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After the Quake: Stories
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After the Quake: Stories
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After the Quake: Stories
Audiobook4 hours

After the Quake: Stories

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

In 1995, the physical and social landscape of Japan was transformed by two events: the Kobe earthquake, in January, which destroyed thousands of lives, and the poison-gas attacks in the Tokyo subways in March, during the morning rush hour. Following these twin disasters, Haruki Murakami abandoned his life abroad and returned home to confront his country's grief. The subway attack led to his recent Underground. And out of the quake come these six stories, set in the months between natural catastrophe and man-made terrorism. His characters find their resolutely normal everyday lives undone by events even more surreal (yet somehow believable) than we have come to expect in his fiction.

An electronics salesman, abruptly deserted by his wife, is entrusted to deliver a mysterious package but gets more than he bargained for at the receiving end; a Thai chauffeur takes his troubled charge to a seer, who penetrates her deepest sorrow; and, in the unforgettable title story, a boy acknowledges a shattering secret about his past that will change his life forever.

But the most compelling character of all is the earthquake itself-slipping into and out of view almost imperceptibly, but nonetheless reaching deep into the lives of these forlorn citizens of the apocalypse. The terrible damage visible all around is, in fact, less extreme than the inconsolable howl of a nation indelibly scarred-an experience in which Murakami discovers many truths about compassion, courage, and the nature of human suffering.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 7, 2014
ISBN9780804166614
Unavailable
After the Quake: Stories

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Reviews for After the Quake

Rating: 3.798192685025817 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,162 ratings51 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A touching and at times humorous series set of short stories that take place around an earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A group of short stories written by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The stories occurr between the Kobe earthquake and the Tokyo gas attacks of 1995. The characters are not actually in the earthquake but observe it through TV and news. It examines how events can have rippling effects that touch people in many ways. Like most Murakami stories there is an emptiness and pervasive aloneness of the characters. I enjoy Murakami and I enjoyed these short stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lovely collection of short stories. The connection to the Kobe earthquake gives each story a link to the whole and keeps the collection from feeling scattered. To me, the best story is 'honey pie': a character driven story (with meta elements) which was tied to the smallest bit of supernatural horror. It was a mix that really worked.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "True terror is the kind that men feel toward their imagination."Never having read Haruki Murakami prior to After the Quake, I had no idea what to expect other than the passing praises from others who have read his work before me. A rather fast read it was nonetheless able to convey a keen sense of evocativeness that instilled reminiscence and poignancy without the need to focus on the tragedies directly. Stories that take external tragedy and showcase the beauty and horror of the human psyche and thought through human anguish, magical realism, and even romanticism. Murakami expertly explores the multifaceted nature of the human condition.And seeing how the reviews seem to have other sharing their favourite stories, here's mine: super-frog saves tokyo
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Murakami is always compelling - partly because I'm not familiar with the tropes of Japanese fiction so the stories are always unpredictable and quirky to me - and these stories are no exception. That said, my favorite in this collection was also probably the most naturalistic; LANDSCAPE WITH FLATIRON. Friendship, love, bonfires and the sea... all the perfect ingredients!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This remarkable collection includes six stories, each of which occurs in the wake of the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake and each of which takes part of its context and meaning from the psychological reverberations of that quake. Deceptively quick to read, the stories are multilayered and generously peppered with allusion, metaphor, and an eerie sort of magical realism. Murakami's characters are palpable and true; their passions and their flaws are easy to believe. Each story can be read as just that: a story. But each one also holds hidden kernels of philosophical (metaphysical, existential -- he won't be tied down) wisdom. I finished each story with that satisfying mental check, often translated as "huh," which means I want to read it again and see if I can more fully ascertain the author's rich exploration of the themes of death, loss, connection, and the questionable sense of reality that comes with being human. Did I mention that Murakami has a delightfully sly sense of humor?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Couldn't quite get into the book....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Beautiful, unexpected stories. A little reliant on truncation perhaps - in the same way a haiku feels more sparsely beautiful than a sonnet. The closer 'Honey Pie' is the best, for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Six stories, all very Murakami, all good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reading Murakami always leaves me impressed with his ability to weave an almost etherial 'vibe' throughout his work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved how the themes of these stories – death, regret, love – carried through in different iterations, making them feel linked together but still separate enough. The final story ended the collection on a hopeful note, that you can make a change when your life gets off track.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An absolutely beautiful, enchanting collection of short stories. I love Murakami when he does magical realism and metafiction, and every story just hits the mark for both. I would definitely recommend this is a perfect primer for Murakami newbies.

