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Men Without Women

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator),

Ted Goossen (Translator)

3.77 · Rating details · 58,875 ratings · 5,852 reviews

A dazzling new collection of short stories--the first major new work of fiction from the beloved, internationally acclaimed, Haruki Murakami since his #1 best-selling Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are v ...more

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Paperback, 240 pages

Published May 1st 2018 by Vintage (first published April 18th 2014)

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· 58,875 ratings · 5,852 reviews

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Oct 31, 2016 Helle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: japanese, short-stories

I saw Murakami yesterday. I don't mean that in a metaphorical way: I literally saw him in my home town of Odense, Denmark. He received the Hans Christian Andersen Literary Award and made a few small appearances while he was here, one of which was at our local library. There were only 180 of us there, and I don't think anyone left the room afterwards thinking that the event had been so-so. I, at least, felt dazed and enriched and happy afterwards. We heard him read aloud from a short story (in Ja ...more

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Jul 04, 2017 Sean Barrs rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-star-reads, contemporary-lit, short-stories

Men Without Women is a collection of stories about despairing men and loneliness; it depicts men who try to cope with the sorrows of life after their loved one has departed from them. Unable to move on, the men spend the rest of their days lamenting what they will never again feel.

So this is a sad collection, one that captures the harsh realities of human experience, at least, the experience some people will ultimately feel in the face of rejection. The feelings the men have here are not needy Men Without Women is a collection of stories about despairing men and loneliness; it depicts men who try to cope with the sorrows of life after their loved one has departed from them. Unable to move on, the men spend the rest of their days lamenting what they will never again feel.

So this is a sad collection, one that captures the harsh realities of human experience, at least, the experience some people will ultimately feel in the face of rejection. The feelings the men have here are not needy or creepy towards the women in question. This certainly isn’t a collection about desperate men. What we have instead is successful men, often those who are married or charming with the ladies, who lose their loved one or perhaps find her for the first time. They then have to get on with their loves in the wake of such a thing.

Not an easy task for sure. Some have different coping strategies varying in different levels of extremity. One man simply dies, unable to eat anymore or muster the will to live, he slowly perishes and wastes away to nothing as he realises his love never felt the same way about him. What’s surprising, and perhaps a truism, is how easy it is for such an experience to break a man. Again, these men are not emotionally fragile or unhinged; they are relatively normal people who simply get overwhelmed by emotions that they cannot control or predict. Love is never easy and unreciprocated love is agony.

But don’t some people have the strength to carry on?

However, despite the harsh experience the men have here, I wanted to see a little bit more positivity. Some people, men or women, will find themselves in very similar situations in life, but they do not simply lay down and die. They get on with it; they keep going. Life does not fit into a neat little box. We don’t always get what we want, and simply giving up is not the answer. We have one life, and despite how painful our own experience can be, there is always a reason to carry on. If you’re not living for yourself, then live for other people.

As ever Murakami’s prose is precise with the ability to handle such complex emotions. And he has tapped into something here, something true to life, but not everybody will react in such a way. We must move forward no matter how hard it may seem. At times I found myself wanting to give the men a good hard slap; they surely needed it: they needed a motivation injection or something. As important as it is to find a partner in life, it is not the thing that defines life or success.

This book is certainly worth a read, though it falls short of its potential. Not all men without women react the same way.

Facebook| Twitter| Insta| Academia ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Audiobook...
I LOVED THESE STORIES!!!! They penetrated through my ears and my thoughts. I was hanging on to every word walking around town completely captivated.

The only thing I didn't like -- only for a couple of minutes-is when switching to a new story... I wasn't ready to transition. Yet, they were 'all' fascinating & amazing!!!

Quick question? Do you think women drive different than men? And...
MEN: do you feel less at ease in the passenger seat with a woman driving - than when a man is? Paul ...more

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Mar 28, 2015 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, literature, japan, 21th-century, magical-realism

Men Without Women: Stories ("Drive My Car", "Yesterday", "An Independent Organ", "Scheherazade", "Kino", "Samsa in Love", "Men Without Women"), Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami (born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country.

"Drive My Car" Kafuku, a veteran and widowed actor, hires twenty-four year old driver Mis ...more

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May 24, 2017 Andrew Smith rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

A short enigmatic story from the master of the surreal. It’s a freebie (just follow the link accompanying this book on the Goodreads site) and if you’re a fan of Murakami’s work you should take a look; it’ll see you through a morning cappuccino.

