Simultaneously, away from the rattling of the city, Eri Asai, Mari’s sister, is sleeping but there is something about her sleep that is not normal. The time crawls leisurely during which, under the dark sky, all sorts of events occur and we get to see the paradoxical nature of mankind. We also meet Shirakawa who’s working late at night in his office. They establish a bond, unexplained till the end, through which they unlock the doors of their history and even up the wrinkled and edgy portions.Īs the night draws towards its end, we meet Kaoru, Komungi, Korogi and a Chinese girl in Alphaville hotel. There enters a lanky boy with his trombone and recognizes Mari from a pool party where they had met a few years back. Mari is sitting in a café drinking coffee, reading and smoking. “Time moves in its own special way in the night. However, the time has changed and there are all sorts of people lurking under the black sky.

It used to be after the sun set, people would just crawl back into their caves and protect themselves. Published in 2004, After Dark by Haruki Murakami takes you to the surreal world. Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.While on one side, the streets of Tokyo are as busy as ever with 24 hours café, hotels and bars, the other side of the city is as still as death. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship.

'What the peacock can do,' she tells us, 'is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.' The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments.

But no matter where she was transplanted-no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape-she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

'Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year.' -NPRįrom beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction-a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.Īs a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio.

Haruki murakami dark night