    PS: I got so hyped reading this, I already have Pinball/Wind on my library book shelf for me to read later! And now I want to re-read both 1Q84 and Norwegian Wood - why can't I have more time in the day for Murakami, tho?!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    A short Murakami is better than a long Murakami, but not better than no Murakami at all. I already knew I don't care for Haruki Murakami's work going into this and solely read it because it was once on the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. (I believe it was removed in subsequent editions, which still have the problem of having too much Murakami on them.Even though most of these stories don't involve magical realism, which is a Murakami hallmark and a genre of fiction I don't particularly like, the stories, I still didn't care for them. The stories are all loosely connected by the earthquake in Kobe, but didn't feel like anything particularly special.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Murakami is a master of prose. Each story is beautifully written.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Odd magical realism-ish short stories. I doubt I will even remember any of these in a week or two. But I am not a fan of magical realism-ish stuff, so no surprise that I don't love these. I was actually hoping these stories would be more quake-related, but the title is a little misleading.

    A great break after slogging through Pamela, however.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This short book is a collection of six short stories, thematically linked - all take place shortly after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. All display Murakami's masterful writing. Technically, the book probably deserves 5 stars, but somehow, I found myself only liking it 4-stars' worth. Which is still excellent.
    As in much of Murakami's writing, the characters here are 'floaty,' hard to pin down or grasp.

    UFO in Kushiro.
    The main character here is the literal embodiment of this aspect of Murakami's characters. His wife has left him because, she says, being married to him is like being married to "a chunk of air." A friend asks him to deliver a package, which seems to be a pretext to get him to meet a couple of sexy young women... but abruptly the narrative shifts to a musing on identity and loss.

    Landscape with Flatiron
    The title embodies Murakami's frequent juxtaposition of the surreal and the mundane. A young woman who has run away to live with her loser boyfriend is strangely drawn to an eccentric older man who is obsessed with lighting bonfires. Eloquent, depressing and shocking.

    All God's Children Can Dance
    The main character's mother, an eccentric born-again, has always claimed that he was the product of an immaculate conception. Unsurprisingly, he doubts this, and when he randomly encounters a man who fits the description of one of his mother's pre-conversion lovers, he follows and stalks the man. Again, it deals with issues of identity.

    Thailand
    A businesswoman on the verge of a nervous breakdown vacations in Thailand. Her hired driver, she learns, was the private chauffeur of a Norwegian man for over thirty years. Now that his employer has died, his identity is oddly truncated. Reminiscent of 'The Remains of the Day.'

    Super-Frog Saves Tokyo
    The only story here with 'fantasy' elements - although it could all be a drug-induced delirium. An ordinary businessman is approached by a human-sized, talking frog and told that he is the only one who can possibly save Tokyo from a devastating earthquake, if he assists the frog on his heroic and probably-doomed quest. Absurd, but touching, as it discusses what it means to rise above.

