Men Without Women (Murakami) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
[A] beguilingly irresistible book. Like a lost lover, it holds on tight long after the affair is over.… Part allegory, part myth, part magic realism, part Philip Marlowe, private eye.… Murakami puts the performance in performance art.
New York Times Book Review


Men Without Women has the familiar signposts and well-worn barstools that will reconnect with longtime readers of Murakami: magical realism, Beatles tracks and glasses of whiskey. Yet, except for a few tales, the magic is watered down and it’s reality that is now poured stiff.… This collection is a sober, clear-eyed attempt to observe the evasion and confrontation of suffering and loss, and to hope for something better.
New York Daily News


Mesmerizing tales of profound alienation.… Murakami is a master of the open-ended mystery.
Washington Post


Classic Murakami.… [His] voice—cool, poised, witty, characterized by a peculiar blend of whimsy and poignancy, wit and profundity—hasn’t lost its power to unsettle even as it amuses.
Boston Globe


Time and again in these seven stories, Murakami displays his singular genius.… The stories in this collection find their power within the confines of common but momentous disturbances that linger on in memory.
Los Angeles Times
 

Wise stories.… Moody and melancholic as [they] can be, some of them offer comparable hope that these men without women might emerge from their long and isolating loneliness, acknowledging the hurt, pain and even rage they feel rather than folding in on themselves and ceasing to fully live.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 
Beautifully rendered.… Murakami at his whimsical, romantic best.… [He] writes of complex things with his usual beguiling simplicity — the same seeming naivety found in the Beatles songs that are so often his reference points. The stories read like dirges for ‘all the lonely people’ but they are strangely invigorating to read.
Financial Times
 

A whimsical delight.… The seven stories in his fourth story collection present another captivating treasure hunt of familiar Murakami motifs—including cats, jazz, whiskey, certain cigarettes, the moon, baseball, never-named characters, and—of course—the many men without women.… Murakami always manages to entertain, surprise, and satisfy.… Sanity might be overrated, but Murakami is surely not.
Christian Science Monitor

 
It’s been a few years since we’ve gotten something new from Japan’s master of magical realism, but this new seven-story collection draws us right back into his signature realm — one of lonely men with wandering imaginations, mysterious cats, and subtle-yet-surreal narratives that reveal the supernatural layer operating beneath our everyday lives.
W Magazine


Although the plotting can be repetitive, Murakami’s ability to center the stories on sentimental but precise details creates a long-lasting resonance.
Publishers Weekly


Compellingly odd.… A glimpse into the strange worlds people invent by the always inventive [author].… Not groundbreaking but certainly vintage Murakami: a little arch, a little tired, but always elegant.
Kirkus Reviews