Kino owns a small bar in a back street of Tokyo. He doesn’t get many customers but one man does visit a couple of times each week and always sits in the same place, the most uncomfortable spot in the bar. They rarely talk. There’s a cat and jazz music and ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Candi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, short-stories

“Loneliness is brought over from France, the pain of the wound from the Middle East. For Men Without Women, the world is a vast, poignant mix, very much the far side of the moon.”

I couldn’t get enough of Haruki Murakami after my passionate fling with him and his Sputnik Sweetheart last month. I hadn’t intended for it to be just a fleeting, casual flirtation. I knew I’d be going back for more after he accepted my apology for abandoning him several years ago. And I did just that, less than two wee ...more

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Aug 10, 2018 Nishat rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: stories, magic-realism

Seven stories. All about pitifully isolated men, struggling with the loss of women in their lives, coming to terms, although at a snail's pace, with death and heartbreak - some even failing miserably at that. It seems to me, Murakami has been writing about them forever.

Merging all the characters that Murakami, over the years, breathed life into, we invariably discover a man, always the same man, the ultimate loner. Murakami has given him new names and effaced older ones. But there's no question ...more

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Jul 21, 2017 Darwin8u rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

"That's what it is like to lose a woman. And at a certain time, losing one woman means losing all women. That's how we become Men Without Women."
-- Haruki Murakami, Men Without Women

description

This is a soft Murakami. A lot of his novels are dreamlike, but this one seems more like an emotional smell than a memory. There just isn't a lot to grab onto. It reminded me of petting a sea anemone flower at a local aquarium. I knew I was doing it. I was even thrilled a bit as I was doing it. It just didn't registe ...more

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Jan 02, 2015 Cheryl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-psyche, global-intrigue, mesmerizing, asia, short-shorts

There I was, on vacation in Florida, when I received the email from The New Yorker with “stories to enjoy during the holiday.” Sure, as if I needed more stories to add to the ever-growing list. But the stories were right there, just a fingertip away on my iPad, and they were free. So I did what any other story addict would do: I opened the email and clicked the first link. Up popped Haruki Murakami. I didn’t know what to think about this. Was I to read another Murakami, only to become frustrated There I was, on vacation in Florida, when I received the email from The New Yorker with “stories to enjoy during the holiday.” Sure, as if I needed more stories to add to the ever-growing list. But the stories were right there, just a fingertip away on my iPad, and they were free. So I did what any other story addict would do: I opened the email and clicked the first link. Up popped Haruki Murakami. I didn’t know what to think about this. Was I to read another Murakami, only to become frustrated with the translation and story again, and in turn, feel as if I was downgrading the prized Murakami storytelling, just as I felt I did after reading, The Elephant Vanishes? No thanks. And then I saw these first two lines: “Each time they had sex, she told Habara a strange and gripping story afterward. Like Queen Scheherazade in ‘A Thousand and One Nights.’”

He had me at the first five words.

I haven’t read the original version of this story, but if it’s anything like Lahiri’s New Yorker version of “Sexy,” or Adichie’s “Birdsong,” you know that the translation has been fine tuned through some copious editing. I remember an instance in a graduate writing workshop, when we went over the form of Lahiri’s “Sexy.” That day, one of my workshop mates tried to follow along with the actual short story collection, but soon, we were all fascinated when we realized that The New Yorker’s version was shorter and a better read.

You start by thinking this story is about Habara, the male narrator trapped in his home and his mind, until you realize that it is about the woman he calls, Scheherazade. You see her through Habara’s eyes, you see her in his bed. You see her as a thirty-five-year old woman, and as a seventeen-year-old girl. There is also the story of her past, which tells you that she too, is a mental prisoner.

“She was a lamprey eel in a former life,” she tells him as they lay in bed. Lamprey eels have suckers, “which they use to attach themselves to rocks at the bottom of a river or lake. ”They float there, just waiting to attach themselves to something (or somebody if you’re looking at this in symbolic terms). Once they spy a trout, “they dart up and fasten on to it with their suckers. Inside their suckers are these tonguelike things with teeth, which rub back and forth against the trout’s belly until a hole opens up and they can start eating the flesh, bit by bit.” (Note to self: rethink ordering eel for sushi).

