Men Without Women
Delightful
Artistic
Inspirational

Men Without Women Stories

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A dazzling new collection of short stories from the beloved, internationally acclaimed Haruki Murakami Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all. Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic. ‘Supremely enjoyable, philosophical and pitch-perfect new collection of short stories...Murakami has a marvelous understanding of youth and age’ Observer ‘Murakami at his whimsical, romantic best’ Financial Times
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Reviews

Photo of Frederik De Bosschere
Frederik De Bosschere@freddy
4 stars
Jul 19, 2024

Although I still prefer his novels, this is definitely among Murakami's better short story collections.

Photo of Romy
Romy@abuliast
4 stars
Apr 30, 2024

It was good but, lord, why is Murakami obsessed with sex ???

+3
Photo of Q
Q@qontfnns
3 stars
Mar 13, 2024

i love how murakami's characters could say the quaintest thing and everyone around them just passed it off like nothing lol. i love 'Kino', but overall it's 3.5

Photo of geri chan
geri chan @jia_yan
4 stars
Mar 10, 2024

enjoyed some stories better than others, but the ones i did like i loved

Photo of Kendall McClain
Kendall McClain@kendallmcclain
4 stars
Jan 29, 2024

3.5 stars My favorite thing about these stories is the focus placed on character analysis- If you’re plot reader you probably won’t love this, but as a character girl this slayed! My downside is the similarities between characters throughout the stories (a “player” man with few friends, an unattractive women that men shockingly like (this trope of women is an issue on its own) etc.) but the depiction of relationships were very thoughtful and I’m a fan of the writing! Fav stories- Kino & Yesterday

Photo of Rifqaiza Pravangesta
Rifqaiza Pravangesta@rifqaiza
4 stars
Jan 9, 2024

Enggak bisa bohong sih, seberapa pun bencinya sy dengan Murakami, sy selalu bisa suka dengan cerpen-cerpen yang ditulisnya (lebih daripada novelnya), termasuk kumcer ini. Untuk rating per cerpen; 1. Drive My Car (5*) 2. Yesterday (4*) 3. An Independent Organ (5*) 4. Scheherazade (3*) 5. Kino (3*) 6. Samsa In Love (1*) 7. Men Without Women (1*) Still typical Murakami, but much more thinking and contemplating. Much more realistic too, as expected from his stories, maybe that’s why they’re more compelling to me. But he is always making men as a victim lmao. And still objectifying women.

Photo of Loreng
Loreng@l_orenggy
2 stars
Jan 8, 2024

deleted texts:

  1. haha, sa ganda mong 'yan wala kang boyfriend?

  2. bawal ka mag-shorts.

summary: sadboi literature


Photo of isabel ⋆。°✩
isabel ⋆。°✩@baebiebel
2 stars
Jan 6, 2024

incel literature

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remiel@kuromi
3 stars
Jan 6, 2024

As a whole, it's fair to say that 'Men Without Women' falls short of being one of Murakami's finest works. While I harbor some affection for it, given that the recognition 'Drive My Car' received at the Oscars prompted me to delve into his literary world, it failed to capture the distinctive 'Murakami Charm' that I've cherished in many of his other creations. The short story that lends its title to the book, 'Men Without Women,' also misses the mark in bringing forth this charm. It is simply disappointing and superficial. The true gems of the book undoubtedly lie in 'An Independent Organ,' 'Scheherazade,' and 'Kino' — the latter being the one that continues to affirm my belief in the saying, 'Murakami's books will find you when you need them the most.'

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garnet@garnettbs
3 stars
Jan 2, 2024

Pretty interesting stories, but I feel like all of his works sound/feel the same. Also, you can definitely tell that this is a man's writing (do what that information what you will).

Photo of Sami Uzzama
Sami Uzzama@samiuzzama
3.5 stars
Jan 2, 2024

Overall

+2
Photo of ༺ kat ༻
༺ kat ༻@mutedspace
3.5 stars
Nov 22, 2023

i enjoyed this reading experience so much more than colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage, i’d nearly given up on murakami entirely after that one. glad i gave this one a go 🫡

Photo of flo
flo@floflo
4 stars
Nov 2, 2023

half of them were really good half of them were okay

Photo of Denisse Garcia Ramírez
Denisse Garcia Ramírez @den_gr
4 stars
Oct 3, 2023

First Murakami book down :)) overall, really enjoyed his writing style, very easy to read and very me. Although his portray of women is just not it, but expected so I was prepared.

Fave story: men without women, loved the whole sailor and sea references and metaphors. I also enjoyed the Samsa in Love, and Kino.

