Weird book even by Murakami standards. But charming and difficult to put down. The stories are impossible for me to summarize. Here are 2 excerpts from the dust jacket and the book itself:
- Across seven dazzling tales, Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Some are trapped indoors, some in their own heads; they are chauffeured around in cars by silent women or haunted by ghosts of women they once knew. Here are lovesick doctors, students, ex-boyfriends, actors, bartenders and even Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, brought together to tell stories that speak to us all.
- Only Men Without Women can comprehend how painful, how heartbreaking, it is to become one. You lose that wonderful west wind. Fourteen is stolen from you forever.