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Loading... After Dark (original 2004; edition 2007)by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translator)
Work InformationAfter Dark by Haruki Murakami (2004)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This was a lovely story about a blossoming friendship between the young trombonist Takahashi and Mara, the younger sister of a girl to whom he was once attracted. The whole story takes place during one night, but multiple things happen overnight, including an unfortunate incident involving a Chinese prostitute plus the weird temporary disappearance of Maraâs sister. I love the way Murakami writes. He includes small details as if theyâre the most important things in the world. In addition, he plays with magical realism in such a way to make his stories intriguing and fun. Itâs been a while since Iâve read his stories. This one sure makes me want to get back to them again. Murakami's prose is entrancing, and this short novel showcases it beautifully. The book spans only a few hours, but moves between characters as if through a dream, and bridges a clear glimpse of reality with what seems almost spectral. As always, though, it is the moments that stand out here, and Murakami's distinct way of presenting what seems utterly casual in a fashion that suggests everything rests on it. I couldn't put down this book almost from the second I picked it up, and loved sinking into Murakami's words again. Recommended. Tanti passaggi promettenti che perĂČ non sono sfocati in nulla. C'Ăš la giovane Mari che ogni tanto ha l'irrefrebibile impulso di passare tutta la notte fuori (il perchĂ© ci viene spiegato e sinceramente la capisco). In una di questi notti si imbatte in un ex compagno di scuola della sorella (modella bellissimissima e impegnatissima). I due iniziano una conversazione (nonostante le risposte fredde e laconiche di Mari). Non c'Ăš nessuna odissea come scritto nella trama After dark, the city is a different woman. She sheds off her daytime attire, emerging uninhibited, transformed. For the dark hours court extremes. The nightâs shadows hide the blackest of crimes but also random acts of kindness, nascent friendships and loves. The night brings hedonist pleasure to some, hard work to others. And as the mystics teach us, the night, whether real or metaphorical, can bring cleansing and growth. While the rest sleep, those who stay awake form an ill-assorted family of sinners and saints, heroes and villains, hunters and prey. The diverse cast which peoples Murakamiâs brief novel âAfter Darkâ seems to be a cross-section of this community of outcasts, whom we accompany on the streets of Tokyo over one eventful night. Thereâs Mari Asai, a timid student who kills the early hours reading in a Dennyâs. Thereâs Takahashi, a jazz trombonist whoâs doing his last gig. Thereâs retired female wrestler Kaoru and her fellow employees at the Alphaville âlove hotelâ. Thereâs also a Chinese female prostitute battered by an improbable assailant, the suave office worker Shirakawa. And, in a typically Murakamesque (Murakamian?) touch thereâs also Mariâs sister Eri, an attractive young woman who has decided to âgo to sleepâ, and who lies in bed in a sort of suspended animation, a cross between a latter-day Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. What struck me about this book (which I read in an Italian translation by Antonietta Pastore) is how âcinematicâ it is, in the sense that it often reads like a film script. There are swathes of dialogue, reported in direct speech. Much of the rest of the text consists of minute descriptions of sights and sounds. Often Murakami consciously evokes the perspective of a video camera, zooming in and out of scene. We can also hear the soundtrack to this imaginary movie â the title itself refers one of Takahashiâs favourite songs, Curtis Fullerâs âFive Spot After Darkâ, but there several other musical references, from the Japanese hip-hop playing in the 24/7 supermarket to the Scarlatti and Bach which Shirakawa works and exercises to in a deserted office block. (Incidentally, one reader has helpfully built an After Dark playlist on Spotify). I canât say Iâve read many of Murakamiâs works - this is only my third after Norwegian Wood and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. However, as Iâve said elsewhere, Murakami always leaves me somewhat perplexed. His books go down so easily and enjoyably, like a glass of sparkling wine. At times, even as they describe a city Iâve never been to, and a life Iâve never lived, they seem to speak directly to me, as if they knew my secrets. On the other hand, other passages seem trite, the dialogue artificial (why do Murakamiâs conversations end up sounding like a counselling session?) I honestly canât fathom him, just as most of his characters canât seem to fathom themselves.
MÄnga kommer nog att störa sig pÄ den för att den Àr osammanhÀngande och saknar ett riktigt slut. SjÀlv gillar jag den just dÀrför, Àven om det finns en del annat att klaga pÄ. Murakamis romaner brukar alltid bli mer Àn summan av sina olika, ofta rÀtt banala bestÄndsdelar. Innan natten faller Àr dock ett undantag som inte blir mer Àn en, lÄt vara tidvis rÀtt sÄ underhÄllande, smÄtt förvirrad fÀrd frÄn mörker till ljus. Den Àr helt enkelt inte sÄ bra. Det Àr en stil flytande mellan genrer och upplevelser som Murakami driver sina underliga och vackra vÀrldar med, som smÀlter ihop myter och andevÀsen med socialrealistiska plÄgor som kvinnohat, maffiahot, barnsexhandel och korruption. "A bittersweet novel that will satisfy the most demanding literary taste... It reminds us [that] while we sleep, the world out there is moving in mysterious and unpredictable ways." "Potent and disturbing... He reminds us that the essence of horror in the post-modern narrative is not some gothic extravagance, but the realities that await us outside our doorstep." AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML:A short, sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakamiâ??s masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. At its center are two sistersâ??Eri, a fashion model slumbering her way into oblivion, and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Dennyâ??s toward people whose lives are radically alien to her own: a jazz trombonist who claims theyâ??ve met before, a burly female â??love hotelâ? manager and her maid staff, and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman. AFTER DARK moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency. Murakamiâ??s trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)895.635Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages Japanese Japanese fiction 1945â2000LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This was a decent book, and I can see why a lot of people recommend it as a beginner Murakami novel. It was relatively easy to understand; and while it did include magical realism, it was minimal and only involved one small part of the plot. It also included other classic aspects of Murakami's work, like western imagery and chance encounters, which lure you into his writing style.
That being said, I prefer some of his other works over this one. The use of first person plural in this book threw me off and took me out of the actual events. I am glad I read it, but it is not a stand-out of his works for me. ( )