Normally, I prefer Murakami's novels to his short stories, but this collection was evenly good. All the stories were connected to the 1995 Kobe earthquake. ( )

This is my personal favourite of Murakami's short story collections, and includes my favourite short story of his, "honey pie". It is a short but highly polished volume; I have read over it innumerable times, and it has yet to lose its lustre. ( )

Really enjoyed this book. I like the reoccuring motifs that tie the stories together and the final story is like a happy ending to the whole collection. One of my favorites of Murakami so far.

I read my first Murakami, "Kafka on the Shore", last year and found it about 20% enjoyable, 80% frustrating (I hated the dialogue, for one thing). So I was ready to swear off Murakami, but I thought I'd give him another shot--hence, "after the quake", a collection of short stories ostensibly about people in the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, although most of the characters seem relatively unaffected by the tragedy. I liked Murakami's short stories a lot more than his novel, although not as much as the short stories of some other authors I've been reading recently. My favorites were "Honey Pie", for the emotional poignancy and sweetness, and "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo", because Frog was just a cool guy. I want a Frog of my own, except not in the form of an enormous frog, because that would be pretty creepy (maybe a giant kitten would be better, like a feline Clifford). So I would recommend "after the quake" to people who like Murakami, but also to people who don't like Murakami, and to people who have no opinion on Murakami. Which should just about cover everybody. ( )

This book is a collection of 6 short stories, all completely unrelated to each other, except for one minute detail, which is that they are all set during the period after the Kobe earthquake.

My favourite of the six was .. I rather think it’s actually quite difficult for me to pick a favourite, because each one of them had quite a different flavour from one another, and had a different appeal. Though saying that, if I simply had to choose, I’d say it’s a toss-up between ‘landscape with flatiron’, and ‘thailand’.

‘landscape with flatiron’, I particularly enjoyed because I found it very deep and soulful. The story was told in such a way that I felt like I was sitting there with the characters, watching the fire as it grew, completely entranced with it.

As for ‘thailand’, perhaps it is because I come from Malaysia, and since Thailand is the only neighbour country that connects physically with my own, I felt the intimacy, and also felt quite strongly the distinct Thai flavour within the story, despite it also being very Japanese in character.

All the stories though, had a very dignified quietness to them. Although the stories were set during the period after such a natural disaster, there was almost none of the hysterics that one would normally associate with the aftermath of an earthquake. In fact, the stories felt almost serene.

But then again, ’serene’ is actually quite a vague way to put it, and might I add, maybe even a little inaccurate, because there are unimaginable twists and unexpected turns inserted at some very odd junctions of each story. Just when you start to think you’ve got the characters figured out, he shows you otherwise. And the story ends without you ever being the wiser.

I’m probably only not satisfied with one thing, and that is the stories were indeed SHORT. In a sense, I had wanted some of the stories to go on for a little while longer. But they always end a tad too quickly, making me wish I could catch at least one more glimpse of what the character was thinking, but instead was left hanging on that final sentence.

Maybe short stories are supposed to be that way. Maybe they’re supposed to leave us hanging, to let our own imaginations fly. Maybe short stories are supposed to engage us in thought even after the story is done. Maybe short stories never actually end.

* From http://sushu.blog.com/2009/08/15/afte... ( )

A collection of short stories following Japan's 1995 Kobe earthquake - by which the characters in every story are affected (in some cases quite lightly). Surreal, but oddly realistic, you are shown only a very brief, but somehow telling glimpse into the life of each central character - all of whom seem to have some great sadness, or emptiness. ( )

http://absorbedinwords.blogspot.com/2... ( )

a nice little collection of stories about people dealing with the aftermath of a major earthquake. ( )

I loved this.

It was my fourth Murakami, and first of his short stories. All the stories were different, and to me were far more about atmosphere, style and character than plot.

To me his writing is really stunning; I often find myself re-reading sentences - not because I didn't understand them but because I want to relive and enjoy the way the words are put together. I sometimes wonder how much this has to do with the way the japanese is translated into english.

As other reviewers have written, each story touches (very lightly) on the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, this being the rather tenuous link that brings them together. Murakami manages to give each character a totally different voice, and each is unusual, strange, and somehow believable.

My favourites were Honey Pie, in which I loved the way Junpei talks to little Sala, and Super Frog Saves Tokyo, cos I found Frog really cool.

Would highly recommend. ( )

What would you do if Super Frog showed up on your door step to ask for your help in fighting Worm, and stop the earthquake that will level Tokyo? ( )

I must assert from the outset that I am not a particular fan of the short story genre. However, this collection dealing with individuals touched in some way by the Kobe earthquake in Japan has turned that opinion on its head and shows Murakami to be a master of the form.

My main problem with a lot of short stories is that they seem forced and in some way less than a novel-length piece. Murakami proves that it is the writer's skill that limits them not the form itself, each of these stories existing as a perfect self-contained whole without any need for the reader to long for a longer piece. His characterisation is brilliant. He manages to convey the emptiness of a man whose marriage has disintegrated and a collection of misfits brought together by a bonfire on the beach using few words and sparse prose, lovingly crafted. He is an expert at descriptives, the hangover at the beginning of 'All God's Children Can Dance' a prime example of this. This is a humorous and slightly oedipal tale of a man finding his faith and demonstrates that Murakami is capable of intertwining humour and depth without trivialising his work.

