After the Quake by Haruki Murakami ~ Started: 03.04.10 ~ Finished: 05.04.10
Synopsis ~
The economy was booming. People had more money than they knew what to do with. And then the earthquake struck. For the characters in after the quake, the Kobe earthquake is an echo from a past they buried long ago. Satsuki has spent thirty years hating one man: a lover who destroyed her chances of having children. Did her desire for revenge cause the earthquake? Junpei's estranged parents live in Kobe. Should he contact them? Miyabe left his family in Kobe to make midnight bonfires on a beach hundreds of miles away. Four year old Sala has nightmares that the Earthquake Man is trying to stuff her inside a little box. Katagiri returns home to find a giant frog in his apartment, on a mission to save Tokyo returns home to find a giant frog in his apartment, on a mission to save Tokyo from a massive burrowing worm. 'When he gets angry, he causes earthquakes', says Frog. 'And right now he is very, very angry.'
'After the Quake' is six short stories set following the earthquake (Great Hanshin earthquake)
in Kobe, Japan on Tuesday 17 January 1995, 6,434 people tragically lost their lives and is Japan's worst earthquake.
The stories explores aspects of the character's lives which have been affected by the earthquake, whether its lost communication between relatives, feelings of a failed marriage, a giant frog who must fight a giant worm to stop another earthquake occurring or a young girl scared of change, they are all related to the earthquake.
One of my main reasons why I enjoy reading books by Haruki Murakami is his insight into people, true some of his characters are bizarre but I love them, in 'After the Quake', there is less bizarre characters, its the situation surrounding them, their feelings, etc.
Another great read by Haruki Murakami, who I felt wrote this book to deal with his feelings following the Earthquake.