Scheherazade attaches herself to Habara and he to her, and it makes you wonder if she, the eel, is determined to suck something out of him. No pun intended. She tells him:

Lampreys think very lamprey-like thoughts. About lamprey-like topics in a context that’s very lamprey-like. There are no words for those thoughts. They belong to the world of water. It’s like when we were in the womb. We were thinking things in there, but we can’t express those thoughts in the language we use out here.

Scheherazade is a surface idiosyncratic but beneath it all, you sense she is more and so you wait for something disastrous to happen. Yet nothing does happen. Or does it? Is this layered suggestiveness Murakami’s way of giving his readers the power of ending a story for themselves? Sure, Scheherazade was a stalker in her past, an obsessive person who was so fatally attracted to someone, she broke into his home to smell his dirty sweatshirts, but what of the present?

This is a story of companionship and void sexual encounters, where the backstory informs the main story and pulls you along for the ride: “their lovemaking and her storytelling were so closely linked, making it hard to tell where one ended and the other began.” At its core, it is about a man who is losing his freedom and fearful that someday, when he loses it completely, he will lose what he cherishes the most: the companionship of a woman. You don’t read this story and take a break; you read it in gulps, because this is the way Murakami intended.
...more

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Nov 15, 2020 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, the-japanese

I wish I’d notated the moment when I realized how comfortable, almost swaddled, I felt as I read these Haruki Murakami tales. It is like meeting up with an old friend in a train station that I haven’t seen for a long time, and as we talk, I realize how much I miss the cadence of his voice and the specific way he shares with me the story of his life. I have a long reading history with Murakami so I’m not sure why I am so surprised. It isn’t a shocking surprise, but a pleasant surprise, like disco ...more

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May 29, 2017 Ellie marked it as tbr-soon · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, kindle, magic-magicrealism, 2017indchallenge, short-story, 2016indchallenge, literary, fiction

As usual, there is a bar, jazz music, and a cat. Along with a repressed man (Kino), out of touch with his feelings, and some supernatural happenings.

I loved this short story by Murakami (you can read it for free by following the GR link).

It is filled with his classic themes, soothing and haunting at the same time. Beautiful sentences:

“This was ambiguity: holding on to an empty space between two extremes.”

“The roots of darkness could spread everywhere beneath the earth. Patiently taking their ti ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 Chris_P rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: haruki-murakami, shorties

Dreams are the kind of things you can—when you need to—borrow and lend out.

You know how, for many people, reading books is like travelling without leaving the comfort of their living rooms? For me, reading Murakami is like returning home after a long and exhaustive trip. His prose, his style, all the little well known things that make up his stories, feel like a cozy, dim-lit room with dark corners and telephones that ring menacingly, like an unfortold dark turn of events, in the middle of t ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Sam Quixote rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Haruki Murakami’s latest short story collection is also my least favourite of his so far. Out of the seven fairly longish stories, only one of them was half-decent while the others ranged from bleh to agonisingly dull.

Kino is the ok story where a recently heartbroken man opens up a bar and plays host to a strange man who comes in every week, reads a book and drinks his booze. Its focus meanders quite a bit from Kino to the stranger to some random woman and then back to the stranger, though it’s Haruki Murakami’s latest short story collection is also my least favourite of his so far. Out of the seven fairly longish stories, only one of them was half-decent while the others ranged from bleh to agonisingly dull.

Kino is the ok story where a recently heartbroken man opens up a bar and plays host to a strange man who comes in every week, reads a book and drinks his booze. Its focus meanders quite a bit from Kino to the stranger to some random woman and then back to the stranger, though it’s never boring, and I liked the hint of magical realism dancing on the edges of the tale. However I would’ve preferred a less self-consciously literary, vague ending which left me unsatisfied and wondering what the hey I’d just read.

And self-consciously literary, vague, unsatisfying and what the hey basically sums up the rest of the stories! In Drive My Car, an actor gets a female driver to drive him to and from the theatre, along the way telling her about his dead philandering wife and the friendship he struck up with one of her lovers. Yesterday is about a man who goes out with his friend’s girlfriend who dreams of an icy moon. Scheherazade is about a man seemingly held prisoner in a house visited by a woman he calls Scheherazade (though it’s not her real name) who tells him about her odd dreams after they sex. A wealthy plastic surgeon starves himself to death after falling in love in An Independent Organ.

