After Dark and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Kindle Edition
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $0.61 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
After Dark (Vintage International)
 
 
Start reading After Dark on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

After Dark (Vintage International) [Paperback]

Haruki Murakami (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.95
Price: $10.17 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.78 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Friday, February 3? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover, Deckle Edge --  
Paperback $10.17  
Mass Market Paperback --  
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged $29.95  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $17.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial

Book Description

April 29, 2008 Vintage International
A sleek, gripping novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the spooky hours between midnight and dawn, by an internationally renowned literary phenomenon.

Murakami's trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery. Combining the pyrotechnical genius that made Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle international bestsellers, with a surprising infusion of heart, Murakami has produced one of his most enchanting fictions yet.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with 1Q84 $18.97

After Dark (Vintage International) + 1Q84
  • This item: After Dark (Vintage International)

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • 1Q84

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Murakami's 12th work of fiction is darkly entertaining and more novella than novel. Taking place over seven hours of a Tokyo night, it intercuts three loosely related stories, linked by Murakami's signature magical-realist absurd coincidences. When amateur trombonist and soon-to-be law student Tetsuya Takahashi walks into a late-night Denny's, he espies Mari Asai, 19, sitting by herself, and proceeds to talk himself back into her acquaintance. Tetsuya was once interested in plain Mari's gorgeous older sister, Eri, whom he courted, sort of, two summers previously. Murakami then cuts to Eri, asleep in what turns out to be some sort of menacing netherworld. Tetsuya leaves for overnight band practice, but soon a large, 30ish woman, Kaoru, comes into Denny's asking for Mari: Mari speaks Chinese, and Kaoru needs to speak to the Chinese prostitute who has just been badly beaten up in the nearby "love hotel" Kaoru manages. Murakami's omniscient looks at the lives of the sleeping Eri and the prostitute's assailant, a salaryman named Shirakawa, are sheer padding, but the probing, wonderfully improvisational dialogues Mari has with Tetsuya, Kaoru and a hotel worker named Korogi sustain the book until the ambiguous, mostly upbeat dénouement. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Other than an unexpected cheerfulness, After Dark is classic Haruki Murakami, featuring themes of loneliness and alienation, carefully crafted characters, Western references (such as an all-night Denny's where Hall & Oates plays in the background), and distinctive magical-realist twists of fate. Critics also praised the impassive, omniscient narration, like a constantly shifting video camera, which renders each scene in magnificent detail. The chief complaint was the brevity of the novel, and the Los Angeles Times felt that Eri's dreamlike scenes missed the mark as well. "For the unfamiliar, it's the perfect appetizer. For the established fan, it's a quick work that is over far too soon" (Denver Post).

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (April 29, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307278735
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307278739
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

111 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (45)
3 star:
 (22)
2 star:
 (12)
1 star:
 (7)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (111 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Toast so crispy it is almost burnt, May 15, 2007
By 
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: After Dark (Hardcover)
Writing about one's favorite author is a hard thing to do. Like many other Murakami fans, I have been anxiously waiting for the release of After Dark after the short story collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman whetted my appetite. However, after having been a fan of Murakami's fiction for almost six years now, I am well aware that in all likelihood that After Dark would be a lighter work after the considerably larger volume of Kafka on the Shore. Also, having read bits of the Japanese edition, I was aware that After Dark was written in a different style than Murakami's previous novels. Most readers are familiar with Murakami's deadpan, first-person narrator and not with some of his latter third person work and some critics wonder if Murakami's style is truly suited for third person writing. Yet, in this slim volume, Murakami takes things even further. Our omniscient narrator continually uses the pronoun "We" throughout the book thereby smashing the fourth wall and bringing the reader into the mix, but he continually reminds us that we are a powerless spectator that out personal actions have no bearing on what occurs in the book itself, but the personal involvement within the book and Murakami's use of cinematic style in framing scenes, including detailed lists of montage, adds considerably to the book. The reader might notice that this book is Murakami at his most descriptive. Never have I seen him detail the setting as much as he does within this book.

