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After Dark

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 31,589 ratings · 2,468 reviews

The midnight hour approaches in an almost empty all-night diner. Mari sips her coffee and glances up from a book as a young man, a musician, intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home.

Later, Mari is interrupted again by a girl from the Alphaville Hotel; a Chinese prostitute has been hurt by a client, and she needs Mari's help.

Meanwhile Mari's beautifu...more

Paperback, 201 pages

Published 2007 by Vintage (first published December 2004)

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Feb 02, 2012 Stephen M rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: metafictive-madness, i-dont-even

"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 side". There are several scenes whic...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like thinking about feelings.

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 sentences and chews on...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Gavin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

Murakami haunts me. His words. The images he uses to convey his message. His characters.

Blended together, these elements make for a surreal reading experience that is both fantastic and illusory. On one page you have a straight forward narrative of life during the wee hours of the night in Japan. But on the other page, a journey is taking place. Where this journey will end is anyone's guess. From a sleeping sister to a brothel to a kid that plays in a jazz band to a woman searching for her rela...more

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Feb 23, 2010 Saman added it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

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 شاید – اگر با هم باشیم و حرف بزنیم،...more

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Nov 25, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, dark, hipster

(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 pictures in a magazine, a bun...more

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May 18, 2013 vivliovision rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just a comment:

Murakami’s "After Dark" is first and foremost a cinematic book.

The story takes place in Tokyo, but as Borges once told Gabriel Nachmias: "Athens, New York, London—all of them are the same, after dark". By the same token, we may say that After Dark is set during a single night in a post-industrial metropolis. One night is enough time for Murakami, probably because every night is the same in metropolis.

Although Borges is not explicitly mentioned in the book, Murakami makes Godard’...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Kelanth, numquam risit ubi dracones vivunt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa

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: trasmette emozion...more

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Jun 02, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Apr 05, 2010 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2010, magical-realism

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 books. It was...more 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 books. It was almost "normal". I had thought, when I bought it back in 2008, that it was a collection of short stories set in one night - that's how the blurb reads. It's not, though in a way there are vignettes. Over the course of one night, we follow nineteen-year-old Mari, who doesn't want to go home, as she tries to keep herself awake. She encounters Takahashi, who met her once at the pool several years ago; he has an all-night jam session with his trombone. When a friend of his, Kaoru, who manages a love hotel, needs help with a Chinese prostitute who's been beaten up, Takahashi tells her where she can find Mari, who speaks Chinese. Meanwhile, at her home, her older sister, a beautiful model called Eri, is deeply asleep. There's something deeply disturbing and scary when her unplugged TV comes to life and a masked man watches her through the screen.

So there is a touch of Murakami surrealism here, but only in the Eri scenes. Of course, the conversations the characters have are delightfully Murakami as well, though less bizarre than in some of his other books. The prose is gorgeous, a heavily descriptive style in After Dark that yet manages to be light and airy and somehow sinister at the same time. He has such a way at turning "telling" on its head: he narrates, describes, details, but shows more than he tells. It's subtle, you almost don't notice it at all. So much more is revealed in a simple descriptive sentence than is really told. It's in the telling, in the style. It reads so light, deceptively light.

The atmosphere is rich and vibrant. Tokyo at night - it feels insular and narrow, but real. I remember the pockets, pockets of neon light, pockets of deep shadow. The feeling of being both awake and asleep at the same time. Of being alone amongst so many people. Of being part of a tapestry, or a labyrinth.

This isn't what I expected, it's not as dark or surreal as some of his other books - more dialogue-centred, focused more primarily on interactions between people - but that just meant it wasn't predictable or boring. There's suspense, a feeling of tension, but not the anxious kind. More a feeling of expectation. And of course the mystery is unsolved, and leaves your imagination buzzing with possibilities. Just the way I like it :)(less)

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Dec 08, 2011 Jeremy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: japanese-literature

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

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Jan 14, 2009 selena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: popular-culture, 2009

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, eats at Mari...more 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, eats at Mari’s table and volunteers information about himself. He is going to a late-night practice down the street - he plays the trombone. It is her fateful meeting with Takahashi that sets off a chain of events. Without meeting Takahashi, Mari would have stayed at the Denny’s until morning, reading her book and ordering food or coffee every couple of hours to justify her presence. Instead she has ended up at a love-hotel trying to save a prostitute. But this isn’t the “mystery” part of the story. The actual mystery in the story is right in front of you from the beginning, presented in the most bizarre way.

