After Dark

After Dark by Haruki Murakami (Alfred A. Knopf), 2004, 191p

I realized a long time ago that most of my reading centered on American or UK writers. The most foreign I ever got was the occasional Australian. I figure a lot of these writers were translated into foreign languages, so conversely foreign writers must be translated into English. Not that it was a secret, I had just not thought about it before. So I actively searched out such writers to broaden my horizons and Japan was one of the first countries I went to. This was mainly due to having family there and figuring one would need to be conversant with their modern literature in polite society (yes, I am being sarky). I am so glad that I did because I found two of my favourite current authors through this process, one being Haruki Murakami (and the other Henning Mankell from Sweden).
The strangest thing with this book and his others is I cannot really tell you why I liked them; just that I did. I get engrossed by the characters and just cannot put the books down and at the end I really cannot tell you what is going on or the big questions being asked. Yet I have loved every one of the 12 I have read.
So I recommend you try one of his shorter ones and see how it goes. Maybe it will strike a chord with you as well. If any of you have a favourite foreign writer (as in their native language is not English) please let me know.