The first Murakami I read was A Wild Sheep Chase, and I really, really, really didn't like it. It just seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. I've revisited it, and it's still not my favorite. However, I think I get more about what he's going for now. He's used a similar technique in all the novels of his I've read: he has two worlds, one that is real and "normal" and another that is surreal and otherworldly. The other world is not imaginary, but rather a realm that we don't usually get to see.
In After Dark, the imaginary world is one in which Eri Asai is asleep and we are somehow watching her sleep. Well, more specifically, we are watching someone watch her sleep. I had kind of a problem with the way he set this scene. We're supposed to be almost like a camera on a boom, whizzing around the space, changing angles. I think he does this to make the situation seem stranger and more foreign than it is, but to me it just felt overplayed. Describing the scene would have been plenty weird for me. I wonder if this is one of those situations where something is lost in translation. The language is so direct and straightforward, yet these additional layers are built in to make it less direct, less straightforward.
As usual, I found something deeply identifiable about Murakami's characters. Eri and Mari Asai are both believable individuals and believable siblings. The characters' behavior always make perfect sense, even when they find themselves in truly odd situations. I think that's difficult to do, even more so because the characters are often unlikable. Unlikable, yet believable.
Not my favorite Murakami, not my least favorite either.
This counts toward the 100+ Challenge, and the Haruki Murakami Challenge.
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