Friday, 17 February 2012

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami - Book Review

Title: The Elephant Vanishes
Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Vintage
Publication Date:2003 (1993)
Pages: 327
Format: Paperback
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Xmas Gift





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 everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary. (Goodreads Review)


This is a wonderful collection of short stories that are intriguing, amusing and yet also thought-provoking and intelligent. No one but Murakami could dream up stories of little green men in love with a human women or dancing dwarves and still make them seem realistic and part of everyday life.

This is a pretty short review, but really, with a collection of tales like these, there is nothing to say but: get out and grab your copy now.

Fans of Murakami's writing will be well pleased and this book would also be a good introduction for those new to his work.

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