After Dark by Haruki Murakami: An Ode to Melatonin
After Dark by Haruki Murakami.
Knopf, 2007, 175 pages.
Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin.
The celebrated Japanese writer Haruki Murakami reveals himself to be human with the technically innovative but ultimately unsatisfying novel After Dark.
This short work depicts the interweaving narratives of several late night Tokyo denizens afflicted by insomnia, jazz, and dead-end jobs. Mari is the introverted sister of a local beauty queen who has fallen into an unexplainable deep sleep. Unable to sleep while her comatose sister is in the house, Mari wiles away the hours in a diner and encounters a host of intriguing characters over coffee and sandwiches. There is Takahashi, a jazz hound and sometimes law student, and Kaoru, a tough-talking former female wrestler who runs a love hotel. Meanwhile, a masked man who can move between dimensions hangs in the background, threatening to invoke some horrible fate upon the nighthawks of Tokyo. The stage is set for another riveting Murakami tale.
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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 22nd, 2008
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