Uh… huh? I guess the theme is weird relationships but I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about it - Murakami’s women is cheating ho-bags? The stories feel like they’re trying to seem deep and profound but they come across as really shallow and pointless. I get the literary references - 1001 Arabian Nights (Scheherazade), Kafka (Samsa in Love), Hemingway (Men Without Women), and of course the near-obligatory Beatles nods (Drive My Car, Yesterday) - but so what? I have read Hemingway’s collection, also called Men Without Women, though it’s been years and I can’t remember it so I’m not sure if it ties into this in any meaningful way.

The worst stories were Samsa in Love and Men Without Women. A man wakes up to discover he’s Gregor Samsa - haaaah, geddit?? Like an inversion of Kafka’s Metamorphosis when Gregor Samsa woke up to discover he was a giant bug! Gregor Samsa falls in love with a hunchback locksmith and… that’s it. I guess it was all about that opening line. In Men Without Women some guy rambles on about a woman he used to love who’s just died. Awful, boring rubbish.

Kino was ok and the writing in general is of a high standard, and I liked certain elements of some of the stories like the odd, ambiguous scenario of Scheherazade - why is that man trapped in a house and can’t leave? On the whole though this is a very weak collection with a series of instantly forgettable crap. I’d recommend either after the quake or The Elephant Vanishes over this fans-only book. ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Mutasim Billah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, japan

"But when I look back at myself at age twenty what I remember most is being alone and lonely."

Ahh Murakami and his endless alienated, lonely male characters! Men Without Women is a collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami that came out in 2017 (not to be confused with Hemingway's short-story collection of the same name). Here, we have seven stories with male characters, each with varying degrees of despair, dread or loneliness from the lack or loss of women. There are themes of grief, betr ...more

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Jul 22, 2020 capture stories rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“Here’s what hurts the most,” Kafuku said. “I didn’t truly understand her--or at least some crucial part of her. And it may well end that way now that she’s dead and gone. Like a small, locked safe lying at the bottom of the ocean. It hurts a lot.”

The title of the book caught my attention. The design on the cover depicted a man with a missing puzzle removed from his heart. What does it mean? Thus, my interpretation of the stories is as follows.

The empathetic tale of seven men whose confusion nev “Here’s what hurts the most,” Kafuku said. “I didn’t truly understand her--or at least some crucial part of her. And it may well end that way now that she’s dead and gone. Like a small, locked safe lying at the bottom of the ocean. It hurts a lot.”

The title of the book caught my attention. The design on the cover depicted a man with a missing puzzle removed from his heart. What does it mean? Thus, my interpretation of the stories is as follows.

The empathetic tale of seven men whose confusion never came to understand the women. These were lonely men who never get to hold on to the “missing puzzle.”

The first story was about a veteran actor who’s still grieving over his dead wife. He never fathoms the reason for his wife’s affairs with other men despite the beautiful marriage. Or so he may think so.

The second story comes with Kitaru, a youthful man in his early twenties with a comical character. Pleasant looking until he opens his mouth. The perceived delicate appearance falters after he speaks. Kitaru has been dating his gorgeous childhood girlfriend, but their relationship could never go all the way to the end, left her baffled, and compelled to look for love somewhere else.

Thirdly, a strange story about Scheherazade? I find it difficult to relate to “Men without Women.” Scheherazade talks about a middle-aged woman who can have the gift to tell stories that keeps Habara addicted, wanting for more, each time after sleeping together. She cared and tended to Habara’s daily needs. Habara was so intrigued by her companion, care, and storytelling that he shudders at the thought of losing her.

As the stories progressed, and landed on Dr. Tokai- bachelor, cosmetic surgeon, and a player. Dr. Tokai was a gentleman with elegance and sophistication. Of all the stories, this one left an impression on me. How should I put it? Fascinating but tragic… After being a professional player, I was never once burnt. He unexpectedly falls in love with a married woman. This one slip took his life. Yes, he died!

