After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Taking place over the course of one night, between the hours of midnight and dawn, in a somewhat disreputable section of Tokyo, this story blurs the line between the dream and waking worlds as it follows a young college student and her interactions with various people in the city. There are aspects of this book that I surely do not completely understand (or probably do not even begin to understand), but I appreciate its depth, observation of details, and expressions of loneliness and alienation as well as the beauty of the human spirit and people caring about other people. I also like Murakami's writing style and the way he makes the reader's perception change with the chapters, some of which are longer and full of action or dialogue and are interspersed with shorter, more descriptive, surreal ones.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PL 856 .U673 A6613 2008 , 2nd Floor Humanities
Review submitted by Andrew Tessandori, Cataloging Assistant, Leatherby Libraries

Rating: Recommended