Ms. Hen reviews After Dark

 

After Dark

Haruki Murakami

Vintage International

2007

Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she wanted to read more Haruki Murakami. That's all. This book sat on Ms. Hen's shelf for a while before she read it; it's not that she didn't want to read it, but she was waiting for the right time.

This novel is about a young woman, Mari, who is killing time between midnight and the morning. She starts at a Denny's reading a book, and is interrupted by a young man named Takahashi who she had known when she was younger. He tells her he has a practice session with his band, and he plays the trombone. Mari drinks her coffee, and after he leaves is interrupted again by the owner of a love hotel, or love ho. She wants Mari to be an interpreter for a Chinese customer at the hotel.

Mari goes with her to the hotel, and she is shocked that the young woman was attacked, and everything was stolen from her, including her clothes. She is a Chinese prostitute. Mari gets to know the people who work at the love ho. Her sister is asleep at home, and has been asleep for two years. We see her in her room reflected in a mirror, but we don't know what's real.

This novel is different from others by Murakami in the way that it is very simple. It makes Ms. Hen think of a really long short story. She read this quickly, faster than she usually reads a book. It reminded her a little of a Japanese show on Netflix called MIDNIGHT DINER, which Ms. Hen loved. It's a show about a diner in Japan that's only open in the middle of the night, and wacky characters come in, and the owner cooks for them. This show might have been inspired by this book, or by real life.

Ms. Hen thinks Murakami is always a good idea. This novel is haunting in in the right way. It's like real life, with a twist. That's what a good book should be, the right amount of fantasy to take the reader away from the world. We all need that.

Ms. Hen at the Boston Public Library