In these haunting, hilarious stories Murakami once again makes a determined assault on the normal. A mans favourite elephant simply vanishes; a couple suffering midnight hunger pangs hold up a McDonalds; and a woman finds she is irresistible to a green monster that burrows through her garden. When a mans favourite elephant vanishes, the balance of his whole life is subtly upset; a couples midnight hunger pangs drive them to hold up a McDonalds; 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. In every one of the stories that make up The Elephant Vanishes, Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal. He has a deadpan genius for dislocating realities to uncover the surreal in the everday, the extraordinary in the ordinary.