Reading this book felt like a dream. Murakami often addresses the reader directly, “we.” He narrates part of the story as though the reader and writer are both a camera viewing the scene. It pulls you into the plot - confusing you at first - but like any dream, you just go with it. The place it took me was unexpected.

A flaw that I found with the novel was the conversations between characters. Often the dialogue between Mari and Takahashi lacked a human feel to it. It felt like he attempted to shove too much information into pieces of the dialogue. The ending of the story also left me a little worried. The revenge of the abused prostitute was never realized and thereby left out. Did someone punish the man that did such horrible things to her? Will Mari ever see Takahashi again? Does he even really like her? The note of hope that the book ends on left me only partly convinced.

I’m told that this book is not indicative of Murakami’s style - that this book was “experimental.” I look forward to reading more of him because this book, though it had its flaws, was a worthwhile read. It felt like a hallucination.(less)

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May 31, 2008 Terri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

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 "witching" h...more 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 "witching" hours of midnight and dawn. The nighttime setting lends itself to the loneliness and alienation of the characters. We are never drawn too close to these characters, but instead we watch and listen, along with the narrator, as though through a camera as it zooms in or out and then pans around at times giving us mere glimpses of the wider setting. The story is told in scenes of dialogue between six characters within segments of sequential time. Mari is a 19 year old university freshman who perceives herself as plain and dull, especially compared to her beautiful older sister Eri. Mari has for some reason, known only to her, decided to stay up all night reading at a Denny's. She is joined several times throughout the night by Tetsuya, a young jazz musician. Mari is unexpectedly drawn into the lives of a large female ex-wrestler who now manages a "love hotel," a Chinese prostitute, and two women with mysterious backgrounds who hide under cover of night and transient jobs.

These scenes are interrupted occasionally as we, the camera, look in on Mari's older sister Eri who sleeps. Her sleep is reminiscent of that deep and complete slumber of Sleeping Beauty. Several months previous to the night our story takes place, Eri announces to her family that she is "going to sleep for awhile"; she has not woken since. On this particular night she is watched by something or someone menacing. Eri has withdrawn completely and may or may not find her way back. We are not sure if she is being controlled by the menacing presence or if her continued slumber is by choice. The scenes with Eri are eerie and unexplained.

Much in this short novel is left unexplained. In one of the more magical scenes, an image of a man wavers, his outline bends, quality fades, static rises. Murakami's story is very much like the image of this man. We can't always see clearly what it is that the author is showing us. I don't think this is an accident or poor writing. I believe Murakami does this intentionally and the reader must look for meaning in a less cognitive way. As the author says through his character Tetsuya:

"You send the music deep enough into your heart so that it makes your body undergo a kind of a physical shift, and simultaneously the listener's body also undergoes the same kind of physical shift. It's giving birth to that kind of shared state."

Murakami's works are very much a shared state. Not everyone will find his writing to their liking, but those who can resonate with the author will find themselves coming back for more.(less)

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Feb 28, 2008 Bob Lopez rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 were details here and ther...more 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 were details here and there that sort of pulled me out of the story to wonder how true they were: the main girl, a book-reading, chain-smoking, Godard-loving 19 year old, hangs out at Denny's--in Japan, although plausible, is it likely? It doesn't matter because every time it came up, I'd wonder the same thing; also, the girl wears a baseball cap (which I buy b/c baseball is huge in Japan), but it's a Red Sox cap (which I don't buy, b/c, even though baseball is huge in Japan, they have THEIR OWN TEAMS). How hard would that have been...to give her a cap w/ a Japanese team's logo? It's bad translating, unless Murakami wrote it in the original, too, which would speak more about his cultural and financial opportunism (how will this sell in the States, perhaps?) than the affected "disaffected teenager" he was creating.

The translation may also have something to do with the fact that the novel reads like a poorly written, adolescent's graphic novel, particular the psuedo-romance that sort-of blossoms between two late-teens characters. The dialog is bad enough in some instances that it pulled me from the story to consider its plausibility...

