Product Description

'A remarkable writer-he captures the common ache of contemporary heart and head' Jay McInerney

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4987 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-08
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
When a man's favourite elephant vanishes, the balance of his whole life is subtly upset; a couple's midnight hunger pangs drive them to hold up a McDonald's; a woman finds she is irresistible to a small green monster that burrows through her front garden; an insomniac wife wakes up to a twilight world of semi-consciousness in which anything seems possible - even death. In every one of the stories that make up The Elephant Vanishes, Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal. He has a deadpan genius for dislocating realities to uncover the surreal in the everday, the extraordinary in the ordinary.

About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo.

Customer Reviews

One Star...? Hmmmm
Simon Barrett's two line review (previously posted) isn't helpful when considering whether to read this book and as a thirty five year old I find him patronising.

This isn't Murakami's best work and I don't think that his short stories really give him the length of work that he needs to fully develop his ideas. Having read how Murakami writes - he alternates between novels & short stories, sometimes developing short stories in to novels - I think you've really got to read the 'Sheep' novels or Kafka On The Shore to be drawn in to the maelstrom of ideas & surreal madness that he can conjure.

For me Murakami's the literary version of John Coltrane or Ornette Coleman. You've just got to go with it, don't worry about understanding everything, let it twist & turn, it'll reward you for it.

For Mr Barrett to call The Wind Up Bird Chronicle 'execrable' is pointless without telling the prospective reader why.

But then, I'm not likely to take literary criticism seriously from a man who recommends a Ten Thousand Maniacs album ;-)

Seventeen original stories
There are 17 charming, funny and frequently puzzling short stories in "The Elephant Vanishes". Nearly all bear the author's particular style: a mixture of magical realism, feckless wandering and clean writing, often ending at a blank wall.
The 17 stories, very well translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin, show the author's wide range of reading and interests. The stories are set in Japan but they include references to Allen Ginsberg, Clarence Darrow, Candice Bergen, the "Colonel Bogey" March, Meryl Streep, W. Harper, Robert De Niro, "Anna Karenina," Sly and the Family Stone, Dustin Hoffman, and Katherine Mansfield.
A nice collection of stories which will charm all readers fond of the author's particular literary style.

Poor Translation
When I started reading The Elephant Vanishes some time ago, I only managed to read a couple of stories and then felt I had to put it down, because the style is awful. The language of some of the stories is so simplistic that it seems as if they have been translated word-for-word.
Recently, I read Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and I was amazed: the story of the first Chapter is identical to the first story of The Elephant Vanishes - however, it is a different translation, a very good translation. It makes for a fascinating read. So if you are interested in Murakami's work, give The Elephant Vanishes a miss and check out The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.