… “The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary.
They should never have undertaken it, because they really and truly were each other’s 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of
fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully…“

“You have to make an effort to always look at the good side, always think about the good things. Then you’ve got nothing to be afraid of. If something bad comes up,
you do more thinking at that point…”

~ Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes

“The Elephant Vanishes” is a collection of 17 short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The stories were written between 1980 and 1991, and published in Japan in various magazines, then collections. The contents of this compilation were selected by Gary Fisketjon (Murakami’s editor at Knopf) and first published in English translation in 1993.