After The Quake [Paperback]

Haruki Murakami (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2002

paperback book

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Vintage Books / Random House; Later printing edition (2002)
• ISBN-10: 0375713271
• ISBN-13: 978-0375713279
• ASIN: B001FQ90BI
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,057,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into forty-two languages. The most recent of his many honours is the Franz Kafka Prize.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A return to form, August 22, 2002

By 

Robert S Michaels "bobm" (Fairfield, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Quake: Stories (Hardcover)

While I doubt there would ever come a day when I wouldn't read a new book of his, I do have to say that it's felt to me for a while (since Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) like he wasn't exactly in his groove any more. Maybe it was the tighter focus of those later books that didn't appeal to me as much. Whatever the reason, After the Quake is the man at his best. The stories are short and the book is overall a quick read, but that... density... is back. Each one bears re-reading. I still wouldn't recommend it as the best starting point (I for some reason always recommend Sheep Chase or Hardboiled for that), but still, great stuff.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short & Simple, Yet, Remarkable Fiction!, October 9, 2002

By 

Joseph J. Hanssen "Joe" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After the Quake: Stories (Hardcover)

All of Murakami's novels are best sellers, and he is perhaps the most recognized and noted Japanese author in the U.S. and around the world. Murakami is one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed all of his previous novels, and now this little book of short stories kept me turning the pages past the midnight hour. Murakami drew me in with his simple language and the powerful dialogue of his intriguing characters. These six stories are all related to the devastating Kobe earthquake of 1995. The stories are set in the months between the natural disaster and the poison gas attacks that occurred in Tokyo's subways. Both of these events dramatically changed the physical and social landscape of Japan. For each of the characters in these stories, the earthquake's emotional aftershock set off an unreal chain of events.

I enjoyed all of these stories, but a few were my favorites. In "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo", a loan-collector teams up with a man-sized frog to fight an enormous worm that threatens to destroy Tokyo. In "Landscape With Flatiron", we learn about Miyake's passion in building bonfires with his companion Junko, and what it all symbolizes. And last but not least, in "Honey Pie", we are presented with a complex, passionate story about a love triangle that takes place over many years.

We are exposed to a lot of human suffering in these stories. Murakami, however, sheds light and hope in all of these stories by showing us the courage, strength, and compassion these devastated people possess in overcoming any tragedy that they may have to face. I always look forward to Murakami's new novels. Now, I can, hopefully, look forward to more short stories by this talented author. This is a beautifully written collection of stories. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Joe Hanssen

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick note..., September 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: After the Quake: Stories (Hardcover)

This is for the reader who posted a note about the title story mentioned by the inside cover: the original Japanese title of this collection is "Kamisama no kodomo ha minna odoru," or "All God's Children Can Dance." My guess is, they wrote the inside cover and then decided later on to change the title to "After the Quake." I guess the editor missed that :-)

I'm a die-hard Murakami fan, so nothing I can say about this collection would be fair or subjective. The ellusive "title story" left me shaken, and I ended up reading it three more times to figure out what it was that haunted me. Wow...

Murakami's new novel just came out here in Japan! "Kafka on the Shore," a big fat monster of a book that's been published in two volumes. I'm about halfway into the first part, and structually, it's turning out to be a lot like "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of World" in that there are two stories going on simultaneously and seem, in some way, to be connected. And like "Wind-up Bird Chronicle," war-history makes up a lot o the plot. Oh, when will the English translation come out!!