Men without women

Men without women stories by Haruki Murakami

Short Stories Collection

Book review

Spoilers- You can never have spoilers in Murakami stories!

Rating- 3/5 (If this was my first Murakami I would have given it negative rating! But I know what to expect so it’s a fair and neutral 3! For a Murakami fan like always it would be 8-10/5!!)

Some time back I was following a car and like always I noticed the bumper sticker! I love bumper stickers mostly in the big vehicles! They are cool guides! Mostly though it will just be some common things like SOUND HORN OR DRIVE SLOWLY! but in this case it was written, “don’t follow me! I don’t know where I am going!”

That’s Murakami for you! He will start by sometimes describing the most minute details like in the first story about a lonely actor (not a spoiler by any stretch!) He describes women driver and after a description of three paragraphs he finally gets to the point! Only to shock you with the abrupt end! And in the end the driver being a woman is of little consequence! If it was Higashino am sure that the girl driver would have turned out to be the actor’s lost daughter!

Now a book called men without women would obviously have men in situations where women have either died or left or just gone Back to reality (since it’s Murakami!) So that’s not a spoiler in any count!

If cliffhanger is the theme then Murakami is the king! So he continues in the subsequent stories like the second one describing a lonely guy whose close friend tells him to go on a date with his girlfriend! And just when you think it’s bizarre Murakami again you are struck with a time warp! And twenty years later it’s status quo! You would then say much ado about nothing!!

Then you have the doctor who has loveless affairs all over without marriage and finally the one love he had gives him the boot!

You then have a story about a guy and a bar and an unfaithful wife added by cats (his favourite just like in Kafka on the shore!) And snakes! And a rare closure! Just kidding! No closure here! Imagine what you can and go to the next story!

You get some common themes in many stories. The lady or the married gal or the housewife is having an affair! And turns out to be a Heartbreaker or a sea creature (Sea Sucking Eel!). It is apparent that women and marriage are things that don’t impress Murakami or he doesn’t have high opinion of either.

Then in an ode to Kafka he has a sequel to the Samsa of METAMORPHOSIS! again starts with a bang and doesn’t end! Yes! That’s Murakami for you! It’s like life! There is no closure! It’s a flow! Just because the pages have finished doesn’t mean that the story has to end! The show must go on!

The book ends with the story named after the book, men without women! Of course here also great space is given on the affair of the man and woman but how and when she dies is just left unanswered! The impact it had on the man is reflected.

It’s like a soap opera to which you are hooked and the time for the particular episode to end is near! You grit your teeth fervently hoping that it doesn’t end in those three dangerous words!…TO BE CONTINUED! With Murakami it is that and also the fact that it will not be continued or closed! Make your own conclusions!

Once apparently Murakami looked in the sky and thought why it should not rain fishes! And lo it did in his Kafka novel! Whether it makes sense or not, it’s something to ponder about that Murakami sometimes writes whatever comes to his mind without any inhibition! Maybe that’s why he has such a fan following and also maybe why an equal number of people would like to rip out their hair after reading his books!! As far as I am concerned, I like my hair and sanity so I will just remain neutral!

Since it’s a short story collection I have this great fear that the story will end now! Or now! Every page gives me a dread of being the last page! And of course my fear gets realized when it does turn out to be the end! You would ask, so what happened!!? The answer would be… You have been Murakamised!!