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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Another winner, in a long line. The fear of being alone. Alienation. A theme explored in many stories. Not the first book to start with in Murakami's excellent library. Some of the stories in this volume may leave you scratching your head or just feeling weird, after you finish them. There are a couple in this volume that will surely having me re-reading to make sure I really got what was going on. Everything I have read about Haruki says that he is a happy man in a long term marriage. But even the happiest people realize that it isn't that far a journey for any of us to end up like some of the characters in his books.
Murakami couldn't beat his mysoginist allegation, because so far this is one of his most mysoginist writings.
This book is basically a short story collection of narcissistic men that self-pitying themselves and allegedly suffer because of women (even tho they're the one that's actually put themselves in this "miserable" position). These women are always potrayed as vile, egoist, dumb, and unfaithful creatures that always tries to cheat their partner for lust and have ridiculous stereotypical agendas (ex: women can't drive well unlike men, or potraying that women "voluntarily" have anorexia bcs they want to look pretty, like how dumb and unsensitive is that?).
I knew Murakami is trying to wrote seemingful deep stories with tons of phylosophical questions, but I see this book as more of a way for him trying to get away with putting down women with his stereotypical ideas. Very dissappointed with him, so far the most disgusting writing he ever wrote & I've ever read.
[Update:]
I continued reading it until Scheherazade, and the content is so disgusting that I decided to dnf this book. I can't fathom how can a man sees women as this diabolical and lecherous. I lost my respect with murakami.
This book is basically a short story collection of narcissistic men that self-pitying themselves and allegedly suffer because of women (even tho they're the one that's actually put themselves in this "miserable" position). These women are always potrayed as vile, egoist, dumb, and unfaithful creatures that always tries to cheat their partner for lust and have ridiculous stereotypical agendas (ex: women can't drive well unlike men, or potraying that women "voluntarily" have anorexia bcs they want to look pretty, like how dumb and unsensitive is that?).
I knew Murakami is trying to wrote seemingful deep stories with tons of phylosophical questions, but I see this book as more of a way for him trying to get away with putting down women with his stereotypical ideas. Very dissappointed with him, so far the most disgusting writing he ever wrote & I've ever read.
[Update:]
I continued reading it until Scheherazade, and the content is so disgusting that I decided to dnf this book. I can't fathom how can a man sees women as this diabolical and lecherous. I lost my respect with murakami.
I would have probably given this closer to a 3.5 than a 4. I love short stories and this collection is very good in many ways. There were some stories that felt a bit unfinished but overall I enjoyed the stories, the characters, and the prose.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Murakami bingo (jazz, whiskey, cats, introspective narrator, the quiet stranger, prognostication, adultery, rain, etc.) can be played successfully with Men Without Women, though there aren’t as many mystical elements as in some of his other fiction. Although the "is it a dream or is it supposed to be real” aspect of his writing is a big part of why I originally fell in love with his novels, I still thoroughly enjoyed the pensive, free flowing, and realistic short stories in this book. Several of them reminded me of the first fifty pages of Swann’s Way by Proust. They might also be reminiscent of the rest of Swann’s Way, but despite several attempts, I never made it farther into that book. So, maybe it was best for me that these were all short stories.
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No