+2
Photo of Tess
Tess @tess03
3.5 stars
May 28, 2023

This book was definitely a pleasant read although I feel it didn’t reach up to its potential. The romanticizing of men without women and the varying intensity of their feels was beautifully portrayed. There weren’t any other views from men that enjoy the solace when without women. I feel it lacked diversity when it came to men who enjoy being without women.

I think my favorite story was the story about Dr. Tokai showed the painful death of oneself when left without love or when love is ripped out of your chest.

Photo of Aakankaha Dwivedi
Aakankaha Dwivedi@she_reads
4 stars
Jan 30, 2023

The last two stories 💖

Photo of Midori Kobayashi
Midori Kobayashi@snortingpages
4 stars
Jan 22, 2023

Whether you want to or not. But the place you return to is always slightly different from the place you left. That’s the rule. It can never be exactly the same. Typical Murakami style with quiet rains, somber music and a tinge of the supernatural. Loved reading all seven short stories, they are all about men who have never or atleast in the present had woman in their lives and tho each story has a diff set of characters, they are all very intriguing nonetheless. If you're already familiar with Murakami's writing and want a short reliving of that experience this a perfect book for you, or if it's gonna be your first time reading Murakami, this is a short yet very good book to get a hang of his writing style.

Photo of Stef
Stef@faninos
4 stars
Jan 2, 2023

Satu hal yang menghubungkan cerita pendek di buku ini, semua karakter nya not ended up with women. Still my favorite story "Yesterday".

Photo of Hellboy TCR
Hellboy TCR@hellboytcr009
3 stars
Oct 18, 2022

3-3.5 stars, not his best. Some of them I have read before (Kino, Scheherazade), some like the Title story are new to me. There are lot of nice passages as usual.

Photo of Neverland ✨
Neverland ✨@haneen
4 stars
Sep 3, 2022

A masterpiece, as usual of Murakami

Photo of Sanaa Shaltout
Sanaa Shaltout@sanaashaltout
3 stars
Sep 1, 2022

حبيت هذه القصة حبيت تفاصيلها بحب تفاصيل البنت والولد وخصوصًا البنت اللي تقعد تحكي قصص لجوزها حبيبها عشيقها صديقها جو حكاية القصص. بحب الحاجات، وخصوصًا إني بحب أحكي أي رواية قريتها وأحولها لقصة. القصة فيها من مستر وايت بطل مسلسل Breaking Bad I'm not in danger, I am the danger. جميل أنك تحكي ماضيك لحد متعرفوش، ومتتكسفش من حكاياتك، لأن اللي يعرفك هيأذيك للأسف بمعرفته. وجميل أنك بعد فترة تكتشف إن الحاجات اللي كنت هتموت عليها كانت لها وقت صغير فترة وعدت، وفقدت شغفك بيها. حبيت موراكامي <3

Photo of Kholoud Ayman
Kholoud Ayman@kholoud99
5 stars
Aug 31, 2022

Audiobook. I loved all the stories especially (yesterday) and (an independent organ). And I can't love you more, Murakami.

Photo of Katie Chua
Katie Chua@kchua
4 stars
Aug 13, 2022

i give murakami a lot of shit but i liked this enough. there were a few moments that def made me roll my eyes. Men Without Women is not just the title of the collections, it's like a whole Thing that murakami decided to term sad bois and that's what all these stories touch on. sometimes i'm like, men so stupid, get over it, but other stories i found really insightful and touching so where does that leave us ... overall, i thought well-translated (i don't know japanese but i feel like it was very murakami-esque and also he's got great music taste. i always listen to jazz/classical after reading him)

Photo of Jocelyn Poh
Jocelyn Poh@jocelynp
2 stars
Jan 3, 2022

my rating | 2 stars ”You might meet a new woman, but no matter how wonderful she may be (actually, the more wonderful she is, the more this holds true), from the instant you meet, you start thinking about losing her.” Some beautiful prose but after a certain point of the book I wasn’t sure if I was reading Murakami or erotica...

Highlights

Photo of aditi
aditi @wluvaditi

But the proposition that we can look into another person’s heart with perfect clarity strikes me as a fool’s game. I don’t care how well we think we should understand them, or how much we love them. All it can do is cause us pain. Examining your own heart, however, is another matter. I think it’s possible to see what’s in there if you work hard enough at it. So in the end maybe that’s the challenge: to look inside your own heart as perceptively and seriously as you can, and to make peace with what you find there. If we hope to truly see another person, we have to start by looking within ourselves.