As for the story itself, in some ways it is not quite as interesting as the mechanics of writing that Murakami uses in this book's fewer than 200 pages. The story centers around a nineteen-year old girl named Mari who one night decides that she wants to spend the night reading within the confines of a Denny's instead of going home. While there she encounters a young man named Takahashi who invites himself to sit at her table to order a chicken salad. During their conversation we soon learn that Mari has an older sister named Eri who is strikingly beautiful and Mari is considerably less than happy at home. Also, we learn that, although she is Japanese, Mari is quite fluent in Chinese and in fact speaks it more than her native language. Takahashi soon leaves, but soon a large woman, pure muscle not fat, named Kaoru comes to seek Mari in order to gain her help. It seems that a young Chinese prostitute was beaten severely by a patron and she does not speak a word of Japanese. We also learn that the name of the love hotel is Alphaville and for those who are fans of Godard's film of the same name will have many levers switched.

Like in many of his other novels, the conscious and the unconscious states of mind play large parts within this book, but unlike many of the earlier ones, Murakami writes directly on the subject and many of his common themes are tied together within this book. Also, it is quite interesting to read Murakami's take on urban life in Japan and making the city itself a living, breathing creature and how it thrives off its denizens. While not one of his best books, After Dark displays Murakami's evolution as a writer and shows him breaking away from some of the plot devices that are common in his novels, no missing women in this one!, some might find this change to be a bit much, but it shows growth within the being of a writer in his late fifties, and makes one wonder what is to come in the future.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


36 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't meet the standard set by his earlier works, October 8, 2006
This review is from: After Dark (Hardcover)
As much as it pains me to say this, After Dark is by far my least favorite Murakami novel. Murakami had already begun to experiment with his style in Kafka on the Shore, but After Dark is clearly a large leap in a new direction. Unfortunately, I can't say this first effort is successful. The story is cryptic as expected but for a Murakami novel the pace and writing is oddly flat. Unlike works like Wind-Up Bird and Hard-boiled Wonderland, I just was not able to care enough to fully immerse myself in this book. In some ways this story just felt like a bit of a private experiment of sorts, where Murakami spent more time focusing on technical issues (perspective in particular) rather than developing the story. In the end, as an old Murakami hand, I can't give this story more than 3 stars based on the high quality of his other works.

Where Murakami will go next is a bit of a mystery. The final five stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman were written after After Dark and bear more of a similarity to his earlier style than they do to this novel. Will he return to a brand of the mystic realism that has made him popular both in Japan and abroad, or will he continue the difficult process of reinventing himself? I hope Murakami has not run out of steam, but if After Dark is a sign of things to come then I'm afraid the period from the mid-80s through the mid-90s will be remembered as Murakami's halcyon days. His next work will be the key--as a fan of his work, I hope that my pessimism is unfounded and his next novel is a return to the greatness he is capable of. Personally, I look forward to reading other reviews of this book (as well as feedback on my own) to see what other readers think ... I have a feeling opinions will be divided.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, June 28, 2009
This review is from: After Dark (Audio CD)

After Dark, by Haruki Murakami (a new to me author) provided for me, what I would have to call a surreal reading experience.

Totally bizarre, but addictive, I listened to this audio book for the last 5 evenings, well into the night. The reader, Janet Song, was amazing, and did an excellent job describing what the reader was seeing as the story unfolded in what I would have to describe as a "book without a plot".

Curious....well the story starts out pretty much at a Denny's in Tokyo, and the entire story takes place in one night, beginning at just minutes before midnight. It is here at Dennys that we meet Mari Asi, an insomniac who seems to never sleep, and Takahashi a trombone player, and an old aquaintance. The two strike up a conversation about whether to order chicken at this restaurant. Mari seems to spend her nights at Denny's with a large book she carries around. Mari and Takahashi continue to meet at night and they become friends. It is through some profound conversations by the two, that we learn more about the other characters. There is Mari's sister Eri, who seems to do nothing but sleep as she suffers from some sort of social withdrawal, along with (2) other equally troubled souls, who have a story to tell: a prostitute and a software manager. Though the course of this story these people will find their lives intersecting.

This story is so different, so strange, yet so vivid, descriptive and haunting. I am really at a loss for what else to say about this unique book, except that although this is my first book by this author, it will not be my last. I plan to explore more books by this author, as I get the feeling I could be on to something new and pretty great with this author.

Although the audio book was excellent, in the future I plan to read the print version by this author if possible, as there were parts I would have wanted to reread and ponder (not so easy with a audio book). RECOMMENDED.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:







i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...