After the Quake, Haruki Murakami

“Unexpectedly powerful, a collection of stories, slender and small as a hand, about the emotional after-shocks of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe …  Even if After the Quake has nothing to say about Murakami, which it certainly does, I’d gladly settle for what it says about us.” Jeff Giles, The New York Times Book Review

Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways. She never said a word. Sunk deep in the cushions of the sofa, her mouth clamped shut, she wouldn’t answer when Komura spoke to her. She wouldn’t shake her head or nod. Komura could not be sure the sound of his voice was even getting through to her … excerpted from After the Quake

After the Quake, Book Review by Hertzan Chimera

It’s never easy reviewing the work of Haruki Murakami, without merely figurizing your delight in rolling fields of poignant adulation and Nobel-Prize-worthy rhetoric – his work garners such respect from the literati.

After the Quake is short-ish book of long-ish stories, though anyone who has read An Elephant Vanishes will already be familiar with Murakami’s patented 6-8,000 worders.

In UFO IN KUSHIRO, Komura works in a hi-fi store in the Akihabara district if Tokyo. He is tall and slim, a stylish dresser. Following the Kobe earthquake and after 5 years of marriage, his dumpy, scowling wife files for divorce. A work colleague, who suggests he take a long vacation up in a place called Kushiro on Hokkaido island, asks if he’d deliver a small package to his sister while he’s up there. But what is in this mysterious package?

In LANDSCAPE WITH FLATIRON, painter Miyake is a master bonfire builder. He collects driftwood that washes ashore and invites his soul mate Junko to watch the fires he so professionally makes. Miyake has family in Kobe. Why is he avoiding them? What is the special link between the young Junko and the old Miyake?

In ALL GOD’S CHILDREN CAN DANCE, 25 year old Yoshiya still lives with his God-fearing mother. Hardly a virgin birth, Yoshiya was preceded by two abortions – though stringent contraceptive practises were applied before all three pregnancies. What convinced the mother that little Yoshiya was worth saving?

In THAILAND, thyroid specialist Satsuki takes a four-day vacation in the eponymous land of the title. She is chaperoned by her guide and driver, the enigmatic Nimit. Satsuki believes she has secret knowledge about the cause of the Kobe earthquake, but will she be allowed to bear her soul?

In SUPER-FROG SAVES TOKYO, a giant frog saves Tokyofrom total destruction.

In HONEY PIE, the love triangle is secondary to the telling of a children’s story about two bears Tonkichi and Masakichi and to a 4-year-old girl, Sala. Remember, when you tell tall stories to 4-year-olds, you gotta get the ending just right or all Hell breaks loose and the very foundations of the city will dissolve to shadow.

After the Quake, Linked Narratives

Haruki Murakami’s, After the Quake is not merely six short stories connected by the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake. These stories read like the work of one soul skipping between the separated narratives, linking them and making the reader double back to check he hasn’t uncovered a secret about one story by the collusion of another.

‘Heart of stone’, ‘bears, polar + brown’, ‘serpents/worms’, ‘Super-frog’ and ‘half dead already’ are iconic devices that Murakami peppers this collection with. Of course, Murakami could have done it on purpose, either pre-planned or post-produced these stylistic and syntactic synchronisations to lend this collection a sense of implied, even dependant, unity. And it works.

And yes, you did read correctly. Story #5 is about a giant frog that saves Tokyo from destruction. This story is the scene stealer, the star of the show, the gem shining on the shore. What other writer would inject such a surreal set-piece like this into what is overall a five-part psycho-drama, a soap if you like, dealing with people’s reaction to the Kobe earthquake in a generally naturalistic way? It is played so straight and with suck warm conviction that you can’t help but want to wrap your arms around it, kiss it  and give it a big hug. 

After the Quake would make a perfect short film – imagine the bank collection officer Katagiri confronted by over-sized and undoubtedly computer-generated Super-frog crammed into his tiny apartment croaking at the top of his voice and politely telling how they were going to save Tokyo from the evil Worm. It’s a great and refreshing addition to this wonderful collection.

After the Quake, Haruki Murikami, The Open Critic Verdict

After the Quake attempts to show how Death permanently changes those it touches. That skull-cloaked fellow is no longer the assigned civil servant who whisks you away to the afterlife, he is merely a teacher bound to give you the ultimate social lesson.

This book is a reminder of everyone’s morality. We are all victims.

After the Quake, External Links

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