The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

Product Description

A dizzying short story collection that displays Murakami's genius for uncovering the surreal in the everyday, the extraordinary within the ordinary

*Featuring the story ‘Barn Burning’, the inspiration behind the Palme d’Or nominated film Burning*

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 in a twilight world of semi-consciousness in which anything seems possible - even death.

In every one of these stories Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal. 

Review

"How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration" (Independent on Sunday)

"Enchanting...intriguing... All of these tales have a wonderfully surreal quality and a hip, witty tone" (Wall Street Journal)

"All the stories take place in parallel worlds not so much remote from ordinary life as hidden within its surfaces: secret alleys that afford unexpected - and unsettling - views" (New York Times)

"Like the best thriller fiction, it nags you with the sensation that Something Nasty is about to happen" (Sunday Times)

"Most collections of short stories work by the interplay of different voices. This one offers the more satisfying rewards of a novel: unity of tone and a richness of recurring detail that creates its own texture: spaghetti, lawns, hamburgers, beer-drinking, kid sisters, Sunday afternoons, a man's name" (Independent)

Format Paperback | 336 pages
Dimensions 128 x 196 x 26mm | 240g
Publication date 01 Dec 2003
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Imprint VINTAGE
Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom
Language English
ISBN10 0099448750
ISBN13 9780099448754