After Dark by Haruki Murakami

[grady]

A new novel by Haruki Murakami comes out tomorrow! yaay!

link

I'm gonna be going to Powells in Portland on my lunch break tomorrow to pick it up! (I think I'm a little too excited, but oh well....)

[Aaron Contreras]

thanks for the tip.

[grady]

So this book was over and done with before it started, but a bit on the short side, very short. Coming in at just under 195 pages, just as the book started to get a good rhythm and intrigue going it was over.

That said it wasn't terribly great nor incredibly bad. It had a lot of the standard Murakami elements we all know and have come to expect in his novels and stories(references to jazz, classical, and pop music; films; and various foods and chain restaurants.)

There is a very odd feeling of a film to this novel including sections that describe the action that is occurring from the perspective of a camera shooting the scene. Aside from the obvious mention of a camera, shots, lenses, and perspectives, I think this film feeling also comes from the structure of the novel's very sparse prose on the page. At a couple points while reading the novel I could imagine the page and text restructured to mimic that of a screenplays formatting.

If you're a fan of Murakami, this is worth a read, but not something I would say rush out and get immediately, unless you're itching for new Murakami.(I'm guilty of this.) If you're new to Murakami, I would recommend reading one of his earlier novels or short story collections, something like A Wild Sheep Chase or Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World or Norwegian Wood.

[GforGroove]

ouch. For some reason (no time) I didn't rush to get and i think i'm in the number 58! in the que at the library on this.
So i guess was fine i didn't run to get it no?

that film part sounds too good though!

[winjer]

Was loving it up until about half way through...

>>click<< - one of my favorite bloggers nails the dilemma for any fan of Murakami... I dunno if I agree that he has 'nothing to say'... but theres definatley something to that statement...

still, the book is a pleasurable read, and full of great Murakami moments... but... I hate saying 'Murakami moments'...

[grady]

Originally Posted by winjer

Was loving it up until about half way through...

>>click<< - one of my favorite bloggers nails the dilemma for any fan of Murakami... I dunno if I agree that he has 'nothing to say'... but theres definatley something to that statement...

still, the book is a pleasurable read, and full of great Murakami moments... but... I hate saying 'Murakami moments'...

That link really hit on some good points. Thanks for adding it.

Regarding the film references, I wish I could locate the interview at this moment, but I remember reading around the release of Kafka on the Shore that the only filmmakers he would give his novels to outright would be David Lynch and Woody Allen.

While reading After Dark something about the milleu of the evening city setting seems like a perfect match up for Wong Kar-Wai. There is some congruency in After Dark and the rather plotless structure of WKW's film, especially where the mood and feeling is more important than the plot more often than not.

(digression: I'm really curious to see WKW's new film My Blueberry Nights as it's his first forray into an entire English language film. link to the trailer can be found here.)

[myshkin]

WHen reading Wind Up Bird, I felt a bit of a connection, possibly as a result of the dryish deadpan style, with Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, though it's years since I read that. Anyone read more of Hoeg than that work, or feel a similarity...haven't read anymore of Hoeg since though I did enjoy Miss Smilla alot.

[GreenPea]

Honestly what I liked more about Wind Up Bird Chronicle were the Mongolia/China stories.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Argh! I have so much reading to catch up on after years and years of thick, dry law tomes, which kinda put me off reading for pleasure for a long time. Only just started again relatively recently - and being married to a Master in English Literature means I should be ashamed of myself too. We have a houseful of books I never even picked up

Haven't read ANY Murakami or Hoeg (although Smilla's Sense of Snow is one of my favourite movies). Will seriously add these authors to my list of future buys.

[kid cue]

Originally Posted by winjer

Was loving it up until about half way through...

>>click<< - one of my favorite bloggers nails the dilemma for any fan of Murakami... I dunno if I agree that he has 'nothing to say'... but theres definatley something to that statement...

still, the book is a pleasurable read, and full of great Murakami moments... but... I hate saying 'Murakami moments'...

i think Murakami's work can suffer from being too loose or unfocused, like stream-of-consciousness without enough consciousness. Hard-Boiled Wonderland was formally awkward despite its incredible ambition. this maybe comes across as being self-indulgent, "surface" (as the blog puts it) over "depth," writing for the sake of writing instead of starting with a 'real' idea. but these are just false distinctions aren't they?

of course his "uncanny ability to create atmosphere and capture physical longing" and way of "cataloging the discontents of the modern age, particularly the alarmingly numerous forms of ennui" have everything to do with the "human condition." if there's a problem, it's with Murakami's consistency rather than his chosen form/style IMO.