Book Rating: 3/5

Before I jump into describing yet another spectacle by Haruki Murakami, I have to confess my irregularity when it comes to sleeping. I tend to sleep at odd hours in the day and wake up at midnight. While it has not been going on for a long time, it has affected my school work. I tend to miss out on classes these days but otherwise, my grades have not treaded into the void of no return yet. Yes, I have been losing a few percentages here and there but by the end of June, I guess I will maintain anything above 85%.

Being awake throughout the night plays with your emotions. You constantly build worlds in your mind. Write narratives that would never happen in reality. You feel restless and you try to grasp the thread of hope at the corners of light in the dark. It has been a few days where I keep thinking of thoughts that I usually do not think of. Being alone throughout the night makes you act differently than you normally are during the day. In this novel, Murakami dares to enter this very lonely world.

Murakami uses elements of his other novels as prominently as he does most of the time in “After Dark” as well. The story is set in metropolitan Tokyo throughout one night. Just like any Murakami story, this novel has its fair share of characters conversing about their views on life through different settings such as a café, bar, or a love hotel, etc. We also find Murakami’s linking of music with his works here. “After Dark” was inspired by “Five Spot After Dark” by Curtis Fuller and this book lists songs such as “Bomb Juice” by Shikao Suga, “Go Away Little Girl” by Percy Faith, and His Orchestra, and many others I will list at the end. By listening to the songs, one can assume the creative processes Haruki Murakami took to write this novel. A jazzy retrospect into the death of Tokyo as the ombre silence of the night enters in and the revival as people start rushing to commute, it is almost as if the whole story was imagined while listening to the songs. This very connection between jazz and city life is rather well explored. While I have not listened to the same songs listed in the book, I highly recommend Bernard Herrmann’s “Thank God For The Rain” to accompany you as you read through. I find the time from 3-5 AM ideal (accompanied by the song I mentioned) to feel the dreamy atmosphere. Reading in the dark under a lamp helped me feel the symbolism the midnight tried to convey. Haunting and yet soothing, the book is a great read if you read it right.

I would like to praise the way the characters introduced were given personalities and a moral accompanying much of their behavior. Mostly I liked the story of Korogi. While never explaining what’s been following her, it does open to interpretation in the reader’s mind as if the character was designed as a gateway of us interacting with Mari Asai. Takahashi Tetsuya is also another well-written character but I wish more of his view on the law was explored. His sudden serious outlook on life and quitting music contrasted with Mari’s inner reluctance to study Chinese. Takahashi balances Mari’s seriousness. His talkative personality helps us find pieces of the past that allude to Mari’s life.

Plot-wise, I did enjoy the conversations Mari had with the characters. It is however very Murakami-esque that every character seems to have a philosophical outlook in life. Mari was given more of a personality that would somehow want people to tell her things and that made sense as I kept reading. Much of the main plot was centered around Mari talking to Takahashi and the Alphaville staff to find answers to fix the relationship between Mari and Eri. The subplots included Eri’s nightmare and Shirakawa, the office worker who beat the Chinese prostitute. Eri’s storyline was the element of suspense that would pique your interest but it fails to generate any more anticipation as the introduction to Shirakawa’s subplot kept making abrupt pauses. After mentioning Eri’s two months of sleeping, the subplot at best seems like a nightmare but certain elements generate unnecessary ambiguity. Shirakawa on the other hand was a Japanese Patrick Bateman who was more of a sociopath than a psychopath. While the story does build anticipation as to when the Chinese gang might catch Shirokawa, this, unfortunately, is wasted as nothing happens to him. It almost felt as if his story storyline was written to fill gaps. It also did not help with the unnecessary receiving of his cellphone at the convenience store. It did not add any tension nor any new information to the story so again I bring up the “filling the gaps” argument. The ending too seemed abrupt and almost as if the book was deliberately rushed to meet a deadline. However, due to the story being set under the course of one night, it does make sense that the page count was 201. But because much of it feeling incomplete, I do feel like Murakami should have been smarter of how he incorporated what he wanted here.

Although I had a pretty fun read, it did disappoint me at times. There was just so much potential here that it simply failed to utilize. I will not call it a bad novel but rather that it could not set a new bar for Murakami’s literary world. Nonetheless, this book did not make me feel Murakami losing touch in his writing but rather helped me see an unorthodox novel that was more experimental and it is the experimental works by authors or film directors that make you appreciate art differently. I will recommend this if you have not been familiar with Murakami ever before as I am sure any of his novels will fascinate newcomers.

Songs Mentioned:

• Go Away Little Girl – Percy Faith and His Orchestra
• The April Fools – Burt Bacharach
• Five Spot After Dark – Curtis Fuller
• Jealousy – Pet Shop Boys
• Theme from Love Story – Francis Lai
• Ringo Juice – Shikao Suga
• My Ideal – Ben Webster
• I Can’t Go for That – Hall and Oates
• Sophisticated Lady – Duke Ellington
• Sonnymoon for Two – Sonny Rollins