Men Without Women: Stories

Men Without Women is the first book from Haruki Murakami that I have read. It is a collection of stories about men and their relationships with women. Not knowing more about this author, it is hard for me to tell if he personally has issues with women, or if it is merely an understandable theme in a book of such stories, most of which involve women leaving men. Either way, while enjoying his writing style, I found the ideas about and attitudes toward women as reflected in some of these stories to be off putting. Oddly, other stories exhibit a warm, soft, almost hazy romanticism that is sweet and dreamy. So I come away from this collection feeling that I know nothing about the man who penned the words; wondering if something was lost or added in translation.

I enjoyed this book. My favorite stories were Gregor Samsa and Kino. These stories are all murakami no doubt, but they feel like different versions of murakami. Like he's taken all his feeling and the "essence" of certain times in his life to write these characters and give their stories their moods. This is a collection that is probably best for people who are already fans of murakami

This has all of the familiar hallmarks of M's work, from old jazz records to stray cats. There are also a few things that are new as well. Maybe it's a certain pessimism regarding encounters between men and women, a kind of melancholy. A little dark for my taste, but still great nonetheless.