There are seven short stories. The next three stories weave around a bartender who’s wife left him for other men, his mysterious encounters with a man named Kimata, a quiet frequent to the bar. Kimata provided wise guidance and shelter when Jino met with dangerous encounters. Followed by Gregor Samsa, a newly born man who enters the world with utterly pure innocence. Hilarious conversations took place between him and the hunchback girl. Samsa experienced gullible physical reactions when his body reacts to love for the newly met girl. Last, the chapter ends with a man who got a call from his ex-girlfriend’s husband informing him about her suicidal death. The call triggers an entire history of memories of the time he spent with the ex, M. The memories of events how they got together, seeing each other, and the things they did together, eventually broke up, flooded his thoughts. He lost M, the woman he once loved dearly.

Murakami extended his acute diagnosis of men's vulnerability and helplessness when faced with LOVE's same cruel disposition. Men who also made from flesh and blood to feel and touch like women. They can love and hurt as deeply as women with their way of expression.

Murakami’s intention for this book may be to shift his readers' view to see the world from a distinct point of view: men’s inner, the suppressed pain and turmoil which we rarely see, at the dreadful fate follows losing the love of their life.

I am fascinated by the wry senses of humor, melancholy, and exceptional understanding of youth and age portrayed by Murakami. The failures of each man depicted in Murakami’s writing was unforgettable. It was a thrilling read from the start to the end. ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 Hugh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-lit, read-2019

I read a lot of Murakami when I was younger but I have not read a new one since deciding that I couldn't face 1Q84. So this is the first I have read in the four years since joining GoodReads, and although I found these stories enjoyable to read, I don't think they are his best work and they won't change anyone's mind about him. I recall one GoodReads friend saying that Murakami is incapable of describing female characters without mentioning their breasts, and yes, there are plenty of those gratu ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Vanessa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My first introduction to Haruki Murakami’s work and I’m glad I started with this beautiful collection of short stories. The men depicted are mostly lost and lonely souls, the women that float through these stories are quite progressive independently spirited, I think that speaks well to my sensibilities ;) I think I shall delve more deeply into the wonderful world of Murakami as I enjoyed these a lot.

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Aug 13, 2019 Sid rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Murakami never fails to surprise and please my sense of reading!!

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Feb 04, 2021 Reading_ Tam_ Ishly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"When I should have felt real pain, I stifled it. I didn't want to take it on, so I avoided facing up to it. Which is why my heart is so empty now."

"No matter how empty it may be, this is still my heart. There's still some human warmth in it."

1. Drive My Car

4 🌟

2. Yesterday

5 🌟

3. An Independent Organ

4 🌟

4. Scheherazade

"He liked long books, especially those he had to read several times to understand."

3 🌟

5. Kino

"Like dry ground welcoming the rain,he let the solitude, silence, and loneliness soak in." ...more

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Aug 08, 2019 Sandeep rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

Men Without Women is a collection of seven short stories about men suffering from loneliness and grief because of the loss of a woman or lack of them in their lives. Unable to move on, the men spend the rest of their days lamenting what they will never again feel. Individual stories and my thoughts on them are as follows:

DRIVE MY CAR- 3.5/5 🌟
It follows an elderly actor who hires a female driver to take him to rehearsals. On the journeys he reflects on his life; in particular the affairs his wife ...more

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Jan 21, 2017 Aya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, 日本語, contemporary, adult, literary-fiction

I don't read lots of short story collections because most of them feel too rushed, but in this one every single story is well written and complete.
I read many short stories by Murakami and really enjoyed it, but never read a complete collection by him. Now, I want to dive into the rest of his collections!
The stories are beautifully written. Murakami has such a way with words. He never disappoint me!
The stories themselves are amazing. There is no plot to them, but as usual Murakami writes chara ...more

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Oct 11, 2018 Matthew Quann rated it liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, murakami, not-can-us-or-uk, short-story-collections, short-story-challenge-2018

It’s that special time of year where I return to the works of Haruki Murakami to see how I feel about the guy. For those of you who have been following my slow reading of Murakami, I loved the first novel I read by him, 1Q84, was ho-hum about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , considered abandoning Murakami after really disliking Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage , and had my faith restored when I listened to What I Talk About When I Talk About Running .

