Men Without Women: Stories

I enjoyed reading Murakami‘s short stories

Pls pls pld do get this book... I found it amusing and refreshing.. a diff perspective... Another Murakami gem

Nice book to read. My wife is very happy.

Paperbacks are of good quality.

something of the mystery of the human mind is revealed in each of these stunning stories here the author is mostly interested in men + how they relate ( or don't ) to women a mirror image to Anita Brookner - who's mostly interested in women + how they relate ( or don't ) to men melancholic tales ( mostly about loss + regret ) with endings that often raise more questions than they answer the influence of Kafka can be felt throughout not least in the story entitled "Samsa In Love" in which a beetle awakens one morning to find its body has metamorphosed into that of a man ! with an appendage that does strange things when a woman comes calling !!

I had to wait for really long, over a month but the book was good.

Murakami te lleva a través de sus historias a la reflexión. Excelente.

This book contains a wonderful collection of seven short stories, from the aged Japanese writer. Each of the fictional stories is quite unique and specific in it’s circumstances. He deals with love, loss, sorrow, loneliness, finding closure, and moving on… What I loved about reading this book is that each story is beautifully written, with rich and granular observations. His writing demonstrates a deep empathy and understanding of the life experiences of a wide range of men (and it certainly crossed the cultural/ethnic/national boundaries between Japan and Australia for me). My impression was that this is a series of stories written by a senior man, about other men, largely to be consumed by men. It’s accessible for women and younger readers, but the nuance and emotional resonance may be lost on other audiences, to various extents. I found the length of these stories to be very satisfying. The characters and scenarios are serious, in some cases occurring simultaneously with life-changing events. The writing certainly drew me in, and I enjoyed the experience of reading it very much. Really happy with the translations by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goosen, in this edition. I can highly recommend this collection of short stories, especially for middle aged and older men (but other readers with an open mind may be able to appreciate the writing as well).

Haruki Murakami once said in an interview that he wanted to be “a writer who tells stories like no other writer.” He succeeds brilliantly in Men Without Women. The first story, “Drive My Car,” might be my favorite. Oddly, it has none of the dreamlike quality of so much of Murakami’s writing. A fairly straightforward narrative, it derives its charm from its quirky characters. I sense Shakespearean overtones and philosophical probings, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, it’s wonderful. All the characters in these stories are intriguing — a promiscuous and suddenly lovesick plastic surgeon, a nurse who believes she was a lamprey eel in a past life, a quiet man (possibly yakuza)who reads books while drinking in a bar, a man whose three ex-girlfriends committed suicide (he hopes it’s nothing he did)... “Samsa in love” borrows a Kafka character and is, not surprisingly, Kafkaesque. But Murakami rescues Samsa with a delightfully hopeful twist. I loved this story. Despite the title of this book, the collection is rich women and love stories. The last story in the book provides it with its title. Murakami is a fabulous prose stylist. His writing is Japanese in its purity and restraint, but jazz-like in its playful bursts of metaphor. All this combined with an aberrant imagination makes for a reading experience like no other.