After Dark (novel)
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 1st edition (Japanese) |
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| Author(s) | Haruki Murakami |
| Original title | アフターダーク afutādāku' |
| Translator | Jay Rubin |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Kodansha (Japan) Harvill Press (UK) Alfred A. Knopf (US) |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| Published in English | May 2007 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 208 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-307-26583-8 (US) ISBN 1-84655-047-5 (UK) |
| OCLC Number | 81861840 |
After Dark (アフターダーク Afutā Dāku) is a novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It was originally published in 2004.
Plot summary [edit]
Alienation, a recurring motif in the works of Murakami, is the central theme in this novel set in metropolitan Tokyo over the course of one night. Main characters include Mari, a 19-year-old student, who is spending the night reading in a Denny's. There she meets Takahashi, a trombone-playing student who loves Curtis Fuller's "Five Spot After Dark" song on Blues-ette; Takahashi knows Mari's sister Eri and insists that the group of them have hung out before. Meanwhile, Eri is in a deep sleep.
Mari crosses ways with a retired female wrestler, now working as a manager in a love hotel (whom Takahashi knows and referred to Mari), a Chinese prostitute who has been beaten and stripped of everything in this same love hotel, and a sadistic computer expert. Parts of the story take place in a world between reality and dream.
Structure [edit]
The story is broken down in small chapters of varying length. An added element of interest—and perhaps a post-modern reference—is the fact that the book has a 'real-time' timeline, beginning at the early hours of the night.
References and sources [edit]
- Comprehensive After Dark resource page
- New York Times review
- The Guardian review
- Strange Horizons review
- After Dark at the Internet Book List
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