I think this book proves why Murakami's stories don't work as short stories, he needs those extra couple of 100 pages to take you a surreal journey. In this book that journey is just starting when the story ends, every single story leaves you unsatisfied. The first story seems to be the first chapter of the wind up bird chronicle and taken like this it makes no sense at all, as the full book it is great.

The rest of the stories here are brilliant, "the kangaroo communique" is probably my favourite, a creepy guy working in a product control department likes a customer's letter and decides to communicate like a proper stalker, at one point he is outside her house. It makes for some very gripping reading. The main story "The elephant vanishes" is about.....wait for it....an elephant that vanishes, this was the most interesting story, you get no real conclusion and I'm hoping that like the wind up bird story it has been or will be made into a full novel.

An interesting book, feels like a scrapbook of possible story ideas that Murakami has put together.