So, having felt the ...more

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Feb 28, 2018 Betsy Robinson rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I am a Murakami fan (I’ve loved his novels), so I was surprised that I didn’t love this collection of short stories. I know they are said to be “new work,” but some of them seemed immature, and I wondered if they were earlier pieces that had been pulled out of a bottom drawer. Here are briefs written right after I finished each story—a very uneven mix:

“Drive My Car” is really a story about how we are all actors, briefly playing roles, then resuming something else which is different each time we ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Zoeytron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-yorker-fiction, shorties

This was a short story in the New Yorker magazine. Kino lives a life that is not quite buttoned up right. There is something askew with his life, but he can't put his finger on what is wrong. With the help of the mysterious Kamita and a small gray cat, Kino struggles to find his heart. A charming and very different story. ...more

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Mar 11, 2018 ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos)(RK) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: stories

A somewhat disappointing book of short stories by Murakami. I suppose that this will be the last of his books that I shall read. After a great start, Murakami seems to have become a bad emulator of Murakami. Those quirky little things like the disappearing cat that once entertained me now stroke me as non sequetors that merely frustrate me. Seven stories that neither left an impression nor entertained. They shall quickly fade.

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May 25, 2019 Lisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-tbr-shelf, audiobook, short-stories

[3.4+] The first three stories were good and solid but didn't make me feel buoyant like a Murakami novel. And the rest of the stories just left me feeling deflated. That's it? Yet they were all well written. Maybe he just needs more pages. I hate to give Murakami less than 4 stars but how much favoritism can I show? ...more

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Feb 17, 2015 Seemita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: anthology-collection

"No matter how empty it may be, this is still my heart. There’s still some human warmth in it. Memories, like seaweed wrapped around pilings on the beach, wordlessly waiting for high tide. Emotions that, if cut, would bleed. I can’t just let them wander somewhere beyond my understanding."

Realization, when takes seed inside, never leaves before blooming in full. While a part of us wants it to get trampled beneath a thousand confused thoughts bubbling within, a part of us does everything possible ...more

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Oct 07, 2018 ~Bookishly~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-love-love-love

This was my first delve into Murukami's works, and I thoroughly the experience. This is a wonderful collection of short stories, all based on men suffering from varying degrees of loneliness, despair and grief, because of the loss of a woman, or a lack of them in their lives. Murukami is certainly a master wordsmith, and his characters are dynamic and interesting, and the amount of depth he goes into with the actual character development, is truly astounding. A couple of the stories, I just coul ...more

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May 10, 2017 Leo Robertson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Quick! Name a famous Murakami! Haruki will be the first, sure, but please don't forget about Ryu, Takashi, and I'm sure there are others. LIKE, it's not even like Ryu and Takashi are like, a famous 90s Honda CEO and the inventor of sashimi respectively; they're both ALSO famous ALIVE artists with the surname MURAKAMI! There may be many other talented artistic geniuses named Murakami, but my copy of this book brazenly disavows their cultural existence with its shiny fucking font declaring MURAKAM Quick! Name a famous Murakami! Haruki will be the first, sure, but please don't forget about Ryu, Takashi, and I'm sure there are others. LIKE, it's not even like Ryu and Takashi are like, a famous 90s Honda CEO and the inventor of sashimi respectively; they're both ALSO famous ALIVE artists with the surname MURAKAMI! There may be many other talented artistic geniuses named Murakami, but my copy of this book brazenly disavows their cultural existence with its shiny fucking font declaring MURAKAMI the Murakami-est Murakami (no fuckin' Haruki—they're trying to Madonna the motherfucker!), and the sad truth is that's probably not widely up for debate. In fact the whole way this book is presented is as bland fodder for people who mostly don't read which is what the fuck it is, and I was probably one of them when I discovered THIS Murakami and of all the books I've read recently, this is the only one I was ashamed of being seen in public with. I caught a glimpse of myself in the train's window reflection reading this, with its cover, mottled like a vase from Target, and I was wearing all my non-threatening muted blues and thought I wouldn't look out of place in an Ikea showroom.

But I'm not that guy, thank fuck. I'm better than that (and so are you.) Next I will read The Open Pen Anthology, six years' worth of interesting contemporary authors collected by a London literary magazine, for half the price of this book, so many other, more niche and exciting writers' work to discover. I didn't use to know how to find books like that, but I do now, which means I don't have to read books like this one, whose packaging as I have said declares it for people I am not anymore and for that I am thankful. I'm not saying you have to read that particular book instead, but it is far too easy to find 200 pages more deserving of your attention than Murakami's. Far too easy. Try that Edouard Louis book everyone's going crazy about, for example. I bet that's incendiary and awesome. Can't wait to read that one. Don't let this one edge out its better competition by being inoffensive.

