Friday, October 1, 2010

"The Elephant vanishes" Review by Wasif Ahmad

'The Elephant vanishes' by Haruki Murakami

This is a collection of short stories, Japan, being the place of fictional events and happenings. This was my first read of this novelist and I found his writing way too unique. 
The imagery and the minute details which he has brought about is commendable. He works his way as a magician and brings alive each word of his book playing their part in the minds of the reader.

One thing which I have noticed in his style is his open ends. Some might loathe him for not putting a full stop to culminate his stories (metaphorically), but at the same time, he, so wittingly embraces the reader so as to give their own ending.

Take for example ' The wind-up bird and Tuesday's woman'; now this story- i found a bit odd, but on other measures bit intriguing. The story revolves around a woman calling a man asking him to spare a few minutes on phone, to which he refuses and finally becomes restless. Realises he should have listened to the woman. She never calls. No mention of the woman hereafter by the author. Reader is left searching for strings!
Author, then takes away the story up to a wind-up bird in a veranda of an old dilapidated house in search of his cat. He leaves a lot of open ends and a confused reader.
But his style shows reality, for not every day are we able to put full stops in our daily incidents or for that matter give a concluding note to our events- and thus he takes a tint of reality in his fiction. keeps the reader to keep searching for clues to make full a story.

All in all, this novelist provides a good read, and provides an escapade from the status quo.
Haruki Murakami has 11/1 odds in winning the 2010 nobel prize for literature.


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