Here's some sample thought-dialog, by the book-reader's intellectually opposite and inferior older sister:

For some reason, a different kind of reality has taken the place of my normal reality. Wherever it might have been brought from, whoever might have carried me here, I have been left shut up entirely alone in this strange, dusty, viewless room with no exit. Could I have lost my mind and, as a result, been sent to some kind of institution? After all, who gets to bring her own bed along when she enters the hospital? And besides this simply doesn't look like a hospital room. Neither does it look like a prison cell. It's just a big, empty room.

Who in the world talks like this? Who in the world thinks like this? The book expects us to buy it, however. But in complete sentences? In complete paragraphs? And, let's not forget that the thinker of these thoughts is young, at most in her early twenties. As the narrative clearly establishes, she is poorly-schooled, and actually so pretty she's a model which caused her to further neglect her studies. And yet, you want me to believe she can think like this after just waking up in what is apparently a place she does not recognize? I know it's set in Japan, and I know the stereotypes about disciplined schooling in Japan, but c'mon...it reads entirely disingenuous.

It's cold, and it sounds like a paper: Could I have lost my mind and, as a result, been sent to some kind of institution? Yeah, the grammar asylum.

There was an interesting device employed by the narrative: first-person camera narration, with tracking, zooms, close-ups, and phrases like "We turn the camera..." and "We pull in to see..." Maybe that's second person camera...I don't know...(less)

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May 11, 2008 Yulia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: by-and-of-japan

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 escape h...more

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Feb 22, 2012 rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asian, 2012, do-not-own

Murakami's metaphysical explorations seemed way more meaningful in Kafka on the Shore and Sputnik Sweetheart, my two personal favorites. This book is a lightweight, a mood reading and it flutters off into the wind (or with the coming of morning to end the night. Whatever).

You know, Murakami is pretty well loved and all, but when you try to pull a Marquez-like stunt at the end of a piffle of a book, it will probably fall flat on its face. Because One Hundred Years of Solitude is the king of "eve...more

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rachel Yeah, I'm not sure if Garcia Marquez is what Murakami is aiming for. I doubt he's trying to emulate anybody else consciously, because he seems like an...more
updated Feb 23, 2012 06:25pm

Snotchocheez (guffaws at Rachel for reading three sentences of The Accidental...yeah it was beyond wordy...it was incomprehensible...yet I gave it two stars...the...more
Feb 23, 2012 11:50pm

Jun 02, 2011 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, read-2007, mura-karmic-wonder-land, nippon

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 shortest and the nights are longest.

Hidden Meaning

Murakami's writing is stripped ba...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Candiss rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japan, read-2011, reviewed, standalone-specfic-faves, favorite-authors, favorites, speculative-fiction

After Dark by Haruki Murakami reminded me of carefully-shuffled cards. Two decks representing two separate (yet ultimately and intimately related) stories are slowly merged, chapter by chapter, until they make one cohesive whole that is far more beautiful and evocative than either story would be if taken alone. Murakami is a master of this technique, and he is in fine form here.

Story one: It is midnight in downtown Tokyo. An introverted, bookish, somewhat cynical young woman drinks coffee and r...more After Dark by Haruki Murakami reminded me of carefully-shuffled cards. Two decks representing two separate (yet ultimately and intimately related) stories are slowly merged, chapter by chapter, until they make one cohesive whole that is far more beautiful and evocative than either story would be if taken alone. Murakami is a master of this technique, and he is in fine form here.

Story one: It is midnight in downtown Tokyo. An introverted, bookish, somewhat cynical young woman drinks coffee and reads in an all-night diner, escaping into her book, retreating from the world, hiding from phantoms. She encounters several quirky and unexpected other late-night souls and has conversations and adventures, forming serendipitous attachments and revealing more about herself as the story progresses.

Story two: A beautiful young woman sleeps…and sleeps…and sleeps, still as stone in her bed. A quiet (David) Lynchian drama unfolds which may be literal or metaphor, dream, hallucination, or reality, or a bit of each. Any details I could give might spoil the story for potential readers, so I’ll simply say it is subtly surreal, atmospheric, and rich in symbolism.

