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Men Without Women
134 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 22, 2018
About the author
Haruki Murakami
710 books138k followersHaruki Murakami (村上春樹) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.
Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner.
His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.
Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner.
His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 19, 2026
The first short stories in the book are good, but towards the end, the stories became less interesting.
"Loneliness is a Bordeaux wine stain that won't come out."
"Loneliness is a Bordeaux wine stain that won't come out."
September 8, 2026
Some of the short stories were so good it was actually bloody annoying they ended so soon, others I couldn’t wait to finish
February 16, 2026
So captivating, not conventionally beautiful yet oddly comforting. The writing style I love. The constant chaos that goes on in between the lines that at times is boring and you would long for him to just get to the point or the end or reveal something yet, somewhere around the lines is when you get lost by its beauty. The description , oh my god🤌🏼🤌🏼 something keeps you there, holds you back, leaves you with enough intrigue and feelings of something that causes you to come back to the book or gives you a substantial something for you to read ahead like continue reading. His writing style I adore. I am just 16 yet somehow I was able to read all the stories of the old man longing for love , some at the age of 50 others in mid thirties , I don’t know how but his writing style is captivating. Like a web, you can’t escape , it’s a little chilling and AMAZING. so happy I picked this book up without any second thoughts. Loved it . Somewhere in between. Especially the chaiter: the independent organ. Gives me so much to decipher between the lines, to write and pushes me to think and critique and analysis. Love love love … and the last few pages of this book, too. Picture memory.
March 8, 2026
My first approach to Murakami and I must say that I love it ! Really like is type of writing and the stories are very interesting and some time with no sense, but they make you think! Cannot wait to read something else from him!
March 2, 2026
Awesome as usual.. Murakami is my favorite author of all the times
April 3, 2024
3.5 - absolutely loved the writing, didn’t love the representation of women (not necessarily the point but oh well) but thought how the perspectives were built was real cool. You can really feel the melancholy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews