Vintage International Edition, July 1994. Cover Design by John Gall
BOOKS READ 32: THE ELEPHANT VANISHES BY HARUKI MURAKAMI
A book of short stories by the ever so loved Haruki Murakami. I know it’s so redundant that I, and a bajillion other people like him and think he is the shit, but, really, he is.
What this book of short stories made clear to me was more of how Haruki Murakami’s mind works. Some of these stories have elements (little bits of plots, characters, character names) that show up in his other novels, and being able to just see those little hints, it felt more like you were experiencing Murakami’s process and how he thinks about things and it’s like, oh, I see (what I see is not entirely clear by the way, but you just kind of have this wordless understanding of oh, I kind of understand a bit more of your weirdness now, Murakami, and weirdness isn’t even the correct word to describe him, but it’ll do for now). You can just feel him working out how he wants to tell his longer stories through these short stories. You also just kind of become really accepting towards the normally strange things that he writes about. Like a dwarf, that dances really well (creepy, but from how it is described, it’s a revelation, but I am still doubtful), and possesses bodies and fucks people over (The Dancing Dwarf). Or a charming, upstanding man that burns barns down (Barn Burning), for you know, kicks, and he doesn’t seem insane or anything, because burning barns is totally… a given, I mean, why don’t I burn a barn too now that I think about it. I know that all these weird elements are supposed to be metaphors for things and many connections can be made, but I am perfectly happy with accepting them as they are and being kind of enchanted and entertained at these thoughts and leaving it at that.
And of course (I say of course because I unabashedly like sentimental, romantic things), my favorite story in the book, On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning (what person, even if you aren’t a romantic sap, can resist this title? And you can also hear a nice audio version of it here), he writes things I’d like to hear, to say, and so here we go:
They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other.