I mentioned David Lynch, and although he is a bit more in-your-face than Murakami, I feel the points of comparison are strong. There is a magical realist air all through the book, where the mundane takes stranger and less expected turns as the story progresses. This is not a work of horror fiction, yet there are several instances of imagery that would be right at home in one of the finer, more understated Japanese horror films. This book felt very cinematic to me, and I can very much see it being adapted for the screen by one of Japan’s avant-garde and visionary auteurs. (I’d suggest Katsuhito Ishii, or perhaps Takashi Miike in one of his thoughtful, introspective phases.)

Murakami has created a lovely, unusual book full of surprises, wry humor, gorgeous prose, artful dialogue, poetic metaphor, and cinema-worthy scene-building. Read this if you love the author or Japanese literature in general, multi-layered meaning that will keep you thinking and re-evaluating long after you’ve finished reading, deftness of language, colorful and theater-quality casts of characters, or plots that coil labyrinth-like back and around and onto and into themselves. Read this if you are looking for the perfect book to escape into over coffee, in an all-night diner, after dark.
(less)

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Mar 02, 2008 Dean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Aislinn, Lindsay, Liz, Elena, Tamara

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 bo...more 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 book, Murakami weaves a story of regular people, people with nothing special about them other than the fact that they are the subjects of the stories he is telling...but it is in that regular, 'nothing special about them' way that they become much more interesting than even the most out of the ordinary characters we can imagine...their regularity is exactly what makes them intensely interesting...However, for myself, it is also the possibility that these characters may be a reflection of many of the people who read Murakami's stories that makes them much more exciting...thus creating a sense that our own, not extremely out of the ordinary lives may in fact be a much more interesting adventure than we had previously imagined...the possibility that the mundane and the 'normal' and the regular are in fact not what they appear to be...Hence the power of his work seems to lie in the feeling that as strange and fantastical or as mundane and regular as his stories may seem they all rest on a precipice of believability...there is always, to myself anyways, a possibility that what he is describing is not completely out of the realm of what may be possible...This is not Murakami's strangest story, but it comes highly recommended from someone who has read all of his books. Anyone who has read his stories will know that there are two 'basic' types, the 'Norwegian Wood' type and the 'Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' type. This story falls into the 'Norwegian Wood' type, meaning it is strange, but not dramatically so. I highly recommend it and I believe that some might find the narrative perspective quite interesting, it's a bit on the unusual side, but very interesting and mysterious.(less)

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Jun 13, 2012 Jaka Kun rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Siendo un libro tan corto y que se lee de una manera tan ágil, tiene una trama muy profunda. El ambiente de la novela es excepcional, la narrativa impresionante y el mensaje entre líneas enorme. Sí, te deja con la sensación de que algo falta, pero eso, para mí, es la gran cualidad del libro por que los personajes mismos sienten ese vacío, esa idea de que hay algo más, alguien más. Los destellos ficticios de la televisión, el hombre sin rostro, los reflejos del espejo, el sueño profundo de Eri As...more

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Jul 10, 2008 y rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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, records, smoking, cats, mysterio...more

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May 14, 2008 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 book, y...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Valery Tzvetanov rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-marvels

This is the first book by Haruki Murakami that I couldn't read with eagerness. The plot is simply non-existent. The story is going nowhere. And the style alone is not good enough to justify the creation of a novel. I enjoyed several parts of the book and I found several wonderful thoughts inside. My favorite part of the book is when the author explains that the meaning of the life is to create memories – doesn't matter if they are good or bad. It only matters to live the memories and to store th...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Benjamin Duffy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

If it's possible to be disappointed by a four-star book, I was by After Dark. It was a riveting read: fast, vivid, visceral, quickly and completely drawing me into its world. The point of view, expanding, contracting, and squeezing through cracks like some sort of liquid camera, was especially compelling. I can't speak or read Japanese, so I can't say whether or not the translation here is accurate, but it's a damn fine piece of English writing either way.

Halfway through this book, I fully expec...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Tiemu rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 world with a hug...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first book of Murakami I've read. I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy it since this isn't the type of literature I would usually read, but my fears were unfounded. This is a great and enjoyable book. I don't doubt that Murakami has better ones I haven't read yet, but I personally really enjoyed this one.

