Takahashi is but one of the young men infatuated with Eri-though we get the feeling that Takahashi realizes that Eri isn’t in his league.

Eri, unlike the plain Mari, is drop dead gorgeous, and has been doing modeling jobs since she was a child. The party at which he met Mari was mostly attended by kids the age of Eri and himself, and Mari was just along for the ride with her more popular sister.Eri is another major character in the book, although her mysterious presence is mostly in a sleeping state. He’s a couple years older than the young woman, and was a classmate of Mari’s sister, Eri. Takahashi introduces himself as someone who already knows Mari from a party. This further raises the level of intrigue.In the Denny’s, Mari is approached by a gregarious young man named Takahashi who is grabbing a quick snack before going back to his nighttime hobby of jamming in a jazz band. We soon learn that Mari didn’t miss the last train on accident, but rather is staying out all night on purpose to be out of the house. She isn’t typical of the disheveled, boozy, or garish crowd out “after dark.” In a post-witching hour world of drunken salaryman, micro-miniskirted hostesses, tattooed yakuza gangsters, and nightlife-savvy travelers, the bookish young woman stands out. As she sits in a 24-hour Denny’s reading, Mari immediately triggers curiosity. Murakami satisfies a form of voyeuristic impulse by giving us a peek into the lives of a few of the people out and about while the masses are home slumbering, or-at least–whiling away insomnia-ridden hours in the privacy of their own homes.The protagonist is a young college student named Mari. ⭐This novel takes place in Tokyo during the wee hours of a single night. Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

After dark haruki