Book Review on Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami 

I was sat in a public garden reading and I genuinely teared up at An Independent Organ. And then was bursting out laughing at Kino. Such a brilliant book, maybe my favourite Murakami

love the review!

Your library shelf is amazing! And yes, Haruki Murakami might be one of the best writers in his generation.

I like some of the analytical explanation that you gave

Thank you for the review. Your take on Men without Women was very clear and heartfelt. I had finished my read-through a week ago after being introduced to works by Haruki Murakami through a distance recommend. Beforehand I had started with Kafka on the Shore and was infatuated by how great a novel it has been that I quickly jumped into this one as a way to fill the void it had left on me after I had finished. It is difficult, even awkward to explain why I enjoyed Men Without Women but it really resonates when you said the stories felt "human", I believe that was the underlining feeling I got from reading all of the short stories. as I explain this, it feels more like a guilty confession of sorts so I apologize if it becomes to much too read as a RU-vid comment. As to why it's a bit awkward to explain why I enjoyed this book, it depends really who I am discussing this book with. To most people that I work with, often very closely and for most of my work week, discussing this book to them usually leads to heartfelt conversations of life-lessons that would really have no other basis of being expressed in any other way in a natural setting. These people are usually men in the final stages of their marital life, if not outright divorced, often successfully retired and just need a reason to stay active during the day- but nonetheless concluded with their urge to settle down with a partner or have failed to do so for reason or another. I hate to admit this but I enjoyed discussing this book with them as a form of guilty pleasure. I am a 24 yr millennial male with zero-to-no experience with relationships (never having been in one), and have had no positive interactions in the past trying to connect with a woman that I felt I had a connection with. I even contemplated suicide because of my lack of ability to do so mixed in with extreme stress from other factors of my life at the time. I am far from that point in my life now and I don't feel nowhere near as depressed about myself as I did back then however I have come to terms that I inherently lack the skillset suited for making the kinds of connections it would take to foster the kind of love relationship that would lead to a happy marriage or a family of my own in today's age with no one to blame but myself. I am not old enough to have the kinds of dramatic experience that would leave a man to believe wholeheartedly a toxic view that all women are the one and sole cause of their emotional demise, and I am much to broad to ever believe such thing, funny to even suggest. however I got a sense of satisfaction, from both talking to my senior colleagues at work and reading though this novel, that I had only surmised as a premature and insecure conclusion before its time: that the process of love and all it's unknowns it brings to a mans life will lead to eventual sadness as and grief in any if not all forms. It is up to the individuals in that position to find and cherish the memories they create until that time comes. I am a bit tired to go on with this line of thinking right now so I will explain the other side of things. In contrast, I could not dream of talking about this book with any current female friends of mine due to the overall portrayal of women in this book regardless if there could be any introspective discussion to be had. I fear I would just be labeled a misogynist and probably ostracized from any future topics.

Loved your review, one book I would recommend is the colorless life of tsukuru tazaki (might be slightly misspelled); it was my first book of his, and in someways it’s similar to this one, very colorful unlike the name suggests

You're so great at reviews! On my way to purchase this book with high expectations. Also feeling compelled to purchase The Strange Library by Murakami. (ps your hairstyle is so lovely!)

Hello, I'm from Mexico and I've a kind of obsession with reading Murakami. I recommend you Sputnik, Sweetheart and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman which is a compilation of short stories (I don't like all stories but I love some of them).

Just finished reading this book. I have read 1Q84, First Person Singular, “South of the Border, West of the Sun” and I will highly recommend all of it!

It's the first review of a Murakami I see from a woman, usually the people who review Murakami are just men who find his writing, specifically writing of female characters, cringe or problematic. So the fact that you didn't even think about mentioning his infamous "sexist" characterization of women is kind of interesting, in a good way.

I don’t want good looking books in my shelf 😂

WHYYYYY DID YOU NOT MENTION KINO😭😭😭