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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I believe this is my sixth Murakami novel. He’s easily one of my most read authors despite the fact that I think he has some fairly notable issues that pop up in almost all of his books. Notably I think he is fairly incapable of writing women characters, his sex scenes are always disturbing and he will linger on certain details for far too long. Sometimes I wonder why I read him. And then he’ll conjure up a beautiful turn of phrase or have a really interesting line of dialogue or make a really astute observation and I remember why. For me he is very much an author where you have to accept his flaws in order to truly enjoy his writing. Sometimes the flaws outweigh the strong points and then there are times like After Dark where he keeps his worst instincts restrained and lets you enjoy the beauty of his craft.
Of all of the books I’ve read by him I think After Dark is his least-flawed. His women here actually feel real and not like a different species. There are no explicit sex scenes (although there is one description of a woman’s naked body that feels quite pointless and I feel most authors would not include it). The book is short enough that there aren’t a ton of things that he overly focuses on. Fixing these flaws allows me to appreciate the strong parts of his writing more and they are present here, although not in as high of doses as I’d enjoy. Certain phrases are indeed really pretty, the dialogue is really nice and the narration is quite interesting, but none of these things really blew me away the way they did in other Murakami novels. All-in-all this is Murakami at a very high level and I do think this is a great introduction to him.
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
not sure about this! thought I would love, but just not as good as other murakamis. loved the descriptions of cities, and cafés, but the rest fell a little flat.
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
fast-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:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated