After Dark

Haruki Murakami

12/17/2007

It is nighttime in Tokyo. A young woman is sitting alone in a Denny's family restaurant, reading her book. Mari Asai is only sitting there reading and smoking. A young man, slightly older, comes in, sees her, and joins her. Tetsuya Takahashi had met Mari once before through her beautiful older sister Eri. He sits with Mari and soon is discussing his trombone, jazz, and finally, Eri. After Tetsuya leaves, Mari is approached by a woman who needs her linguistic help. A Chinese prostitute has been beat up at a near-by love hotel. Kaoru hopes Mari can get the woman to talk and get the Chinese gang who pimps her to come rescue her.

The viewpoint changes and the reader sees Eri Asai asleep and very still. Her television comes on and starts showing static, even though it is turned off. The reader watches as Eri never moves, the television slowly clears up to show another room, empty of all but a man and a chair. The man appears to be staring through the screen at Eri.

The viewpoint changes again. The reader now sees a man in an office working all night. He is the man who beat up the Chinese woman and has now returned to work. He talks with his wife, he continues the project he has, and thinks about his evening.

After Dark takes place over seven hours. Murakami uses this short novel to twist the reader's thinking around as he jumps between the different characters. Rather than a full story, it is a slice of the night, showing these people during this short time. Mari talks with Tetsuya, Kaoru, and another worker at the love hotel throughout the night, revealing different stories for each of them. Eri has a supernatural adventure without waking up - or does she? Shirakawa finishes up his normal late night and goes home, stopping along the way to clean up after himself.

This is a quirky novel that doesn't have any obvious point other than to show a snapshot. Yet it lets the reader wonder about the circumstances, the coincidences, and happenings. After I finished I thought "what was that all about?", then realized that was probably the reaction Murakami hoped for. If you want a definite beginning, middle, and end with a happily ever after, this isn't the book. At times it seems a bit obscure. Yet when you are done, you'll find the characters tend to stay with you a while...

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