A quick little foray into the world at night, when people exist in almost a different realm. After Dark takes place in Tokyo, over the course of one night, and centers around a small selection of people whose activities all end up interconnected somehow. But it’s not quite so simple, as there seems to be some other kind of… I don’t want to say supernatural, but fantastical elements at play as well. It’s a simple and quick read, that comes across as very gentle and thoughtful, yet I can’t say as I was 100% sold on it in it’s entirety.
After Dark features twining stories centered around a number of people, including: a young woman trapped in a deep sleep, the girl’s sister who wants nothing more than to stay away form home all night, an old acquaintance of the two sisters who wants to be more acquainted, three women working at a love hotel, a young Chinese prostitute who is the victim of violence, and the businessman who hurt her. Everyone lives separate lives which all influence the world around them, and we as the viewer see all of these interactions and connections as if viewing everything from a camera in a movie where we may want to get involved but can’t. This is especially apparent when dealing with the young sleeping woman, Eri, and adds to the sense of mystery in the novel. Of course, some of the book’s characters and their stories are more interesting than others, which made me almost want to speed through those who I didn’t enjoy as much. But I didn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t, as I feel that they all added something different to the book which filled in some of the open spaces.
Overall, this novel’s tone is quiet, thoughtful, gentle, and mysterious. Much like the wee, still hours of the night. It is also super quick to read through, and I almost wished there was more as I was really enjoying the mood. But I also kind of wish there was more to it for another reason: there was maybe a little too much left loose in the wind. Ambiguity sometimes works, but I just had so many questions left unanswered, and just needed a little sliver more information. In particular, to do with the somewhat supernatural elements of the novel. What were they about? Why were they happening? Is something at play here? Do they really add anything at all or is it just a quick aside? I just needed one more piece of information, and I think I could have dealt with it a little better.
So, at the end of the day I didn’t mind reading this short little novel at all. It was sweet and cute, though maybe the characters and end-game could have been developed a little more as most of the characters ended up being pretty static (being such a short book there wasn’t that much time but I do think they could have been fleshed out more). That said, it was enjoyable and whimsical, kind of like the other works by Murakami I have read so far. Will it be something that stays with me for a long time? Mmm, probably not, but I don’t regret picking this one up at all.
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