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.

I really got wrapped up in these (not all hit equally, obviously), and oh man I can’t imagine the power he’d have if he could write women.

Nothing spectacular came out of any of these short stories but I’m still satisfied with Murakami’s writing. I’ll never get tired of it. I would read his grocery lists

I'm only giving this collection 3 stars because the first couple of stories didn't do it for me. The later pieces, though, were awesome; very well written and they had that signature Murakami zing — 'Samsa in Love' being my favorite of the whole lot.

The book depicted love, loss, sex, and attachments in a classic and true Murakami fashion. The Japanese author is known for his portrayal of women in his books–objects of extreme fantasy. This book is no different, as I found the women characters shallow and almost bland. Only the first short story, "Drive My Car," portrayed a woman with fair strength.

In the grand scheme of things, Murakami's "Men Without Women" highlighted the vulnerability of men when they lose their women. Not my favorite Murakami book, but it is quite intriguing.
emotional inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

Excellently written and translated.
fast-paced

There are a few givens in every Murakami book: references to The Beatles and/or jazz music, an overly emo and introspective male protagonist yearning over a woman. Super predictable. This is the third or fourth book by him that I have read and it actually confirms another given in his books: he doesn't really like women and is quite sexist.

In previous books I've felt like women weren't really well written. The men would have these long, ultra descriptive references to what they look like and what they were thinking and women are more like "she had big boobs and asked him what the bulge was in my pocket".

This book almost had an incel vibe. I finished it only for the sake of completion and nothing more. I don't get why Murakami is so popular and I definitely don't think I'll be coming back for more any time soon.