BG 2 - February 2021 review

Men Without Women- By Haruki Murakami

The book “Men Without Women” is a collection of seven short stories. As the title suggests, the stories are about who in some way lost or found and then lost women. In every story, a male protagonist suffers the loss of woman he loves or is compelled to recognize that he will never have her in first place. The collection becomes a dynamic exploration of human relationships, love and the way men perceive the opposite sex.

All these stories from first to last is the idea that our identity—our sense of self is not possible to know except by examining our relationships with others. Murakami introspects on how to better understand one another and how to understand the most important human emotion of love. “Men Without Women” is a collection of stories about despairing men and loneliness; it depicts men who try to cope with the sorrows of life after their loved one has departed from them. Unable to move on, the men spend the rest of their days lamenting what they will never again feel.

By Neena Chandola