UM Book Club: After Dark by Haruki Murakami - Part IV
July 11, 2007 by Greg
Part IV
pages 149-end
Characters
- Mari Asai
- Eri Asai
- Tetsuya Takahashi
- Kaoru
- Shirakawa
- Korogi
Songs Listed
- Page 162 - Sonnymoon for Two, Sonny Rollins
- Page 168 - Bomb Juice, Shikao Suga
- Page 179 - (soundtrack music), Francis Lai
The last section of this book is heavily defined by irony and sybolism. On page 162 Mari takes a much needed rest in the love hotel only after sharing with Korogi the weight of her sister’s endless sleep. She sleeps deeply with a silent TV in the room. When she awakes, she feels similar to her sister in her dream state saying, “I am me and not me.”
Francis Lai’s soundtracks are mentioned on page 179 as a background for Mari and Tetsuya’s first date. This is also a throw back to an earlier mention of the movie Love Story. Francis Lai did the score for this film.
We don’t receive many answers, things just happened for a few hours one night. Cash described this book to me as being like Lost in Translation, a simple story that just flows and explores humanity. I agree. I don’t feel any sense of closure on the events, I just feel like I briefly peered into the lives of a few strangers and related on a few levels.
In the end, great book. It was a great way to start the UM book club and I’m looking forward to more titles as compelling as this.
nice call on the lost in translation connection. definetly felt like a snapshot into an evening. certainly more questions than answers by the end.
I have to say the part of the story that hit me the oddest was towards the end when Mari is talking about her sundered connection with her sister. By the end i was completely expecting Mari and Eri to be the same person, just one personality being a night dweller, the other, brighter more beautiful half being out during the day. “waking up” when Mari lay down on the bed to sleep beside her sister.
Goat,
That is awesome. I never thought about Eri and Mari being the same person, but it definitely could’ve turned out that way.
I thought the scene where Mari crawls into bed with Eri was one of the most touching I’ve read in a long time. Finding that silent connection is beautiful, whether with your near comatose sister or a lover. Enjoying the silence together, yet growing closer in the process.
One minor complaint; there was so much teasing in this book, almost to the point I felt the author was playing with his readers at times. The milk thing, the gang thing, etc.
I’m just glad Mari developed into a full featured character by the end, replete with feelings and a future. Her sister didn’t fare as well, but it set up a cool, surreal mystery that I liked.
Some favorite passages from the final section:
Korogi, in the love hotel with Mari:
“You know what I think? That people’s memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn’t matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They’re all just fuel….”
Murakami goes on to compare them to scraps of paper feeding a fire, which was beautiful in its own right.
Takahashi:
“It’s not as if our lives are divided simply into light and dark. There’s a shadowy middle ground. Recognizing and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does”
An excellent summation of the book I would venture.