Did Haruki Murakami intend this book only for those of his gender or for all of us? - Well, to get the answer, you will need to read this book.
As the name suggests, Men Without Women, the collection of seven stories by Murakami, revolve around the men of the world without their women. Each story is extremely deep and in the most subtle way depicts the world of the main character with the existential crisis brought in by the absence of the woman in his life.
My most favourite among the seven stories is the story of Kino, he being the complete regular another man in this world with almost everything about his life being the most casual and ordinary. Though, takes numerous incidents to realize how what he thought least affected him was the very reason of all the unrealized pain deep inside his heart. The story telling is beautifully intriguing.
The other very extra-ordinary story, in my opinion is of the plastic surgeon Dr. Tokai. This one is plotted around the ancient belief of women having the ability of effortlessly hiding their where-abouts from the men in their lives. In the author's words - it is as if they are blessed with an independent organ to aid them skillfully trade their lies.
Scheherazade presents the prowess possessed by women to create a world of their own in their imagination. It actually works as an easy get-away for them to combat the varied challenges in their lives.
The profound truth of human life is presented in the most offhand manner by this hunchbacked young woman to Samsa, "Everything is blowing up around us, but there are still those who care about a broken lock, and others who are dutiful enough to fix it...But may be working on the little things as dutifully and honestly as we can is how we stay sane when the world is falling apart."
All in all, this piece of art is obviously for the men of this world. It is all about how their world changes because of that one woman or may be many women in their life. How it brings forth the existential crisis. And hence, I wonder what to comment on this being the opposite gender. I wonder what made me choose this book for my reading. Though, I would not deny the fact that it did unveil the otherwise quite unthinkable, un-understood, unimaginable world of the psyche of men and disclosed the uncounted fears and insecurities of the world of men.
One fundamental that these stories clearly proffer is that no matter what the woman does, the man can hardly stop loving her.
If you are someone who are a male gender, then this book is surely for you. If you are not then this book will surely educate you and reveal a lot of the men's world, their psyche and their vulnerability. I have earnestly enjoyed my time with this book.
Happy Reading until I get to write about something that catches my fancy!
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