The way the story changes from Mari to Eri is soft and fluid. The plot flows easily and it's not difficult to follow at all, but in the meantime, he includes this little "lessons" about lif...more

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May 04, 2012 Tsvetelina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japanese-literature

От много отдавна се каня да прочета нещо на Харуки Мураками, но нещо все ме спира... Може би чувството, че творбите му ще са много по-различни от това, което съм свикнала да харесвам и чета. Може би и заради това реших да започна с нещо, което не е толкова популярно. Може би направих правилния избор...

Историята ни запознава с нощния живот в Токио. Обстановката може би не е по-различна от всеки друг по-голям град. Хората също не са толкова по-различни. Наблюдаваме 19-годишната Мари, която е решил...more От много отдавна се каня да прочета нещо на Харуки Мураками, но нещо все ме спира... Може би чувството, че творбите му ще са много по-различни от това, което съм свикнала да харесвам и чета. Може би и заради това реших да започна с нещо, което не е толкова популярно. Може би направих правилния избор...

Историята ни запознава с нощния живот в Токио. Обстановката може би не е по-различна от всеки друг по-голям град. Хората също не са толкова по-различни. Наблюдаваме 19-годишната Мари, която е решила да прекара нощта далеч от къщи. Тя се сблъсква с Такахаши, който ще репетира цяла нощ свиренето си на тромбон. По-нататък проследяваме "нормалното" протичане на нощта за тях и за останалите хора. Може би "нормално" не е правилната дума, но това е нощ, в която всичко е различно и необикновено, ала също така нощ, в която няма нищо специално.

Може би първо трябва да кажа, че азиатската литература и култура като цяло са коренно различни от нашите. Всичко там е по-дълбоко, по-опростено, с по-друг смисъл. За останалите хора това остава неразбрано и една голяма част от тях, които биха седнали да четат тази творба, няма да схванат смисъла й и може би ще я нарекат безвкусна и незначителна. Може би и моето западняшко мислене крещи дълбоко в мен същото. Въпреки това онази част от мен, която попива дълбоко японската култура, разбира какво всъщност представлява това.

Нито една друга литература, която се основава почти изцяло върху диалога, не ми е била интересна и обикновено с големи мъки дочитам книгата. Но с японската е по-различно, там трябва да мислиш като японец. Азиатците почитат простотата, обичайността на едно събитие. Те са способни да пресъздадат един най-незначителен ден от живота ви и да кажат: "Колко прекрасно и гениално е това!", а вие ще се почесвате неразбиращо по главата. Може би никой чужденец няма никога да успее да мисли като японец, за да разбере смисъла на това, но може да се опита. Замислям се над ежедневието, над това колко хубави са всички прости неща. Няма смисъл от усложнения, от главоболия, от трагедии. Тогава потъвам в странен покой, който никога преди не съм изпитвала. И в този покой откривам съвършенството. Сега може би разбирам частично японската култура. Разбирам нуждата от несложността, която е втъкана в тяхната книжнина. Може би заради това японската литература е единствената, в която простотата на обикновения диалог не ми е странна и не мога да я нарека безвкусна, по-скоро я намирам за интересна.

Авторът използва много специален подход при представянето на историята. Книгата е изградена изцяло с кинематографичен поглед, сякаш четем някакъв сценарий. Така картината оживява пред очите ни, не изпитваме никакво усилие да си представим това, за което четем. Така се чувстваме по-близки до това, което се случва. Може би всеки ще открие прилика в тази една единствена нощ с неговите изживявания. Ще пробуди онази част от себе си, която е дълбоко заспала, защото както авторът сам казва: "...паметта на хората е може би горивото, което трябва да изгарят, за да са живи.", да ни накара да мислим и да продължаваме не само да съществуваме, но и да живеем, да знаем кои сме и накъде сме се устремили.