He writes from many perspectives, each as alive in his work as the others - a broken man, an embittered female with regret eating away at her inside, among others. The reader is left with a sense of priviledge at being able to bear witness to a moment in the lives of characters that live on past the end of Murakami's tales. It is a sensation of a perfect glimpse of a moment and the context it stands in, not the impression that the author has been constrained by the format. There are still elements of Murakami's whimsy and magic such as the giant frog, a harbinger of disasters to come. In a testament to his characterisation, you find yourself accepting and rooting for the frog against the odds.

The enduring theme of these stories is that of rebuilding - as Kobe has to rebuild after the destruction wreaked by the earthquake, so these characters have to rebuild their lives. The reader is left with a sense of hope that they will succeed. This is a masterclass in the art form and leaves other authors in the shade. Definitely worth the time spent reading and a 1001 book choice that I have no problem with! ( )

Nederlandse review alhier;
http://www.pinkbullets.nl/2008/05/boo... ( )

The theme of these stories seemed to be: take a fairly damaged person, present them with a very odd situation, watch them have an epiphany of sorts, The End. After the first few stories, I just couldn't see the point of going on. Murakami does an excellent job of creating atmosphere - in each of the stories I read the strangeness of the situation crept right up your spine - but that just wasn't enough for me. For example, a young runaway watches a man build a bonfire, sitting with him while it burns. At the end, she says she is completely empty, there is nothing left inside of her, then they decide to kill themselves together. The end. Maybe Japanese culture isn't my thing, but I'm just not getting it. ( )

Murakami's short story collection, featuring six stories that all take place a month after the 1995 Kobe earthquake but otherwise do not connect at all, are simple and entertaining, yet feel so appropriately cohesive that it's hard to say anything bad about them.

Murakami is well-known for his radically fantastical work, and for those fans of his looking for that, "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" will not disappoint. Yet the highlight of that story, for me at least, was the sense in which that, like most of the other tales, deals intensely with the idea of loneliness, particularly loneliness in the face of tragedy.

The stories, though not interconnected, nonetheless seem to trace an arc of their own. "UFO in Kushiro," "Landscape with Flatiron," and "All God's Children Can Dance" are all wonderful examinations of different kinds of abandonment, tragic yet touching. "Thailand" is our first sense that there might actually be hope or redemption in a world marked by senseless tragedy.

The last two tales, however, take a turn. Because while "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" is absurd is the most delightful way, it's the closest we get to any sense of man having a stake in his own actions. Which makes the ending of the final piece, "Honey Pie," far more sweet than saccharine, an almost-literal revision of the devastating and sad tales we'd seen until then.

In this way, after the quake is an uplifting and inspiring set of stories, marked by Murakami's gentle voice and exquisite control of the smallest narrative elements, and uplifting though all too brief.

My Review: ( )

I love how Murakami's short stories contain so much variety in a small collection. 'Super-Frog Saves Tokyo' was probably my favorite, of all things; was Katagiri hallucinating or briefly allowed to view part of a secret, hidden world? 'Landscape with Flatiron' resonated with me because I, too, am often hypnotized by fires and can watch them snap, crackle and pop for hours. ( )

Maybe it is the mark of an author at the top of his game when he can write a set of short stories where little or nothing actually happens in most, but can give the reader a feeling that they know characters in such a short space of time. Most of the characters here are Murakami's staple - introspective and introverted - and some stories still have his trademark surrealism (especially Super-Frog saves Tokyo).

Not the great "Kafka on the Shore" Murakami, or the equally brilliant "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" Murakami, but far better than the "Elephant Vanishes" Murakami.

Definitely a good read, albeit a little short at 130 pages. ( )

http://www.humo.be/cps/rde/xchg/humo/... ( )

6 stories, all with the earthquake as a theme. He is a very good writer. The cultural difference makes it harder for me to get super-involved in the stories.

Another worthwhile read from Murakami! The common thread in the stories in this collection is the Kobe earthquake, but in each, the characters are deeply touched by the event in different ways. While I enjoy his novels more than his short fiction, after the quake contains excellent pieces that are vintage Murakami. ( )

Sometimes there is nothing better than simple, elegant, prose. These stories read like children’s parables with equal amounts of fantasy and moral instruction. ( )

More from Murakami. To be honest, if this hadn’t been 100 or so pages long, I wouldn’t have bothered after Kafka on the Shore, but I thought I’d give him another go...

Read the rest of this review at Arukiyomi. ( )

http://www.schlaikjer.net/reviews/062... ( )

As a first time reader of Murakami--I'm seeing why people seem to like him a lot. This is a pretty solid effort throughout. The stories are all well imagined--have great tone and are excellently paced. Whether it's bonfires, a trip to Thailand or a Superhero oversized frog or even a love affair that takes many years to finally get off the ground all of the stories are insightful with touches of humor and pathos. It was very enjoyable and I expect that there will be more Murakami books in my future. ( )

A fairly slight (a just over 100 pages) collection of short stories - this is really one for the Murakami completist rather than the casual reader. I'm not a huge short story fan anyway. A couple of the stories could have been expanded to form the basis of a novel, but most just kind of drifted by.