After Dark by Haruki Murakami
It’s been quite some time since I settled back into the audio book mode. There have been so many podcasts to keep me busy that I’ve been racking up the credits without choosing and downloading anything new. Not that there isn’t already plenty of book content to listen to on my iPod that I haven’t even started with yet…
I chose Afuta Daku on a whim.It’s a book I almost purchased in paper format some time ago, specifically because of the location where the story takes place (Tokyo) and the fact that it seemed to be a mystery/fantasy title.
The audio book is just over five hours long and is read by Judy Bennett. Nothing wrong with the quality of the delivery, but I found myself constantly annoyed by the accents employed by the narrator. The book is set in Tokyo. The characters are Japanese. Why then is it necessary to change to accents that belong to the greater London district? Characterization is fine, but that simply didn’t work for me.
The book is short and has a rather sudden ending. What starts out as an interesting and intriguing story slowly peters out into nothing. Many questions are left unanswered, even though part of the book takes place in the dreams of one or more characters. Chapters are broken down into times: the story starts with Mari sitting in a coffee shop, reading at just after midnight. She meets Takahashi, who knows here sister Eri and is on his way to an all-night band practice session. Eri is asleep. Asleep for a long time. Two months, we are told sometime later. As the brief novel continues, Eri is being watched by a sinister someone and experiences a rather frightening dream.
A nasty computer expert meanwhile beats up a prostitute and returns to his all night vigil behind a computer screen. Takahashi and Mari meet again during the same night. And basically, that’s it. The story left me with a wish that at least some of the loose ends started within it could at least be tied up. Instead, the reader’s one night sojourn in Tokyo ends abruptly without much satisfaction.
Not bad to listen to, but ultimately a bit of a let down. I’d give this one a miss.
