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mewpasaurus's review
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Haruki Murakami has this way of writing his books in which you know the ending will probably either be a non-ending or somehow unsatisfactory, but yet we, as readers, are okay with that. After Dark is no different; the characters are neither protagonists or antagonists, they merely exist in a world that swirls around them and continues whether they do or don't participate. His books are interesting in that way; the characters are just dressing to the atmosphere or story he's trying to convey, not particularly main characters.
After Dark really focuses on the passage of time and how the city the characters move and operate during the quiet hours of deep night/early morning. There are good, bad and neutral aspects just as there are good, bad and neutral people that operate in that time span. None of their stories have resolution and they aren't supposed to. After all, it's only the passage of one night in a very busy city.
Overall, I found this enjoyable and enigmatic. It's one of the things I've always enjoyed about Murakami's work.
After Dark really focuses on the passage of time and how the city the characters move and operate during the quiet hours of deep night/early morning. There are good, bad and neutral aspects just as there are good, bad and neutral people that operate in that time span. None of their stories have resolution and they aren't supposed to. After all, it's only the passage of one night in a very busy city.
Overall, I found this enjoyable and enigmatic. It's one of the things I've always enjoyed about Murakami's work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Sexual content
koberreads's review
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I read this book twice. This is my secone time. My First read felt calm and reflective and might even annoyed the mysteries or magical realism of Murakami’s stories are yet again, surprise surprise, unanswered or simply stayed a mystery. A calm moderately dark novel that you can finish reading in 3 hr flight and after reading it, you would mostly like satisfied you read it rather than just buying on flight wifi and browisng social media again as if you cant do that on the ground or played your nitendo switch.
I read it again the 2nd time because I want something that would make me feel reflective about life especially regarding our dark side and how we all have such dark side but our darksidw is mixed with our more kinder tendicies so no one in real life is purely/mostly good or purely/most evil. We are in the middle, the gray area. We should just know how to manage it
Also read it because it is one of Murakamis writing that I can tolerate compared to his other books that are too sexual or has incest in it. Damn I know Murakmi and the writer of game of thrones like too much Sigmund Freud writings but come on.. no need to expound or put that in every book or explained in so much gross detail. Glad this one is not like that. No graphic sex here even if the setting is partly in a love hotel hahhahahah compared to other Murkamis books where the characters are not even near such a hotel but act like they are filming for “p*rnhub” hahahaha. I am okay with sex. Just dont like it if Murakami either makes it too graphic (rather watch porn than read porn if that happens) or makes it about incest again or both. Be glad that “After Dark” short novel is nothing like that
Read it if you want to know about the darkside of Human Nature and just be prepared to indulge in mysterious magical realism of Murakami that he will never explain to you. He always leaves it to you to interpret such things
I read it again the 2nd time because I want something that would make me feel reflective about life especially regarding our dark side and how we all have such dark side but our darksidw is mixed with our more kinder tendicies so no one in real life is purely/mostly good or purely/most evil. We are in the middle, the gray area. We should just know how to manage it
Also read it because it is one of Murakamis writing that I can tolerate compared to his other books that are too sexual or has incest in it. Damn I know Murakmi and the writer of game of thrones like too much Sigmund Freud writings but come on.. no need to expound or put that in every book or explained in so much gross detail. Glad this one is not like that. No graphic sex here even if the setting is partly in a love hotel hahhahahah compared to other Murkamis books where the characters are not even near such a hotel but act like they are filming for “p*rnhub” hahahaha. I am okay with sex. Just dont like it if Murakami either makes it too graphic (rather watch porn than read porn if that happens) or makes it about incest again or both. Be glad that “After Dark” short novel is nothing like that
Read it if you want to know about the darkside of Human Nature and just be prepared to indulge in mysterious magical realism of Murakami that he will never explain to you. He always leaves it to you to interpret such things
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking, Misogyny, and Abandonment
Minor: Violence and Sexual content
lupolucas's review
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Incest, Grief, Death of parent, and Cancer
flowerssss's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Trafficking, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and Bullying
af444af's review
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Have always hated open-ended endings, and this book is unfortunately one of them. Very interesting read nevertheless. An interesting approach to the idea of the universe; that it is not only made out of one, but many realities. enlighten me, but why is there a part where Mari kissed her sister on the lips??
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Violence
vayudev's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wonderful book, definitely has this unique Murakami style, but still stands apart from his other, more similar books. I really liked it!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
marxlee's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
"It's true, though: time moves in its own special way in the middle of the night"
In this book Murakami takes us in the dark time of the day (night) with not a specific character, but with some throughout the hours. I chose to read this book because I thought it would be one thing (because I saw a review) but of course it was another, as we are talking of a Murakami work. It is not my favorite, but it isn't the worst too. A good thing about it, for me, is that it made me want to walk alone in the middle of the night, but we kind of do it with the characters, which is good.
There are three parts I'd to say some things.
1. This layer, like some kind of transparent sponge kind of thing, stands there between Eri Asai and me, and the words that come out of my mouth have to pass through it, and when that happens, the sponge sucks almost all the nutrients right out of them. She's not listening to anything I say—not really. The longer we talk, the more clearly I can see what's happening. So then the words that come out of her
mouth stop making it all the way to me. It was a very strange feeling."
" other places people describing the feeling of not being heard or seen on a conversation, but never like this and you know... I relate the most with the way the chracater chooses to describe it here and finishes with "it was a very strange feeling", because indeed it is.
2. "I do feel that I've managed to make something I could maybe call my own world... over time... little by little. And when I'm inside it, to some extent, I feel kind of relieved. But the very fact I felt I had to make such a world probably means that I'm a weak person, that I bruise easily, don't you think? And in the eyes of society at large, that world of mine is a puny little thing. It's like a cardboard house: a puff of wind might carry it off somewhere."
When Mari says this, that making a world for herself probably means she's a weak person I want to disagree with her and want to tell her that some people want to make a world of their own but can't even stand the thought of it, so creating their own world would require much work and care and courage. Perhaps love too, self love.
3. "In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount."
Me, and maybe an important amount of people, should work on that. On combining your alone-stuff and your collectively-stuff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
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