Мураками използва и сюрреализъм при описанието на една от героините си - Ери, сестрата на Мари. Тя спи непробудно от доста отдавна, но не е изпаднала в кома или нещо, което застрашава живота й. Просто спи. Може би се събужда, за да яде, но никой не я е виждал будна. Затворила се е в себе си по свой си начин така, както и останалите герои в творбата са го направили. Всеки със своите собствени методи. Героите са приклещени в някакъв повтарящ се кръговрат на техните сънища и не могат да избягат. Авторът използва съня като средство за повторение на техните страхове. Те са там и не могат да избягат, могат да го приемат и това да стане част от ежедневието им, да се научат да живеят с това. Всеки от тях намира свой собствен начин - Короджи като се крие, Мари като "бяга" в Китай, Такахаши като стане правист, Ери като спи непробудно.

Точно този аспект на "След мръкване" ще постави у читателя много "може би"-та, много въпроси, на които може и да не си отговори. Много отдавна книга не ме е провокирала да анализирам с пълна сила това, което се случва, но тази успя да го направи и то само с описанието на една единствена нощ, която е извадена от контекста на живота на героите. Не разбираме много за тях, не знаем какво ще се случи по-натам, не можем и да гадаем, много неща остават без отговор. Може и затова мозъкът ми да се опитва да работи повече, за да разбере защо е всичко това. Също така може би много хора ще сметнат Мъжа без лице за много странен. Може би ще се запитат защо въобще авторът го е въвел, след като не разбираме абсолютно нищо за него, а други ще кажат, че не е нужен. Аз имам свой отговор на това, но може би трябва да го задържа за себе си, защото всеки трябва да стигне до свой собствен отговор, който да го удовлетвори.

Като цяло "След мръкване" е една по-дълбока и по-опростена история за обикновения нощен живот в Токио. Тя не е за всеки, но би било прекрасно, ако всеки един се докосне до простотата на японската култура и успее да я оцени подобаващо.(less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Sierra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: feed-the-light-some-dark, all-my-friends-are-azn, character-names-i-love, come-on-baby-give-me-the-creeps, standalone, first-year-at-goodreads-added-2011, alternating-viewpoints

After Dark was more than satisfying, that much I'll say, but it did leave me wanting more, which is the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. In a world where everyone's got a trilogy or a saga in the works, it's nice to know that there are worthwhile books out there that don't need 1000+ pages to tell its story.

I have a super, duper soft spot for Eri, Mari, Takahashi and Kaoru. Korogi and Komugi seem like fun company for the night, too. Even the little kitties that Takahashi and Mari feed...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Margaux rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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, but the questions that ar...more

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Oct 24, 2008 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 they ca...more

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Aug 03, 2008 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

'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 thing going...more '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 thing going on with this novel that I didn't quite "get". There is a girl in a coma-like state who seems to be a vessel for the negative events that occur, and there are a few material items that tie together all of the social interactions that occur throughout the night, but I had trouble drawing any kind of clear conclusions about the story.

Murakami seems to outline the differences of social interactions late at night versus those that occur during the day. This is something that I have previously pondered, the fact that a certain kindredness seems to arise when interacting with someone late at night. At times in my life when I was able to keep later hours, I remember having the occasional brief chat with a gas station attendant, random guy in Denny's, etc, that seemed somewhat meaningful at the time and would probably not have occurred during the day. Why is this? An esoteric answer may be that as there are more people out and about during the day, too much psychic energy is buzzing about and that creates walls that block empathy between humans. The more straightforward answer could be that there are less people out at night, and the folks that are night people are possibly more attuned to the whole "brotherhood of mankind" thing. Maybe we were all just hopped up on the coffee or the booze, who nows? I feel as if Murakami touches on all of this as well, be he also kind of skates around the subject and never provides a clear picture.

One additional little stylistic kudo: the book takes place over the course of a single night, and each chapter name is the time that the chapter begins. This is represented as a clockface at the beginning of each chapter with the hands pointing to the time. I'm a total sucker for that type of cleverness. (less)

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About Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described as 'easily accessible, yet profoundly complex'.

Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often disting...more

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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

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Quotes from After Dark

“In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount.” — 566 people liked it

“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 pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills: when you feed 'em to the fire, they're all just paper. The fire isn't thinking 'Oh, this is Kant,' or 'Oh, this is the Yomiuri evening edition,' or 'Nice tits,' while it burns. To the fire, they're nothing but scraps of paper. It's the exact same thing. Important memories, not-so-important memories, totally useless memories: there's no distinction--they're all just fuel.” — 310 people liked it

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