After the Quake: Short Stories Recommendation

Posted On September 9, 2023

Hi Readers! September is just flying by in rapt speed! We are already ten days in. When did that even happen? Well, after a super ambitious month of August where I read 12 books, this month is going slow at least reading wise. I have only read one book so far. I am currently reading five different books, all wildly different from each other. I have no inkling which one I will finish first, but isn’t that the beauty of mood reading and being in the middle of reading too many books! Anyway, here’s a tiny review (more like my thoughts) on another Murakami book!

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

Haruki Murakami, a writer both mystical and hip, is the West’s favorite Japanese novelist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murakami lived abroad until 1995. That year, two disasters struck Japan: the lethal earthquake in Kobe and the deadly poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. Spurred by these tragic events, Murakami returned home. The stories in After the Quake are set in the months that fell between the earthquake and the subway attack, presenting a world marked by despair, hope, and a kind of human instinct for transformation. A teenage girl and a middle-aged man share a hobby of making beach bonfires; a businesswoman travels to Thailand and, quietly, confronts her own death; three friends act out a modern-day Tokyo version of Jules and Jim. There’s a surreal element running through the collection in the form of unlikely frogs turning up in unlikely places. News of the earthquake hums throughout. The book opens with the dull buzz of disaster-watching: “Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at the crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways.” With language that’s never self-consciously lyrical or show-offy, Murakami constructs stories as tight and beautiful as poems. There’s no turning back for his people; there’s only before and after the quake. –Claire Dederer

~~THOUGHTS~~

I have come to absolutely love Murakami’s short stories. I don’t always remember the stories, but I always remember how they make me feel. And, in most of the books I have read, be it Sputnik Sweetheart or Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman or Men Without Women or even After the Quake, I have always felt this urge to not let life pass me by. It always makes me want to go out and have fun, even if it’s sitting in a café reading a book rather than sitting at home reading a book. I think it’s mainly because of how the stories are written and the characters’ circumstances. When you see the character being loosely based on your own self, you get a gnawing feeling to shake things up! This is why, I love reading Murakami books every now and then. The minute this energy flames out, I read another to rage the fire again.

In After the Quake, we have a collection of 6 short stories, with a little touch of relevance towards the earthquake in Kobe in 1955. But, in another way, it also reflects upon the quakes in relationships. Almost all the stories involve divorce or separation, which is a form of quake in itself. This duality of the breaks is explored in different ways in all the stories.

The book talks about the themes of freedom while in a relationship and being single. We see how people who have separated from their respective partners, find this new meaning in their lives. They are more open to new possibilities, to travel, to meeting new people, to be content with a life of solitude. This book was published in 2000. It somehow talked about not being completely yourself while being married or being in a relationship. It felt like relationships held you back from being your best self. Twenty-three years later, I wonder if it still holds true. Of course, we cannot generalize, but I like to believe that modern relationships between millennials are a lot more healthier these days than that of Gen X and Baby Boomers. Sure, there are new problem with new generations, but not being your authentic self doesn’t feel like one of those.

This book also had a lot of usual Murakami quirks, which I delighted in. There was jazz and ear description, per usual. There were super serious conversations about sightings of UFOs. There were human-sized frogs saving the Earth from a complete destruction. There was a love triangle story with one woman way too good for either of the other two men. So, all of this was a nice touch of whimsy to an otherwise profound book. It was also super short to read, if you want to pick something to read over a weekend or read in one sitting. I have rated After the Quake by Haruki Murakami translated by Jay Rubin at 3.5/5 stars!

For my Year of Murakami, I have nine more books to read in four months. Some days it feels possible, other days it doesn’t. But, either way I am excited to read more!

Until next time,