Like I remember reading some of these in The New Yorker and thinking 'Oh wow you can write like that and get in The New Yorker? Fuck! I could do that.' But of course, no one else would get away with writing stuff this bland. Who would? *whisper with me* MURAKAMI all caps, no first name. No interviews darling, no pictures honey, gotta focus cause I'm gonna be on stage in twenny.

And like, everyone's gonna pretend to get it because surely there must be a reason we're all reading it, right? Or at least if you namedrop the only MURAKAMI you'll get clicks on your site. (Because no one will understand why everyone's reading this.) It's simple really: a guy who's more famous than he should be could photocopy himself shitting on glass and people would buy it and what he's done here isn't that far off. Like, I read loads of articles about writing and writers etc every day and whose name can I not avoid? Stephen King's. I read it at least five times a day now and it's like, suck a diiiiiiiiiick, you know? There are other guys!! There are other old straight white horror writers who are also occasionally appreciated in literary circles and give good writing advice, even! Throw another of them a bone next time? Maybe? You only have to toss it like an inch to the left next time. Too much effort? Ah, go fuck yourself.

I get now the frustration that writers and readers feel with his fame, with his stories that speak of a kind of wave of international inoffensiveness, borrowing nothingness from one another's cultures to say nothing. It must leave Japanese writers, who are now better than this guy, begging for someone to throw them an ill-advised "exotic", even. Because, you know, if you enjoy reading sometimes but don't spend a lot of time investigating new authors, you need a bit of help from literary institutions to recommend them to you—so how do you find new Japanese authors? Where the hell are they? All you get is this Ikea prop or that book Strange Weather in Tokyo, which wasn't even its name in the first place, they just gave it some kooky-ass "this is what Westerners think Japan is like, anime, teehee"-ass title and some goofy-ass cover and we all snapped that fucker up! And it sucks, by the way!

Maybe this all sounds pretty pompous and maybe it is and that makes me sad too. Because Murakami used to be able to generate a feeling no other author could. A weird, dislocated ennui. And sure, he doesn't do short stories well; he works way better in the longer form. But he doesn't do that well anymore either. I hate saying a still-alive author's had his day. It's such a pretentious, bitter, hipster thing to say. But I'm willing to discover things I don't like about myself, discover how much I have grown into what I once hated, by presenting how I honestly feel: Murakami's had his day. He's followed that natural course of a career, the swell, the fall of the tide. I wish he could still generate that feeling. Maybe how I feel about Murakami's career is more akin to the feeling his books used to create for me than any feeling he would be capable of creating in me with new writing. I'm not mad at him; this is just what happens to famous people, just as it happens to powerful people. Artist squibify, politicians wish they could grind up and snort adulation or whatever. And it always will happen. Because famous/powerful people will tell you what it's like to be famous/powerful, that it doesn't turn out to be what you think it will, like, they have the most authority, but they're the last people anyone will listen to because you're like, fuck that, I want fame, money and power!

This book will fail to excessively please you or piss you off and that's possibly the worst thing that can be said about a piece of art. For the love of God go read something else. I feel a bit ill. I want this out my house. ...more

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Aug 02, 2017 Marialyce (absltmom, yaya) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I always love Murakami's work. I sometimes do not understand it fully but his flow of words, his use of metaphor, and his writing is mesmerizing. Putting together seven short stories in this book, underlines this most talented author. Each one of them is a story of a man alone, without a woman to be their guide through life. Told in his usual mysterious style and with always a nod to humor, Marakami presents the reader with lots to think about as he takes us on this journey that his male charact ...more

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About Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami

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Murakami Haruki (Japanese: 村上春樹) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described as 'easily accessible, yet profoundly complex'. He can be located on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/harukimuraka...

Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by Am ...more

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“Like dry ground welcoming the rain, he let the solitude, silence, and loneliness soak in.” — 77 likes

“So in the end maybe that’s the challenge: to look inside your own heart as perceptively and seriously as you can, and to make peace with what you find there. If we hope to truly see another person, we have to start by looking within ourselves.” Takatsuki” — 51 likes

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