After Dark | Book Review
by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (translator)
Source: Google Images
The midnight hour approaches in an almost empty all-night diner. Mari sips her coffee and glances up from a book as a young man, a musician, intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home.
Later, Mari is interrupted again by a girl from the Alphaville Hotel; a Chinese prostitute has been hurt by a client, and she needs Mari's help.
Meanwhile Mari's beautiful sister Eri sleeps a deep, heavy sleep that is 'to perfect, too pure' to be normal; she has lain asleep for two months. But tonight a the digital clock displays 00:00, a hint of life flickers across the TV screen, though the television's plug has been pulled out.
Strange nocturnal happenings, or a trick of the night?
Source: Goodreads
This isn’t a Bad Book, but What is Going On with This Book?
Considering this isn’t the first book I’ve read by Murakami, I should have been mentally ready for his unique writing style. Not that After Dark was a bad book, it really isn’t a bad book. The writing and language is extremely easy to absorb. Unfortunately, After Dark did not have things I enjoy in a novel.
1. This book has no plot, or specifically, no main storyline. And for someone who enjoys a good storyline buildup, After Dark was severely lacking in this area. I would not even consider Eri Asai’s “coma” to be the main storyline... There was just so much going on with nothing going on at the same time. Please tell me I’m not the only one who felt like this upon finishing After Dark.
2. Despite having a good number of main characters, there was literally no character arc at all. Not even a single one. I simply could not enjoy Eri and Mari Asai’s storylines. If you thought the book was boring, they were the most mundane characters in this underwhelming book. Takahashi was pretty interesting to focus on, except I got a weird vibe off of him nearing the end of the book. Then there was the worst of them all, Shirakawa. This is not a good person, not even close. He has no ethics, morals or empathy. Yet, unfortunately, he was more interesting than our Asai sisters...
After all, I have more complains on After Dark than compliments. But I have to emphasize once again, this is not a bad book. It’s just an extremely weird book. It requires an acquired taste to fully appreciate this book. Then again, is there an underlying meaning to the story that I failed to pick up on?
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
