Haruki Murakami is one of the most interesting writers I have encountered over the last decade. I will probably pursue more Murakami if he can move his way up through my massive book collection to the top of the pile to be read. The open, blatant misogyny in one of the early stories was offputting, but other than that instance, I found little to truly dislike about this work, and a lot to like. Still, they were well written, easy to read, and held my interest, which is always a good recommendation for any work of literature. Perhaps I would view this book differently if I were, in fact, a man (with or without a woman), but overall, I find many of them puzzling. In fact, some of the men seem to have more women than the norm.
Instead, the stories focus on men who have varying relationships with women, most of them involving loss at some point in some form, but not necessarily men who don't have women. There is some of that on display here, but it is not the focus of this collection of stories. Everyone I know who is interested in the same sort of literature I read recommends Murakami, but most of them discuss his magical realism. This was my introduction to Murakami, and it wasn't what I expected. Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Haruki Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic. 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. Across seven tales, Murakami draws his piercing observation to the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. The much-anticipated new short story collection from the beloved Haruki Murakami-his first major new work of fiction since the #1 New York Times bestselling Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage-Men Without Women showcases the author at the peak of his powers. The major new work of fiction from the internationally acclaimed, #1 NYT bestselling author-a dazzling collection of short stories. **A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2017 ** A Washington Post Notable Book of 2017
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