After Dark is the eleventh novel by Haruki Murakami, first published in Japanese in 2004 and later in English in 2007, released 2 years after Kafka on the Shore, one of his longest novels. It was released in English by frequent Murakami translator Jay Rubin.
In contrast to his Murakami’s previous novel Kafka on the Shore and most of his other works, After Dark is quite short, with only 201 pages, and in an interesting deviation, the entire story from start to finish takes place over the course of one night, starting at 11:56 PM and ending at 6:52 AM. This concept, especially when compared to his other novels which can often take place over the course of years and even have decades of backstory, is unique for a Murakami book, while the themes and general tone are similar to his other works: several parts take place between reality and dreams and there’s hints of surrealism throughout.
I was worried that, for the absurdly long length most of his novels are, that the short timespan of After Dark would be messy, but thankfully this one handles it well – It has just enough story to keep you invested but not so much that you start to believe this can’t all happen over the course of a night. If you aren’t a fan of doorstoppers, I recommend this one, and if this is your first time reading a shorter Murakami novel, as long as you don’t expect anything too dramatic, you’ll surely enjoy it.
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