After Dark: Book Review

Hey everybody! I hope everyone's week has been going well. I love to read, but haven't had the time until recently. I thought why not review some of the books I've been reading. So, welcome to my book reviews! If I come up with a catchy name or something I'll let you know lol

The first book I'll be reviewing is After Dark by Haruki Murakami. I'm a huge fan of his work and this is the third book of his that I've read. I will say that if you haven't read a book by him before, I would recommend reading a shorter one first. The longer novels tend to leave my slightly annoyed in the beginning with all the mystery, but that could be just me.

After Dark tells the story of a night filled with random encounters and strange occurrences. We follow Mari, a bookish college student, for most of the story. The reader gets the sense that she's avoiding someone or something. Her night starts off simple enough and before she knows it, she's pulled into some interesting situations.

What I like about this book is that Murakami is able to bring you into his world very quickly. I also think that there's naturally something interesting about the flow of time as it gets really late into the night. Places changes, strange things happens, and some things aren't what they seem. The book captures the essence of the odd things you'll find alone when it's very late at night.
Murakami is able to give his readers rich, complex characters with deep issues that don't come off as a cliche. He's amazing at capturing the growing pains of life and tricky situations; he has the wonderful ability to voice emotions that are intricate and heavy. There are some really beautiful descriptions and some quotes that hit you really hard.

He does tackle a few of his usual themes (for example a desecrated woman), but many of the themes and thoughts in this story feel unique. A lot of his stories tend to deal with someone or something being missing. This book technically had someone missing but he did it with a twist.

My boo Tiffany and I attended a talk about Murakami shortly after I finished the book at Kinokuniya. The talk was in honor of Murakami's new book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Roland Kelts and Ted Goossen talked about working with Murakami throughout the years. It was great to learn more about him personally.

The next book I will be reading is Parade by Shuichi Yoshida. Tiff read it before me and she said it was good. I'm super excited for NYCC this Friday! I can't wait to attend a few panels which I've never done before despite this being my third time going. Thanks for reading!