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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Haruki Murakami and having characters answer simple questions with a long winded allegory, name a more iconic duo
unlike any other murakami iโve read!! it takes place over a single night and doesnโt have a clear story line. i love the sensory descriptions and the risks he took in writing this. and of course i would DIE for a good character driven story.
also, no weird sex stuff or milf complex?? very cool, Murakami.
I really like Jay Rubinโs translations, he did a particularly good job with this one. you can see a lot of the nuance he had to work through more clearly than in a lot of other translated works. especially switching 1st, 2nd, 3rd person narration. this was a very fun read.
also, no weird sex stuff or milf complex?? very cool, Murakami.
I really like Jay Rubinโs translations, he did a particularly good job with this one. you can see a lot of the nuance he had to work through more clearly than in a lot of other translated works. especially switching 1st, 2nd, 3rd person narration. this was a very fun read.
After Dark is a very good book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but when comparing it to other Murakami works, it seems somewhat paltry.
I certainly enjoyed this book, but it's not as strong as the other Murakami novels. The writing style reads a lot like a film script written with lots of added detail, for example the opening paragraph of the novel literally describes the reader's point of view flying over the city at night and finally coming to rest on the main character.
The story also seems more like a sketch than a fully fleshed out novel, it leaves a lot up to the imagination and leaves the reader sort of hanging at the end. Some people might argue that this element of mystery is characteristic of most of Murakami's works, but this novel is the most extreme case that I've read so far. At a mere 240 pages with larger print and wider margins than other printings of Murakami's works, I can't help but feel that this is a short story that has been stretched as much as possible.
That said, I remain a huge Murakami fan and continue to devour everything he produces. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading After Dark or any of his other works.
I certainly enjoyed this book, but it's not as strong as the other Murakami novels. The writing style reads a lot like a film script written with lots of added detail, for example the opening paragraph of the novel literally describes the reader's point of view flying over the city at night and finally coming to rest on the main character.
The story also seems more like a sketch than a fully fleshed out novel, it leaves a lot up to the imagination and leaves the reader sort of hanging at the end. Some people might argue that this element of mystery is characteristic of most of Murakami's works, but this novel is the most extreme case that I've read so far. At a mere 240 pages with larger print and wider margins than other printings of Murakami's works, I can't help but feel that this is a short story that has been stretched as much as possible.
That said, I remain a huge Murakami fan and continue to devour everything he produces. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading After Dark or any of his other works.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
"๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ป๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ค, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐บ - ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ: ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ."
I remember the white noise. While doing homework, I would leave the TV on. And somewhere between the desk and the bed, I would drift off, like a spell, to rest my eyes for a few minutes. I would listen to voices from the local news or a the laugh track of a rerun mute to a singular hiss. And I'd wake. Some odd 3 AM, my work left unfinished.
It isn't until years after did I get to reconcile those feelings. Detachment. Isolation. Drifting. This haunting between day and night. I didn't know where to put my body, how to put it down, how to prop it back up, properly.
It isn't until years after did I get to reconcile those feelings. Detachment. Isolation. Drifting.
And didn't realize how these feelings combined with technology. Godard's Alphaville seems to be a major inspiration for this book, but I think Cronenberg's Videodrome is a closer mark of inspiration in how it combines body and tech, thought and tech.
Still holds up in how it offers a distinct feeling I felt so deeply at sixteen. This loneliness. This drifting. I think around the same time, I was introduced to Gaspar Noe's work by way of Enter the Void which also offered that driftwardness. How incredible that your discovery phase offers up to who you are now. And how art speaks to other art to display who you are.
I remember the white noise. While doing homework, I would leave the TV on. And somewhere between the desk and the bed, I would drift off, like a spell, to rest my eyes for a few minutes. I would listen to voices from the local news or a the laugh track of a rerun mute to a singular hiss. And I'd wake. Some odd 3 AM, my work left unfinished.
It isn't until years after did I get to reconcile those feelings. Detachment. Isolation. Drifting. This haunting between day and night. I didn't know where to put my body, how to put it down, how to prop it back up, properly.
It isn't until years after did I get to reconcile those feelings. Detachment. Isolation. Drifting.
And didn't realize how these feelings combined with technology. Godard's Alphaville seems to be a major inspiration for this book, but I think Cronenberg's Videodrome is a closer mark of inspiration in how it combines body and tech, thought and tech.
Still holds up in how it offers a distinct feeling I felt so deeply at sixteen. This loneliness. This drifting. I think around the same time, I was introduced to Gaspar Noe's work by way of Enter the Void which also offered that driftwardness. How incredible that your discovery phase offers up to who you are now. And how art speaks to other art to display who you are.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
After Dark dives into similar themes as two other books of him that I've read, The Wind up Bird Chronicle, and Killing Commandatore. We are in between the real world and the world of dreams, floating back and fourth. It atmospheric, it's eerie, it's ephemeral. Yet After dark does not manage to evoke the same kind of immersion as the other two books. Maybe the length has something to do with it?
It feels like this book is part one of a longer story that Murakami never completed and that leaves me disappointed.
It feels like this book is part one of a longer story that Murakami never completed and that leaves me disappointed.
Really liked it, left things look kinda completely unfinished but I didn't mind too much. One of those books you end up reading essays on afterwards. A different kinda style to Murakami's usual, but still with the usual hallmarks of an original (cats yes, but no holes in the ground this time). It was curiously diverting and I loved the characters. 4 stars