After the Quake

There's always something unidentifiably brilliant about Murakami short stories. I'm either imposing my own good opinion on them, or I just really like the atmosphere (japanese atmosphere?), or he really does create something special each time. It could be that there is something lost in translation that leaves me confused and thoughtful... as is probably the case with Manga films that I like ("I don't get it.. but I like it!"). The unidentifiable plays a particularly important role in these stories however.

When Murakami was in self-exile, two very important events to the Japanese collective unconscious occurred: the Kobe earthquake, and the sarin gas attacks on the underground. He returned to write about each of these.

Each of the stories in After the Quake takes is only indirectly related to the Quake itself. Each of the characters is affected, as if by the aftershocks, in unpredictable ways. In one story, a woman mesmerized by the continual footage decides that she must leave her husband - she knew no-one in the quake. In a more ridiculous story, a giant frog needs a debt collector's help to fight a giant earthworm that is going to cause another quake. In each of the stories, the quake stirs something intangible, causing the characters to reconsider their lives. As usual, Murakami is able to evoke quite beautiful friendships and chance meetings (sex included of course), even in these short stories - perhaps this is because he knows the short story is probably best when things are suggested rather than shown.