigmatic, b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2008

Susan rated it:

I found this one really compelling--I find Murakami generally fascinating. His odd slant on contemporary culture--both Japanese and American, or maybe really world culture--is fascinating, unsettling and strangling satisfying.
It begins with an encounter in Denny’s (Murakami is fascinated with American pop culture) between two college students, a girl who’s quietly reading in order to avoid going home and a guy who’s off to practice with the band where he plans trombone—in a old warehouse t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 03, 2008

Matt rated it:

'After Dark' is the first work that I have read by Murakami. I enjoy his writing style, which seems to me to be an examination of the micrososm that is a human being. This is something that I often have trouble keeping in mind, as it is sometimes hard to remember that the guy in front of you at the grocery store with a cart full of items that waits until the very last moment to start writing his check is someone that also has hopes, dreams, etc.

However, there seems to be an esoteric More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 28, 2011

Tony rated it:

Haruki Murakami explores that special time of day between midnight and morning. He does so with a nice flow of descriptive prose and dialogue that makes you feel like you haven't slept for a day.

The book revolves around a girl who's hanging out in the city at night because she can't sleep, a man who beats a prostitute and steals her belongings, and the girl's sleeping sister in a nearby suburb. All these storylines intertwine in a sense, but also hold up on their own. The chapters More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2007

MikeS rated it:

I found myself trying not to compare and be disappointed with After Dark because it wasn't Norwegian Wood... But then I got over it and compared the crap out of it. I thought Norwegian Wood was an absolutely brilliant piece of work, and if it so happens that an author's achieved brilliance has become the standard by which I gauge his other work, then I consider myself hopeful. That said, Norwegian Wood is somewhat of an anomaly in Murakami's bibliography, and After Dark seems to fit more into More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2007

Larissa rated it:

I started this book at 3:30 on an insomniatic Friday night and finished it on the subway on the way to work on Tuesday. It was a rather apropos reading schedule considering the format of After Dark which begins around midnight and ends around 7 AM.

It's a simple and sufficiently enjoyable book--one that I'm sure hardcore fans and mild appreciators can both agree is 'Minor Murakami.' But it brings up an interesting conflict that I think is implicit in Murakami's writing, namely that h More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2007

sandy rated it:

I have always had mixed feelings about Murakami. He has a very unique style, which I appreciate, but sometimes it leaves the realm of reality a bit too far behind. There was definitely elements of that in this book. It has the patented Murakami darkness, the modern day angst, classically done by the Russians and Germans. The ending was abrupt, as with many of his novellas, but at the same time, how else can they end? But this one actually ties together nicely, I think, though still leaves More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 23, 2007

Rob rated it:

I read this book during two Borders sessions (sitting in one of their chairs and reading a book that they still own) the week it came out. This was my least favorite Murakami book so far. His descriptions were lacking some of their normal fire, and the book attempts to put the reader in the position of someone watching a drama unfold on a television screen, in a way that did not work for me.

The character arc was typical for Murakami--characters who don't do much themselves have s More...

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Feb 06, 2008

Britta rated it:

This book, in my humble opinion, is simply unreadable. I could not bring myself to finish it, and I love Haruki Murakami. I don't know if the cinematic style was just something he was experimenting with or if it marks a new movement in writing, but whatever the case it makes me want to puke in my own mouth.

Please, please, please read Murakami. Read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, or if you're looking for something shorter, The Elephant Vanishes (Stories), or A Wild Sheep Chase, or Har More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2008

Mike rated it:

It's half a novel!

Not only is it only 200 pages long (very short for some of my favourite Murakami novels) but also the story seems to be the first half of a bigger book.

Didn't Murakami do this with his first novel Norwegian Wood? Wasn't that released in two halves? Anyway, I really look forward to the follow-up (or the last half) of the AFTER DARK story when Harvill Press decide to pay a translator (hopefully Philip Gabriel) to put the follow-on into the English langua More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 12, 2007

Gina rated it:

This novel gulped me down whole like only Murakami's narrators can. 2 sisters, bizarre Tokyo creatures all in one long, sweet, funny night. The writing is elegant, the prose up to date but classically paced. The plot is more akin to Wild Sheep Chase, lighter and less romanticized than Kafka on the Shore or Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

Though it's true that there are more involved, developed of his works, I still love winding through metaphysical intrigues like this, however brief they are. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2008

Brenda rated it:

If you have not read anything by Haruki Murakami, I highly recommend that you do so. Just not this book. If you're just going to pick one or two books by him to read then read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. They are probably his most "difficult" novels. If you want something a bit lighter, try Norwegian Wood or South of the Border West of the Sun. I still have a few of his left to read, but based on what I've read so far those are my recommendations. After Dark is j More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Artemisia rated it:

Laddove il sonno diventa un'azione simbolo, la notte assume il significato metaforico che è proprio di un rito di passaggio. In After Dark, sette ore mutano in giorni, mesi, anni che Mari attraversa come la stessa Alice di Carroll farebbe: senza educazione, né troppa meraviglia, ma con la stessa, identica modalità. Mari lascia che tutti i singoli personaggi (che, per inciso, ho amato incondizionatamente) la prendano per mano e la accompagnino ad esplorare la notte, questa notte che viene vivisez More...

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