To this, Eri falls prey and us as readers are confounded. Not only apposing, Murakami sometimes blends reality with the dream, bringing both in the same space and at the same time.

In his signature style, Murakami leaves us unanswered and we keep wondering why is it so.

We keep wondering about the space on the other side of the television where Eri has been trapped. We keep wondering, till the end, about the reflection of Shirakawa in the mirror in his office and the image of Mari in the restroom of Skylark, long after they both have exited from the respective scenes. The natural apposed with the uncanny, Murakami unveils a world that is beyond our knowledge. How does she go there and how will she return, nobody knows. And all these happen while the television’s plug is pulled out. The eeriness gets to our throat when we see Eri trapped inside the television world. On the other side of the television, appears a faceless man wearing a transparent mask through which he is staring at Eri. However, that day, as the digital clock stroke at the midnight hour, a hint of life wavered in her still world. She has gone to bed one evening, quitting her dinner, saying that she would sleep for a while and it has been two months since and still, her sleep is deep, too pure, too perfect. Simultaneously, away from the rattling of the city, Eri Asai, Mari’s sister, is sleeping but there is something about her sleep that is not normal. The time crawls leisurely during which, under the dark sky, all sorts of events occur and we get to see the paradoxical nature of mankind. We also meet Shirakawa who’s working late at night in his office. They establish a bond, unexplained till the end, through which they unlock the doors of their history and even up the wrinkled and edgy portionsĪs the night draws towards its end, we meet Kaoru, Komungi, Korogi and a Chinese girl in Alphaville hotel. There enters a lanky boy with his trombone and recognizes Mari from a pool party where they had met a few years back. Mari is sitting in a café drinking coffee, reading and smoking. “Time moves in its own special way in the night. However, the time has changed and there are all sorts of people lurking under the black sky. It used to be after the sun set, people would just crawl back into their caves and protect themselves. Published in 2004, After Dark by Haruki Murakami takes you to the surreal world. While on one side, the streets of Tokyo are as busy as ever with 24 hours café, hotels and bars, the other side of the city is as still as death.

Haruki murakami dark night