The Elephant Vanishes
Haruki Murakami
This was one of the few books remaining standing between me and having read all of Murakami’s translated works. There is nothing spectacular here, but if you enjoy Murakami, you’ll find some things you like. I thought it was about on par with “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman”, his other collection of short stories. My favorite stories from this volume were: “The Second Bakery Attack”, “Sleep”, “Family Affair”, and “The Last Lawn of the Afternoon”. I especially enjoyed, in “Sleep”, reading Murakami writing from a female perspective, which is pretty unusual for him. (Though his female protagonist is very much like his typical male protagonists…)