AUGUST 2007

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A Review of Murakami's After Dark (2007)
By Jason Jordan, Jun 29, 2007
To anyone unfamiliar with Japanese fiction author Haruki Murakami, you’re missing out – his library includes some real gems. However, one must concede that his writing isn’t the most accessible due to the surrealism found therein, so his books aren’t for everyone. Plus, the characters’ names are always Japanese, and furthermore, his releases must be translated in order for English speakers to be able to read them. Needless to say, with a dozen novels and a few short story collections to his name, Murakami is quite prolific. After Dark (Knopf, 2007) is 191 pages, yet is shorter than his last few titles The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore, but in spite of the length, AD is another solid entry from the famed novelist, even if it doesn’t match the splendor of his prior installments.

“A short, sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn,” the dust jacket accurately proclaims. Fittingly, each chapter is a certain time – beginning at 11:56 PM and ending at 6:52 AM – while small clocks denote time changes. All in all, it’s a logical, systematic method for organization, which is easy to follow and thus works well. “At its center are two sisters,” the jacket continues, “Eri, a fashion model slumbering her way into oblivion, and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Denny’s toward people whose lives are radically alien to her own: a jazz trombonist who claims they’ve met before, a burly female ‘love hotel’ manager and her maid staff, and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman.” Naturally these vivid characters meet – Murakami’s characterization is always spot-on – and engage in conversation during the significant amount of downtime they experience together.

Unfortunately, most of After Dark’s action doesn’t happen to the characters as much as around them, so that they’re left to observe the aftermath and attempt to infer its root cause(s). Another shortcoming is that the characters drift from place to place interacting with others, but a portion of the meetings and conversations just seem unrealistic. Perhaps the developments are meant to illustrate the difference between night and day, or maybe I’m being too hard on Murakami by not suspending my disbelief, but as a regular reader of his, I’m accustomed to it.

So, while AD is a brief, enjoyable read, it’s definitely not Murakami’s best. His other novels – at least the ones I’ve read (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Dance Dance Dance, South of the Border, West of the Sun, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Kafka on the Shore) – are on par with his latest, if not above, though Norwegian Wood surpasses them all. With that in mind, wait for the paperback.

Jason Jordan is many things. He is assistant editor and staff reviewer for this magazine. He was the host of the Bean Street Reading Series. He was an editor of The IUS Review. He has been a featured writer at the Tuesday Night Reading Series in Evansville, Indiana. His writing appears in The Edward Society and The2ndHand. He teaches college writing to college students. His book is called Powering the Devil's Circus and his website is located here. He is a writer.

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