Book Review — Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami (2014)
“I don’t think we can ever understand all that a woman is thinking,” he said.
A lot of men in a relationship have ever said that it’s very hard to understand how women think. However, they admit that they cannot live without women. The first and foremost reason is they need to accept affection. It is also impossible to handle household tasks without women. Additionally, it is not possible to educate children and live a happy life without partners.
Do you guys agree with the statements above? Although I am a woman, I also think that I don’t even want to live by myself for the rest of my life. I want a partner to share my life with, understand, and support each other. Also, happy with each other achievements! Thus, life would be more colorful and fun.
Well, if you want to know specifically about the details of how men live miserably without the constant presence of women in their lives, you can happily read this book. Murakami’s stories are always anti-mainstream. He is a genius in bringing unique and absurd characters into the tales that seem to make sense to the readers. Well, in “Men Without Women” there is a total of 7 short stories which told about how men live their lives without being attached to women.
The first tale entitled “Drive My Car”, is a story about a man who lives alone. He is still haunted by his late wife’s presence in life. When they were still living together, in the first few years of marriage, they live a happy life. However, the wife was caught cheating with other men several times. Even so, the man pretended not to know. Curious about why his late wife was cheating, he approached one of his wife’s ex and made him a drinking buddy. They talk to each other about his late wife. Yet, he didn’t find the reason why his wife was cheating on him and why should that man? Indeed, a man could never understand a woman’s feelings fully.
The second tale is called “Yesterday”. It is inspired by the Beatles song. As Murakami’s fan, we know very well that he is also a fan of this band. That’s why almost every time he writes a story, he put the song into the story to add meaning and create a certain atmosphere to the character’s world. Yesterday’s story is mainly about a man who asked another man to date his girlfriend. When the boyfriend asks his girlfriend to go on dates with his friend, he said to her that it’s a part of “cultural exchange”. I don’t get why he said that. Then, it turns out that the woman has a dream of Ice Moon. It represents the feeling of loneliness, even in the middle of a relationship while growing up. You might feel lonely at night, don’t know what the future holds, and worry about it. When we’ve passed maturing, those days seem just like yesterday.
Next, “An Independent Organ” is the third tale written in the novel. The story is about a man named Dr. Tokai. He’s a great man with rich knowledge, polite, and possesses a good manner. However, he doesn’t believe in marriage. He still hooks up with women regularly, but those are just to satisfy his sexual desire. He thought that living by himself will be alright. When he saw his friends getting married and having children, their lives seemed complicated. On the other hand, he’s single, but his life is happy. Until one day, he helplessly fell in love with a married woman. The most heartbreaking line from his is:
It feels like somehow our hearts have become intertwined. Like when she feels something, my heart moves in tandem. Like we’re two boats tied together with rope. Even if you want to cut the rope, there’s no knife sharp enough to do it. -p. 85
No matter how smart a fox was, it always ends up falling at the end of the day. So, never be arrogant, since as humans, we cannot control to whom and when our hearts will fall. If we cannot handle the love, we might end up living like a dead.
The fourth tale is “Scheherazade”. What do you guys think after reading the title? For me, it looks like a German word. Truthfully, it’s a nickname for a woman by the man in this story. The woman is married and has kids; however, she met the man occasionally in his home. He works at his place to clean his place, and buy groceries. There’s one untold task for the woman to do, and that is to have a pillow talk with him and make love. The man enjoys how great the woman does as a storyteller. She easily encapsulates other people to curious and enjoys every little detail which she told. At the end of the day, even if they have that special connection in liking each other’s presence, they have to end up this wrong relationship. It implies that sometimes, a man and a woman can be trapped in a strange relationship, whereas they have already committed to a serious relationship.
“Kino” is the fifth tale. This tale has a mystery vibe by using the gray cat, smoke, willow tree, snake, and a woman with a wound as the symbols. I found it hard to fully understand what message did Murakami convey in this short story. But after I read it several times, I finally understood the point. Well, the man was married, but eventually, the wife was cheating on his best friend. Finally, they divorced. He moved to the countryside and opened up a bar as a small business. A string of mysterious events happened at the bar. The conclusion that can be taken from the events is that man should learn not to forget, but to forgive.
In my point of view, the element of the snake is representing women in general. Like how the snakes in the legend can lead to good path or bad path. Nevertheless, they often mixed both. As well as women, as human beings, they’re not perfect. So, women have positive and negative sides too.
The sixth tale is “Samsa in Love”. Again, the narration written by Murakami in this short story is very unique. He asked the reader to interpret Samsa’s circumstances at his messy home and how a girl came to his home to fix one of the locks in the bedroom. During the process of repairing the lock, they both had a conversation. It felt like the conversation is when a man and a woman in a relationship. For me, the woman attempts to fill the man’s heart, but the man doesn’t realize that he is not allowing her to sit on his heart. There’s always an excuse from the man, even though he knows that he likes her. But at first, it’s just to fulfill his fantasy and sexual desire. Even from Murakami, we can gain a man’s perspective that men often feel attracted to women just to fulfill their sexual needs. To allow women in sitting on their hearts is another complicated story.
The last or seventh story is “Men Without Women”. Yes, as the main title of this novel, this short story represents the whole essence of the title itself. The story began with a man receiving a phone call from a stranger. It turns out that he got a piece of news from his ex-girlfriend’s husband that his first love was dead. What’s more shocking is, she was committing suicide. The main point that makes the story more interesting is why in the first place the woman’s husband let his wife’s ex know that she died. There are a lot of possibilities, nonetheless, the takeaway that we can learn from the narration is that man has always had a special corner in their heart for the woman that they truly love once in a lifetime. Even at the end of the day the woman whom they love. don’t end up as their partners, they still remember them. As the man who lost his teenage girlfriend says,
“That’s what it’s like to lose a woman. And at a certain time, losing one woman means losing all women. That’s how we become Men Without Women.” — p. 164
Conclusively, this novel is representing various stories of how men live miserably when they lose women, how men just realize how precious women’s existences are after they have gone, or men who feel superior to women. As a woman who reads the story, I feel like Murakami really brings various characteristics of men to the table that mostly can be seen by women. No wonder this piece got endless praise from readers around the world. Thanks a lot, Mr. Murakami for bringing these tales to the world! You really are a legend.
