After Dark

After Dark

Author: Haruki Murakami

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Reviewer: Lydia

            Haruki Murakami’s short and minimalist book, After Dark, appears simple and straightforward on the surface; separate people, who are vastly different, all intersect on one fateful night in Tokyo. There is Mari, the lonely and lost girl looking for her place in the world. There is her sister, Eri Asai, who has suffered a horrible shock and now sleeps all day long. Over the course of six hours, Mari meets a young musician, a hotel owner, and a Chinese woman who was savagely beaten. Mari is drawn outside of her comfort zone with these new acquaintances, while simultaneously discovering the many, and often dangerous or shocking sides, to a city during the nighttime hours.

            The book has several other plotlines, but these were much harder to understand as they meditated on the role of perspective, the passage of time, and the role of memory. There are several untied endings and no real answers at the end of the novel; however, this just lends the story an even more realistic feeling. Murakami’s writing is highly descriptive while using as few words as possible. While the story meanders during some parts of the book, I highly recommend this short read for the style of the prose and the depth of the characters. Next on my list is Murakiami’s latest novel, IQ84.