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After Dark
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A sleek, gripping novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the spooky hours between midnight and dawn, by an internationally renowned literary phenomenon.
Murakami's trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery. Combining the pyrotechnical genius that made Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle international bestsellers, with a surprising infusion of heart, Murakami has produced one of his most enchanting fictions yet.
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"In After Dark, night seems to be where Murakami was headed all along, a place where the ordinary acts that he has written of so evocatively stand out against the velvety bas relief of the Tokyo night, a backdrop that gives these acts both danger and wonder . . . He has a natural curiosity about people, a belief that they contain wonders, perhaps none so great as the capacity for human connection." Charles Taylor, Newsday " After Dark [is] hypnotically eerie, sometimes even funny, but most of all, it's [a book] that keeps ratcheting up the suspense . . . Through his short, enigmatic chapters, Murakami--aided by Jay Rubin's perfectly pitched English--manages to convey something of the interconnectedness of the city and its constant air of expectancy and danger." Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World "The world [Murakami] creates--of fast-food restaurants and strange hotels, people dying (almost literally) to make connections but able to do so only in fits and starts--continues to be one of the most intoxicating around. His knack for making the everyday exotic, and the elusive tangible, is as sharp as in his 'bigger' works, [just as] the middle ground he stakes can still make the earth move." Ed Siegel, The Boston Phoenix " After Dark is a gripping dream [in which] Murakami reveals the darkness in which his characters' amorphous fears flourish. But so too does their poignant and brave willingness to rebirth themselves every day . . . In Murakami's hands, hope is nothing more nor less than a deep, cleansing breath." Julie Wittes Schlack, The Boston Globe "[Murakami's] flair for making dialogue bloom from inhospitable soil, the way he can magic a memorable encounter out of thin air, and his conviction that there is salvation to be found in the company of strangers--all these familiar Murakami traits animate the pages of the novel and give it the writer's special stamp. Yet in After Dark this signature style seems to have found itself a fresher groove . . . It almost asks to be devoured by insomniacs in a single all-night sitting." Margaret Hillenbrand, Financial Times " After Dark is a streamlined, hushed ensemble piece built on the notion that very late at night, after the lamps of logic have been snuffed and rationality has shut its eyes, life on earth becomes boundariless and blurred . . . Standing above the common gloom, Murakami detects phosphorescence everywhere, but chiefly in the auras around people, which glow brightest at night and when combined." Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review "This is a sparely written book, floating on its metaphors, a delicate and simple story, beautifully told." Joanna Rose, The Oregonian " After Dark [is] one of the author's most fully realized short fictions . . . He's drilling down to the essential mysteries of existence." Laura Miller, Salon "What you'll love: The book's spare yet eerily atmospheric scenes will fester under your skin, poking at your equilibrium long after you've finished reading." Alexis Burling, The Washington Post "There's a dreamlike quality to Haruki Murakami's mesmerizing new novel, [where] amid the alienation are flickers of hopefulness springing from seemingly random, serendipitous human interactions and connections . . . Like a latter-day Walker Percy or Albert Camus, Murakami raises questions about perception and existence [and] captures the palpable loneliness and essential unfathomability at the heart of modern life." Heller McAlpin, The Christian Science Monitor "This strange, mesmerizing, spell-binding, voyeuristic novel is impossible to put down . . . The reader prowls among [its characters], uneasy about such a relentless perspective, yet unable to relinquish it. In such a way does Murakami skillfully and seamlessly strip the human condition of its disguises and ponder the impenetrable mysteries of the human heart." Sam Coale, The Providence Journal "This mesmerizing tale [is] a metaphysical mystery that's surprisingly linear in structure and almost tidy for [Murakami's] oeuvre . . . After Dark deftly explores existentialist notions of purpose, control, and identity." Corrie Pikul, Elle "Unlike many of Murakami's other characters, After Dark's two heroes aren't acutely passive slackers. Night may darken their daily duties, but it can't blacken the ever-shifting shutter speeds of Murakami's cockeyed Kodak . . . His unusual in-camera narration permits even his minor misfits to shine while focusing on how humanity overlooks the spectral figures toiling before dawn . . . It is straight-ahead jazz with a quiet grace." Edward Champion, Chapter One: 11:56 p.m. Eyes mark the shape of the city.
Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature--or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city's moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding.
Our line of sight chooses an area of concentrated brightness and, focusing there, silently descends to it--a sea of neon colors. They call this place an "amusement district." The giant digital screens fastened to the sides of buildings fall silent as midnight approaches, but loudspeakers on storefronts keep pumping out exaggerated hip-hop bass lines. A large game center crammed with young people; wild electronic sounds; a group of college students spilling out from a bar; teenage girls with brilliant bleached hair, healthy legs thrusting out from micromini skirts; dark-suited men racing across diagonal crosswalks for the last trains to the suburbs. Even at this hour, the karaoke club pitchmen keep shouting for customers. A flashy black station wagon drifts down the street as if taking stock of the district through its black-tinted windows. The car looks like a deep-sea creature with specialized skin and organs. Two young policemen patrol the street with tense expressions, but no one seems to notice them. The district plays by its own rules at a time like this. The season is late autumn. No wind is blowing, but the air carries a chill. The date is just about to change.
We are inside a Denny's.
Unremarkable but adequate lighting; expressionless decor and dinnerware; floor plan designed to the last detail by management engineers; innocuous background music at low volume; staff meticulously trained to deal with customers by the book: "Welcome to Denny's." Everything about the restaurant is anonymous and interchangeable. And almost every seat is filled.
After a quick survey of the interior, our eyes come to rest on a girl sitting by the front window. Why her? Why not someone else? Hard to say. But, for some reason, she attracts our attention--very naturally. She sits at a four-person table, reading a book. Hooded gray parka, blue jeans, yellow sneakers faded from repeated washing. On the back of the chair next to her hangs a varsity jacket. This, too, is far from new. She is probably college freshman age, though an air of high school still clings to her. Hair black, short, and straight. Little makeup, no jewelry. Small, slender face. Black-rimmed glasses. Every now and then, an earnest wrinkle forms between her brows.
She reads with great concentration. Her eyes rarely move from the pages of her book--a thick hardback. A bookstore wrapper hides the title from us. Judging from her intent expression, the book might contain challenging subject matter. Far from skimming, she seems to be biting off and chewing it one line at a time.
On her table is a coffee cup. And an ashtray. Next to the ashtray, a navy blue baseball cap with a Boston Red Sox "B." It might be a little too large for her head. A... A sleek, gripping novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the spooky hours between midnight and dawn, by an internationally renowned literary phenomenon.
Murakami's trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery. Combining the pyrotechnical genius that made Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle international bestsellers, with a surprising infusion of heart, Murakami has produced one of his most enchanting fictions yet.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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