Men without Women by Haruki Murakami
This was my first Murakami, so can't do any parallel comparisons. This book is a collection of 7 stories and they all center around the loneliness of the male characters. The characters in most stories are very well developed. The title gives away the linking theme, but that’s too simplistic. The tones are somewhat unemotional but are totally beguiling nonetheless. As you would expect they are beautifully written, containing lines that had me wondering to ponder over the pure truth of the statements. Murakami also introduced me to people who not only live in a very different culture but who also seem slightly off. It’s unsettling…Sometimes I can reconcile myself to who they are and why they do what they do, but mostly I struggle to relate to them. These stories spoke to me of introspection and addiction and of a yearning for relationships lost. I don’t think I’ve worked out the true underlying message in any of these tales yet. Filed in my head as : To be read again. My f...