    Honey Pie
    Three friends meet in college. Both men fall in love with the woman... but one has the personality of taking what he wants, while the other tends to defer. Years pass, the relationships continue, odd and complicated.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This collection of short stories the deal with the impact of the 1995 Kobe earthquake on the life of people, none of them affected directly, but driven to reexamine their lives in its aftermath. There is a great variation in the stories, some very surreal, some more down to earth, but all of them distinctly Japanese. My preferred one was the last.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have yet to dislike a Murakami story. This is a smaller collection of stories written in the years following the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995. Murakami as well as the characters in these stories are touched in various ways by that event but not focal points, for the most part. These are little vignettes. I liked each of the six stories in this collection but nothing struck me as outstanding. Murakami's characters always feel so real, and interesting in unusual ways. My favorite stories here were "landscape with flatiron" and "thailand." The other stories included were "ufo in koshiro," "all god's children can dance," "super-frog saves tokyo," and "honey pie."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Murakami's stories are masterful, as playful as they are believable. Where magical realism slips int, particularly in "Super-Frog saves Tokyo", there's also an element of adult-type wonder that isn't easy to find with other authors. It makes Murakami's work all the more special and memorable. And though these are short stories, none particularly long, it's not difficult to get sucked in to each world. Much as the themes might overlap, the characters are as various as the plots, and nothing here is repetitive. Simply enough, you'll be hard-pressed to not read this short collection in one sitting.Absolutely recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm still learning to like Murakami's novels, but his short stories are a counter to the idea that short stories are novels stripped down to their essentials, that the best of them introduce a situation and wrap it up neatly with a moral or "surprise twist ending" in just a few pages. Not to say that nothing happens in After the Quake; it is after all a plot-driven Murakami work in the most utilitarian of language (not knocking it, just describing it). When stuff happens, though, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. It was liberating just to read, without self-consciously attempting to boil a message down out of each chapter. You can try, but Murakami won't tell you exactly what to get out of each bit because frequently there isn't anything. And there doesn't have to be.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I got this book as a gift from a friend last 2004. I never expect to fall in love with these short stories. I highly recommend this book for those who are busy with their lives and can only spare few minutes of their free time. Each story is unique and refreshing to the mind. This is best read one story at a time. This indeed is a good escape from reality.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first foray into Murakami. This young Japanese writer is held in high regard by many whose opinion I value. I'm so glad I picked up this lovely collection of six short stories. Published in 2002, each tale connects in some way to the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Of varying lengths, each is quite different and unique in voice, plotting and perspective. We have an abandoned husband in "UFO in Koshiro", a love triangle in "Honey Pie", a businesswoman on vacation in "Thailand", a giant talking amphibian in "Super Frog Saves Tokyo", an odd trio dancing to a beachfront bonfire in "Landscape with Flatiron", and a young man whose mother is convinced he is the Son of God in "All God's Children Can Dance." This is not my typical reading fare. I lack the vocabulary to properly describe it. Many call Murakami's style magical realism. I simply found each story to be eerie and mystical. Perfect renditions of characters feeling at loss and searching for ... what? Peace? Resolution? Answers? I was haunted by the lyrical writing. One of my favorites books this year thus far. Mine was an audiobook edition. The three narrators were wonderful. Completely engrossed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When I am really impressed with a fiction writer, I often endeavor to read all or most of their works. Alas, William Faulkner was too dense and too prolific for me to succeed, but if I live long enough I may crack that nut. I had better luck with Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Cormac McCarthy. I’m almost there with Haruki Murakami, who has quite the long catalog. The problem with reviewing the same author of multiple works is that it is sometimes difficult to find new ground to cover. My latest Murakami read was After the Quake, a collection of six short stories – or are these long stories? – centered around the cataclysmic Kobe earthquake in 1995. Except they are not. The characters in these six stories, all narrated from the third person, do not actually experience the earthquake directly, but are made aware of it peripherally, primarily through television news. Still, the event clearly unsettles them all and it is a pronounced sense of resonating palpable unease that binds these tales into a coherent collection. Another natural adhesive is the fact that these stories were all written in 1999-2000, so we have a snapshot of the kind of writer Murakami was during this phase of his career as well as a logical rationale for including these in a single collection. That image is sharpened because we also know by the author’s own words that he never writes short stories and novels at the same time: he either works on one or another. Murakami has had a long writing career that dates back to 1979, which has seen a marked evolution in style and presentation while retaining some elements present at the creation, so to speak. After the Quake originally appeared in Japanese in 2000 (and in English translation in 2002), which for Murakami fans means the time between the novels Sputnik Sweetheart (1999) and Kafka on the Shore (2002). I have read two of his other short story collections – The Elephant Vanishes and Blind Willow, Sleeping Women – which together contain a medley of forty-one stories written over the long period of 1980-2005 that are neither arranged chronologically nor thematically. Like a carelessly arranged anthology album of a rock band that has been performing in various iterations since the 1960s, there is