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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Not Murakami's best works, if I can be honest - or maybe I just set the wrong expectation. Beyond the stories themselves, the book triggers a lot of questions regarding my relationship with Haruki Murakami's past works. What was it that captivated me last time and why is it no longer here? The fantasy and surrealist elements remain vivid, but I felt...a lack of depth as I turned each page, hoping that I would find what I was looking for in the first place.
Reading this book made me feel like catching up with an old friend and finding out that you're now just strangers to each other. How time flies.
Reading this book made me feel like catching up with an old friend and finding out that you're now just strangers to each other. How time flies.
With the exception of Samsa in Love this could have been rated higher. I really really don’t like Samsa in Love, so it's not.
A solid collection of stories by Murakami. Most of these are straight fiction, but a couple are in his magical realism style. They all tend to be, as the title would suggest, stories from male points of view, and deal with their relationships with women. Of course, that could sum up the entirety of Murakami's work, but these are much shorter than his usual stories, so it's like his normal tales told in miniature. Whether or not you enjoy this will therefore depend on how much you like his novels. I'm a fan, so to me, it was a nice bit of Murakami. Not as satisfying as one of his epic tales, but still quite good.
I'm long past the days when I would read a Murakami book as soon as it was published, but to my surprise, I enjoyed these stories. The usual story elements are there, but there was a bit more maturity (?) in them. It also helped that they had an organizing theme that give them a bit of consistency in tone throughout.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Please murakami just one well written female character I’m begging
maddy was right abt the penis thing, nevertheless still a lovelay book
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
The last story in the book was titled Men Without Women. It was more of a memoire that was well written, but also came across as if Murakami struggles with letting go.
All in all I did not like this anthology apart from the Kino story. I much more prefer Murakami's full novels.
All in all I did not like this anthology apart from the Kino story. I much more prefer Murakami's full novels.