Ghost of Lexington

Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This is a collection of short stories by the author written between 1991 and 1996, comprising 7 tales. Among the distinctive works are those featuring fantasy ghosts and exaggerated games. There are stories about ghosts in the late night, monsters underground, and the "Frozen Man" who marries and settles in Antarctica, surrounded by ice. There are also tales about the woes of marrying a shopping-obsessed wife and the heart-shattering experience of a friend being swept away by a typhoon. These 7 stories are all creatively original, eerie, and filled with mystery and horror, making them highly readable. stylistically, they differ from the author's other works and are considered the product of his influence from American literature. Among them, "The Ghost of Lexington" and "The Frozen Man" were included in the short story collection "The Disappearance of the Elephant" published by Lijiang Press.
After finishing "Dance! Dance! Dance!" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," Haruki Murakami still had more to give. Although they are short stories, their imagination is no less extraordinary than the two major novels: a lone man left to guard an old house in the suburbs finds himself surrounded by terrifying laughter in the middle of the night's living room, but when he waits until dawn to investigate, he finds no trace of anyone there ("The Ghost of Lexington"); "The Frozen Man," with his icy muscles and frosty fingers, is lucky to marry a beautiful wife and finds fulfillment working as a freezer storage manager, yet he insists on settling in Antarctica ("The Frozen Man"); a nearly perfect wife happens to be obsessed with shopping, with an entire room transformed into a closet, and the dense mass of clothes left behind after her death nearly drives him to despair ("Toni Valley"); the author's friend, just swept away by a typhoon, is found floating on the crest of a second massive wave, grinning at him—a smile that leaves him terrified for the next forty years, even avoiding swimming pools ("The Seventh Man"). Every story presents an unbelievable world, and each one hides an inexhaustible terror.