A Night of Tears and Wonders - a review of Haruki Murakami's After Dark

After Dark is a novel by Haruki Murakami dealing with a story of teenage Mari Asai, but it is not at all a read only for the younger audience. The main character runs away from her home for a night, haunted by family problems. She decides to spend time in Denny’s in central Tokyo reading a book but she is not destined to have a peaceful time. The girl gets involved in a sequence of events that lets her find new friends and make peace with her life.

Many writers keep the tension in their stories through piling up events, considering action the most important part of a gripping story. Murakami’s approach to writing is quite different – he allows the readers to breathe and ponder and focuses a lot on people, rather than what is happening to them. The plot bases not on action, but on development of the characters. A lot of room is given to what they think and how do they behave and how do they change when affected by others.

The book has a very interesting form – every chapter instead of a name bears the hour at which the described events are happening. This gives the novel an anchor in time and allows the reader to follow the events with greater ease. It also proposes an interesting way of reading the book during the night, in synch with what is happening to its characters.

Many of the critics categorise After Dark as a magic realism novel -  a novel which blends reality with magical elements. This should not be confused with fantasy genre – the latter bases its entire world in supernatural, while magical realism adds few magical elements to otherwise mundane settings. The story of Mari’s sister, Eri, who is in an unusual coma and is kidnapped by a weird man from the tv is with no doubt a supernatural one. The rest of the book is set in a very ordinary surroundings – streets of Tokyo, fast food restaurants, local shops – without characters even suspecting anything paranormal in their life.

The issue that raises the most questions about the book is its open ending. The readers can never be sure what actually happened and if it all was real or just a dream. There are characters, whose arcs are never resolved and which disappear, just as the night did. This causes a lot of issues as the characters were being developed throughout the book and is very disappointing, never to hear what actually happened to them. The best example here is the case of Shirakawa – there is a great build up of what may happen to him, only to end in a taxi ride home, which hints to us that his crimes will never be punished – but it is not a clear resolution and a pretty unsatisfactory one.

The book is a breeze of fresh air between plot-heavy stories, which most of authors like to serve the audience. Pushing the plot forward through characters, rather than piling up events is a very refreshing thing to see. Despite the open ending and lack of definitive finish the book is still a good and interesting read for all fans of character-driven stories with a pinch of magic.

Thanks for sticking around!

Nat