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A review by koberreads
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
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: Misogyny, Trafficking, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content and Violence