the potential for a kind of dissonance in this kind of jumble, even if the quality of the tracks are impressive. (Side note: no such dissonance in Hemingway or Faulkner, for instance, because their respective writing styles and thematic approach remained so similar over time.) Because After the Quake was written in the same era and orbit (however peripherally) around a central event, there is a logic that enhances the ability of the review process to effectively compare and contrast the contents. At the same time, it should be underscored, each of these stories can stand on its own and does not need to appear in a volume with the others in order to succeed. “UFO in Kushiro,” opens the collection and makes reference to the earthquake more frequently and in more detail than the others. Here it serves as a tectonic shift (pun fully intended!) of sorts for Komura – one of those dull, passive Murakami male protagonists – whose wife walks out on him while he is at work five days after the earthquake with no notice, little explanation and an irrevocable determination to never return, in circumstances similar to that in the earlier novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Komura’s sudden divorce makes for a series of unlikely events to follow for him that include smuggling an unnamed object, cavorting with a couple of edgy young women, a funny story about a bear and a bell, sexual dysfunction and existentialism. Not bad for twenty pages of text! I cannot be certain what the story means, but I enjoyed it enough to read it twice through. “Landscape with Flatiron,” perhaps the finest story in the collection, is also manifestly existential, involving a young woman’s platonic bond (but perhaps that could change …) with an older man who collects driftwood to build masterful fires on the beach that she is powerfully drawn to for emotional succor. This is an especially rich tale pregnant with metaphor that is enhanced by Murakami’s gift for crafting female characters who often are far more developed and complex than their male counterparts. “All God’s Children Can Dance” is a strange, disquieting tale of religion, the potential for incest, the prospect of virgin birth, an unusually large penis, and a man with a missing earlobe that has been bitten off by a dog – in a strange contrast to the author’s typical use of a woman’s ear as an object of sexual fetish. It is as if Japanese literary doppelgangers of Stephen King, Rod Serling, John Irving and Edgar Allen Poe got together for a weird collaboration. I’m not sure how I feel about the story, but it is by all means worth the read. Of the remaining stories, I very much enjoyed both “Thailand” – which contains familiar Murakami elements of jazz music and a hint of magical realism – as well as the quirky love story “Honey Pie.” I was less impressed with “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” an attempt at magical whimsy that seemed to me to fall flat whether intended as an allegory, a comedy or a psychodrama. But perhaps I just missed something.Whether you are a diehard Murakami fan or simply curious about an author who gets a lot of press in the literary world, I would recommend this slender volume for your reading pleasure.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Six stories, all relating to an earthquake in one way or another. It's an interesting way to tie a collection together and the stories work well together, although they cover a wide range of subjects.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A book with an oddly prescient title after recent events. Murakami is not up to form here - the stories here just seem flat and ordinary. Murakami can pull off 'ordinary' stories fairly well (see Norwegian Wood) but many of these were just lackluster. Most of the stories are kind of forgettable (I can barely recall any details about them, merely hours after I read the book), and the only one which stands out is the charming and wonderful story about the giant frog. That one alone redeems the entire collection.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE AUDIOBOOKA collection of six short stories dealing (tangentially) with the 1995 earthquake in Kobe that killed 6,000 people, After The Quake is unusual and subtle. The stories don’t deal directly with the quake but reference it and its aftershocks as they reverberate through the lives of the characters. Most of the stories were somber and understated, but there was a really weird one (Super Frog Saves Tokyo) that highlights Murakami’s weird side that everyone talks about. Still, it is the sadness and the longing and brokenness that linger after you’re done reading and not the giant talking frog. I suspect this might be a good introduction to Murakami, but since I’m still a Murakami neophyte, I’m not sure.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book by trading with someone on bookcrossing.com. Each story had special qualities that I enjoyed very much. My favorite story was "landscape with flatiron." At first I thought I was annoyed by not being able to pronounce the Japanese names of the characters but by the time I finished with the stories I was having fun with it. Murakami has a special talent and I look forward to reading more of his short stories in the future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I think Murakami is good with short stories (As he mildly suggests). far better than novels in general. enjoyed Thailand and Super frog
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was interesting and different, as to be expected with a Murakami book. I enjoyed all of the female characters, though some of the male characters were kind of dull. After the Quake got very strange in the chapter titled Super Frog Saves Tokyo, which is about exactly what the title says; a 6ft. tall frog stopped an earthquake from happening in Tokyo (by fighting a giant worm that lived underground and caused all the world's earthquakes). Every other chapter was much more logical. This book will certainly never leave my mind for a long time.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I started out not liking this book because the sories were too weird, but the book redeemed itself with the last two stories. I liked "SuperFrog Saves Tokyo" about a giant frog who visits man named Katagirii to request that he help "Frog" fight an underground "Worm" in order to prevent a devastating earthquake. I also liked "Honey Pie", the story of three friends (Sayoko, Takatsuki - Sayoko's husband, and Junpei - a mutal friend) who met while studying literature together at college. The title of this story is from a bear story told by Junpei to Sala (Sayoko's four-year-old daughter) to relieve her fears after an earthquake. The last story is most typical of a "Murakami story" with its quiet and gentle sweetness.