After Dark

Title: After Dark
Author: Haruki Murakami
Translator: Jay Rubin
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Summary (from Goodreads):

A short, sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakami’s masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore.

At its center are two sisters—Eri, a fashion model slumbering her way into oblivion, and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Denny’s toward people whose lives are radically alien to her own: a jazz trombonist who claims they’ve met before, a burly female “love hotel” manager and her maid staff, and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman. These “night people” are haunted by secrets and needs that draw them together more powerfully than the differing circumstances that might keep them apart, and it soon becomes clear that Eri’s slumber—mysteriously tied to the businessman plagued by the mark of his crime—will either restore or annihilate her.

After Dark moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency—the interplay between self-expression and empathy, between the power of observation and the scope of compassion and love. Murakami’s trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Review:



Kalo gak dimasukkin ke Books in English Reading Challenge, mungkin saya gak bakal bikin review. /dikeplakTehPeni Kadang ada buku yang cuma dikasih 4 bintang sama saya, tapi buku itu sebenarnya baguuuus banget, sayanya aja yang bingung mau review apa. Contohnya? Tokyo Zodiac Murders, 9 Dari Nadira...

Tapi demi challenge, saya akan mencoba nulis review ini. /pasangiketkepala

"Looks, it's the middle of the night. There won't be any trains running till morning. What's the hurry?"
Kaoru cautions Mari, "Remember this fella's a little on the weird side."
"It's true, though: time moves in its own special way in the middle of the night," the bartender says loudly, striking a book match and lighting a cigarette. "You can't fight it."

Nama gadis yang duduk di dekat jendela di Denny's itu Mari. Gadis itu sedang membaca dengan penuh konsentrasi. Sudah tengah malam, dan gadis itu terlihat tidak ingin beranjak dari tempat duduknya dan pulang.

After Dark bukan buku Murakami pertama yang saya baca, sebelumnya ada Norwegian Wood. Saya suka dengan penulisannya, meskipun bagian yang ada tanda kutipnya itu... err. =_= But I'm just in love with the way he writes. Dan terjemahan Norwegian Wood bisa dibilang bagus, meskipun saya sebenarnya pengen baca ulang yang bahasa Inggrisnya.

Untungnya, di buku ini gak ada adegan tanda kutip, walaupun ada setting-nya di tempat tanda kutip. :))

Ada juga Eri, kakak Mari yang 'tertidur' di kamarnya, dan juga... diawasi. Oleh seorang pria yang mengenakan topeng. Anehnya, topeng itu tidak memiliki bentuk mata, hidung, ataupun bibir. Dia disebut The Man with No Face. Yang anehnya lagi, TMWNF mengawasi Eri dari... TV. /jengjengjengjeeeng

Masih ada cerita tentang tokoh lain yang berhubungan. Tapi takutnya spoiler. I have to say that this is the thing about writing a review of a good book (or in my case: a review of really good book), you feel like you can't do the book justice. XD

Ngomong-ngomong terima kasih abang Fachrul yang sudah berbaik hati kasih ebook ini! ^^ Iya, bang, nanti dibeli kok Redfang-nya

Rating: 4.5/5