The Elephant Vanishes
Ratings92
Average rating3.7
The Elephant Vanishes – 5 Stars
Murakami’s writing in these stories is, as usual: free, unapologetic, unembarrassed, and politically incorrect.
The short story format fits his style perfectly, forcing the narratives to be sharp and focused, avoiding the hard-to-follow stretches that appear in some of his novels.
Some stories are downright fun, some are haunting, some evoke that nostalgic, dreamlike mood Murakami is known for, and some I didn’t understand—but enjoyed reading anyway.
Not every story is a 5-star masterpiece, but enough of them are to justify the overall rating.
It's hard giving a rating for the collection as each story made me feel differently.
I sort of hated the first few short stories but going on forth with the rest, I started feeling differently and quite enjoyed some of the tales. These stories are bizarre... more of psychological explorations, experiences and feelings that we can't really put to words but Murakami does just that. I'd say if you're to read this collection, go with a bit of an open approach, not expecting any plot or satisfactory endings. The characters aren't the most likable and there's some apathy, some undistinguished personality trait that seems to be shared by almost all of them. You can't attach yourself to the storyline or the characters, but you see the shades of human nature and at times it may even resonate with you. I wholly dislike his explicitness though and strongly believe the stories could do well without them.
Also, each of these tales seems to have some connection between them which was another point of interest for me personally.
I've had a tough time putting my finger on my feelings about Murakami and his writing. Before investing in this collection of short stories, I've read two of the author's more celebrated works, as well as the author's terse answers for The Secret Miracle project. I'm still not convinced of Murakami's brilliance. While reading his stories, I often feel underwhelmed. The story can be incredibly dry, but given some magical element and a cat, it is supposed to be transformed into writing of the highest quality. The characters are often the same: young men, stuck in a tedious work, with a great love for breasts and refrigerators. Seriously, take my word for it non-Murakami readers, there is a lot of time spent in the kitchen. And yet...
And yet I cannot shake these stories. There are novels I gave five shinning stars to, but five years later, I have only the vaguest memories of their plot. It's been six years since I read my first Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, and I still remember so many details. Every week or two, an image from that novel comes back to me. I gave the book an embarrassing three-star rating, yet there are few books I've read since that I think of as much as that one. It's powerful, and yet, I'm still underwhelmed.
I heard some years back that all fiction readers can be divided into three categories: those who read for plot, those who read for character, and those who read for language. Now, a reader can span multiple categories, but most readers are going to fall primarily into one or another. A plot-driven reader can forgive sloppy characterization if the story is well told. Myself, I'm character primarily, language secondarily. A story without a well-built character, no matter how amazing the plot, is going to fall flat for me.
So here I am, analyzing my feelings regarding Murakami, trying to figure out how his writing fits into these categories—and I'm not sure they do. His characters certainly aren't carrying the stories. The language, or I should say the English translation, is nothing beautiful or unique. One could argue the plot is the central focus, as it is the strongest of the three, but I'm now noticing there is a fourth force that may be at play here: imagery. Are there books where imagery is the primary element? Then there must be readers who are image-driven readers, right? With its little people, magical flutes, elephant factories, and perfectly round breasts, breasts, breasts, Murakami's stories make a strong argument for the image-centric novel. It makes sense that Murakami would appeal so much to a visual generation that grew up with video games, comic books, and 32 television channels.
The stories in The Elephant Vanishes are most significant when they tap Murakami's talent of the visual. Murakami is skilled at taking two seemingly random elements and making a story out of them. The more visual these elements are, the more successfully they breathe life into the story. These are unforgettable moments. There are many stories in The Elephant Vanishes that fail to do this, in my opinion. Much like nearly every collection of short stories I've read, there are great stories and there are mediocre stories; despite its gems, The Elephant Vanishes is bogged down by quite a few less-than-memorable tales. As a whole, the collection is rather average.
So I walk away from Murakami again feeling underwhelmed. Despite this feeling, I already know there are images from this collection that I won't be able to shake: factories where elephants are manufactured, a dancing dwarf who comes in dream, a young couple donning the mask of the Hamburglar. In time, I'll return to the author, keeping in mind what I learned this go around: despite working in the medium of words, Murakami is in some regards a visual artist.
This book was a suggestion to me. I can't honestly say it was something that I would have picked up on my own.
Of all the stories that are contained in this book, “Barn Burning” was by far my favorite. It was also one of the few that I grasped the full meaning of. (Or, the full implication.) The others seemed just strange or mundane.
It is a book of short stories, which is a little odd to read after my month's selections so far. I would highly suggest it to anyone interested in comparative literature.
These stories are wonderful. Like koans. Between this and [b:Norwegian Wood 11297 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166468809s/11297.jpg 2956680], Murakami has officially made it onto my list of favorite authors.