After Dark

The weekend's been rather relaxing. Can't say I did much. It mostly revolved around coffee and chilling and immersing myself into Murakami's After Dark, which ended up in my hands courtesy of Imaan.

The book's highly recommended. It's your classic Murakami in which the events are rather surreal, the brilliant depiction of humanity strikes a cord with the reader , and the story meanders in a seemingly aimless journey towards an end that is not really an end. I don't think one would appreciate Murakami unless one can really take the phrase 'it's the journey that matters, not the destination' to heart. As Fadh put it, he offers a 'snapshot' into life and it's really up to you to decide on what comes before and after.

The events of After Dark takes place in the wee hours of the morning, and it did make me feel rather nostalgic for the opportunity that home has to offer in terms of the variety of things one can do in the middle of the night. I quite miss being able to just hang out in the middle of the night, or have a decent chat over a little meal or a cup of coffee, or just go for a little walk when the mood strikes. I'm a night person after all, and I don't find the jarring silence of the night disconcerting.

You don't quite have that option over here, what with the bone-jarring weather and the rather disagreeable company that serves to merely shout obscenities at you at 3 in the morning. I guess that option is still available in places like London (I was abnormally delighted at being able to have dinner at a restaurant at 11 when I was down there recently), but unfortunately that's 300 miles to the south. I think.

Here's the beginning of After Dark, written in a rather beautiful manner methinks. Makes you want to be able to read Japanese in order to appreciate the writing in its original form.

'Eyes mark the shape of the city. Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature - or more, like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has indeed passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city's moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding'.