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trin 's review for:
After Dark
by Haruki Murakami
What a revelatory experience! I read it in one sitting; I was utterly entranced. My brother has been promoting Murakami’s work for years, but I pretty much ignored him because his literary tastes trend toward the incredibly pretentious; sometimes I think his philosophy is “the more obscure, depressing, and French, the better!” Well, I shouldn’t have dismissed him—either my brother or Murakami—so quickly.
The story takes place over the course of a single night, one which 19-year-old Mari decides to spend wandering the streets of Tokyo rather than go home to her troubled family. Murakami’s descriptions of the parts of the city that never sleep—all-night Denny’s and convenience stores, love hotels and not-quite-abandoned office buildings—are as hypnotic as a swirling kaleidoscope of flashing neon lights, and the wandering conversations Mari has with the people she meets are no less compelling. This is well worth losing sleep over.
The story takes place over the course of a single night, one which 19-year-old Mari decides to spend wandering the streets of Tokyo rather than go home to her troubled family. Murakami’s descriptions of the parts of the city that never sleep—all-night Denny’s and convenience stores, love hotels and not-quite-abandoned office buildings—are as hypnotic as a swirling kaleidoscope of flashing neon lights, and the wandering conversations Mari has with the people she meets are no less compelling. This is well worth losing sleep over.