Mini Reviews: The Elephant Vanishes || The Complete Stories

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

Pages: 328

Genre: Adult literary fiction short stories

Publication Date: March 1993

When a man's favorite 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.

The Good: I guess these 17 whimsical short stories could be described as magical realism. The stories are set in the real world, but everything is a bit . . . off. In Murakami’s bizarre universe, elephants are made in factories, fairytale dwarfs crawl into people’s bodies, and teenagers love doing yardwork. These stories are my favorite kind of magical realism. They’re grounded in real life, but they’re weird enough to capture my attention immediately.

The only Murakami novel I’ve read is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I didn’t like that book, but I did like seeing some of the familiar characters (and cats) reappear in these short stories.

Judging by what other reviewers are saying on Goodreads, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but my favorite story is “Family Affair.” A lot of reviewers list it as one of their least-favorites. Maybe because it’s less weird than the others? It’s about a slightly shallow young man who uses humor to keep other people from truly getting to know him. His only close relationship is with his sister, but that changes when she gets a boyfriend. This story made me laugh. Murakami’s characters are relatable because most of them are loners who are deeply confused by the world. That’s basically me. He’s writing about me.

“You don't have to judge the whole world by your own standards. Not everybody is like you, you know.” – The Elephant Vanishes

The Bad: I know that there are a million rabid Murakami fans in the world. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. I’ve now read two Murakami books and felt “meh” about both of them. I guess I don’t get the hype. For me, most of the stories in this collection are too meandering. The characters are lazy, apathetic people who lack the desire to change their lives. They’re realistic, but not very interesting to read about. They just wander through Murakami’s bizarre universe. I feel like I missed the point of many of these stories, especially because most of them don’t seem to have endings. They just suddenly stop.

The Bottom Line: I don’t think I’m going to read more Murakami books. I don’t really “get” his work. His worlds are intriguing, but the plots and characters aren’t compelling enough to keep me reading.

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Pages: 555
Genre: Adult literary fiction short stories
Publication date: 1973

The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's monumental contribution to American fiction. There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime.

The Good: These stories about life in the rural American South were written between the 1940s and the 1960s. They’re like snapshots of life at the time. Most of the characters are poor southern white farmers who are struggling to adjust to the shifting world. The tension comes from the conflicts between urban and rural, progress vs the old ways. A lot changed during the 20-something years that Flannery O’Connor was publishing. She captures the changes brilliantly. These stories are an important part of the American literary canon because they record life in an honest, unflinching way. Even the ugly parts of American culture (such as racism, greed, and crime) are shown in this collection.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” is one of my favorite short stories ever. It was forced upon me several times in school, and I liked it more each time I read it. It’s about a family with two quirky children who meet a mass murderer in the middle of nowhere. The reader figures out pretty quickly that the story won’t end well for the family. I like the calm, methodical way that the murderer goes about his business. This is one of those stories that make you stare in stunned silence after you finish it.

“‘A good man is hard to find,’ Red Sammy said. ‘Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.’” – The Complete Stories

The Bad: If you can’t handle the N-word, then you should avoid this collection. Almost all of the white characters are racist.

If I read any of these stories on their own, I probably would have liked them, but I don’t think they work as a collection. They’re too similar. I feel like I read the same story 31 times. The settings and themes are similar. The characters are basically the same people with different names. The older women are judgmental and self-righteous; the men are dead, jerks, or both; the young adults are useless intellectuals; and the black characters are stereotypes. A lot of the stories end with epiphanies. The awful people suddenly realize that they’re awful people. I got bored with the repetition.

The Bottom Line: These stories are a must-read for anyone interested in American history, but maybe you should take long breaks between them. They get tedious quickly.