I’ve read roughly five or six of Haruki Murakami’s novels so far, and I have to say that this is one of the weaker ones – not to mention one of the shortest. Despite it being worth consuming, it definitely isn’t one of my favorites.

On the plus side, the writing and translation is done well, as always. The characters are interesting and there’s enough depth there to make them believable, and unlike many of Murakami’s other novels, “After Dark” doesn’t feature a single protagonist narrating the story in first-person. Instead, the story is told from various perspectives of a slightly larger cast of characters, which was refreshing for a Murakami novel.

Some of the problems though had to do with both the length and the plot. The book is incredibly short at about 190 pages (in hardcover), and this negatively affects the story since a lot of things are not explained, and a ton of questions go completely unanswered, which was pretty lame since a lot of things don’t make sense without some sort of explanation. If anything “After Dark” would have benefited from being even longer, answering certain questions that needed to be answered, and doing more with the whole “passage of time” thing (the entire novel spans a single night, which feels really short as opposed to feeling really long like it should be).

I’m not saying it’s a bad book. Far from it. It’s just lacking in certain areas, which is unfortunate because Haruki Murakami is such a great, imaginative writer who has a very unique perspective of the world.

Personally I’d say that if you really, really want to check the book out, wait until it’s available in paperback so you don’t wind up spending $25 on it. Go read some of his other novels like “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” or “Dance Dance Dance” in the meantime.

What’s wrong with Eri? How is she tied to the business man?

fun!