After Dark

One night in Tokyo, from just before midnight until dawn, is all the time Haruki Murakami needs for this short novel. After Dark follows a handful of characters awake in the city's small hours, among them a young woman reading in an all-night diner and her sister locked in an unnaturally deep sleep. Murakami keeps the clock visible, moving chapter by chapter through the night while conversations in love hotels, bars and offices circle questions of loneliness, violence and the thin partition between waking life and dream. The prose is spare and the mood stays watchful throughout. Worth noting: • A compact novel set across a single Tokyo night • Alternating perspectives tracked hour by hour • The author's familiar blend of realism and the uncanny • A workable entry point for readers new to his fiction Recommended for readers of literary and Japanese fiction, this Vintage Books edition can be ordered at Boipoka.