Page 36
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aditi @wluvaditi

“You’re right,” Kafuku said. “I guess I was happy then. But that much happiness can lead to an equal amount of pain.”

Page 34
Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

And it would be nice if, as she listens to the pizzicato violins of "A Summer Place," her thoughts occasionally turn to me.

Page 228

Men without Women; i cannot tell who this man is. He definitely loved her, maybe was obsessed with her. He kinda sounds like a stalker or sb who just had very deep feelings and never recovered from parting ways.

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hannah @fellalil

Yet had he been a fish or a sunflower, and not a human being, he might never have experienced this emotion. So he felt. […] The world was waiting for him to learn.

Page 211

Samsa in Love; yeah uhm that was too kafkaesk

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hannah @fellalil

Yes, I am hurt. Very, very deeply. He said that to himself. And he wept. In that dark, still room.

Page 185

kino: he was an interesting person, the way he reacted to being cheated on. It‘s sad that he didn’t realise how deeply hurt he actually was by it. og katten

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hannah @fellalil

Whatever the case, Scheherazade had a gift tor telling that touched the heart. No matter what sort ot story it was, she made it special. Her voice, her timing, her pacing were all flawless.

Page 115

Scheherazade; this was disturbing, the way that murakami pictured that woman was way too obsessive; yeah crushes may be intense and like an illness, but not to such extend; what is habaras deal and why is he not able to go outside?

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Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

It feels like somehow our hearts have become intertwined. Like when she feels something, my heart moves in tandem. Like we're two boats tied together with rope. Even if you want to cut the rope, there's no knife sharp enough to do it.

Page 113

I guess that‘s real passionate love. it sounds beautiful and awfully cruel at the same time. "an independent organ"; no need to lie, reading this was weird because well Dr. Tokai‘s a bachelor living his best life having affairs with multiple women, but he still doesn’t sound too awful of a person. the woman he feel in love with was absolutely gruesome, he deserved better

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hannah @fellalil

"Crying for someone else is nothing to apologize about," I told him. "Especially someone you care for, someone who's passed away."

Page 110
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hannah @fellalil

Falling in love is like that. You can't control your feelings, and it's like some outrageous power is manipulating you.

Page 98
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hannah @fellalil

"But maybe it would have been better if i'd experienced this while I was still young," Tokai said. "Then I would have developed love antibodies."

Page 92

(sadly), there is no such thing as love antibodies

Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

And he wasn't all that afraid of revealing his weaknesses to others –– an unusual quality. [...] It's what's on her core that attracts me so strongly. Like a powerful magnet. It's beyond logic.

Page 91

that's what love is

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hannah @fellalil

He always spoke of his women friends with great respect and affection, and took care to keep any personal information secret.

Page 85
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hannah @fellalil

We were friends just a few months, yet every time I hear "Yesterday" scenes of our conversations with him well up in my mind. [...] Music has that power to revive memories, sometimes so intense that they hurt.

Page 75

yesterday; i actually enjoyed this short story. yes kitarus concept of his relationship with erika is weird, but i did like the way he was talking and describing what he is feeling. good, that he tried to find himself, though i am sorry that he left his friend hurt.

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Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

Kitaru didn't say a word to me about quitting his job, and didn't get in touch after that. He simply vanished. I have to say it hurt me. I'd thought we were good friends, and it was though to be cut off so completely like that.

Page 69

that's what I'm afraid of, just having to accept that yeah they're gone.

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Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

"I figure, if she's gonna go out with other guys, it's better if it's you. 'Cause I know you. And you can gimme, like, updates and stuff."

That didn't make sense to me, though I admit I was interested in the idea of meeting Erika. I also wanted to find out why a beautiful girl like her would want to go out with a weird character like Kitaru.

Page 53

I understand what he means, though I don't think it is fair for him to call Kitaru weird and question how he can be in any way attractive to that girl. you fall for a person, not just for their looks and sometimes not understanding is attractive as well.

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hannah @fellalil

Aren't you a little young to be, like, the voice of reason or something?

Page 49
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hannah @fellalil

«So then we’re all actors,» Kafuku said. «Yes, I think that’s true. To a point, anyway.»

Page 40

drive my car: interesting to read about grief and the „need“ of revenge, that at some point just vanishes; i think misaki said it best, when she meant, that the feeling of „revenge“ was more genuine confusion, lack of understand and disappointment in his wife‘s cheating

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Photo of hannah
hannah @fellalil

Yet he continued to return to his core principle: that, in every situation, knowledge was better than ignorance.

Page 17