After Dark

After Dark (2007) by Haruki Murakami. A young girl sits in an all-night restaurant and reads. Her sister lies in bed at home, sleeping. A young jazz trombonist wanders into the scene and strikes up a conversation with the girl in the restaurant. An office worker takes some time off work in the early morning hours and visits a prostitute, whom he viciously beats and robs. These are all elements of Murakami's novel, "After Dark." While it makes for entertaining reading, I was hard put to answer the question, What's the point? Grade: B