Yet if Murakami’s weaknesses are quickly on display, so too are his strengths. It’s not exactly Two-And-A-Half Men, but if you’re looking for well-rounded female characters, this may not be the book for you. ‘Drive My Car’, p.8 (Harvill Secker, 2017) Beneath the white long-sleeved T-shirt under her jacket Kafuku could see her larger-than-average breasts. She was wearing a man’s herringbone jacket that was a bit too heavy for May, brown cotton pants, and a pair of black Converse sneakers. Big or small (or belonging to a hunchback with bra issues), Murakami simply can’t help himself, and it doesn’t take him long to make his first observation: Yes, there will be cats, and jazz, and the writer’s obsession with breasts continues unabated.
However, this muted reception might also be a result of certain rehashed and unwelcome tropes. In addition, some of the stories will sound rather familiar, with five having already appeared in English (four in The New Yorker alone). The collection doesn’t seem to have received the usual fanfare accompanying a Murakami book, partly perhaps as his novels overshadow his shorter fiction (even though he does both very well). The reasons for the men’s issues differ, with some having lost a partner and others never having known one, but each of the pieces has at its core the question of how to move on without someone by your side. Men Without Women (translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen, published by Harvill Secker) is a collection of seven longish stories involving male protagonists, connected by a lack of success in their love lives. Whether it’s merely something to scratch the itch while we wait for another novel, or something a little more substantial – well, that’s another matter entirely… Even if it’s fiction you’re after, you’re still in luck, as today’s post looks at a short-story collection that appeared earlier this year. However, there have been a few other works to appear in the meantime, including a couple more of the many non-fiction works he’s known for in Japan. Haruki Murakami’s last novel in English ( Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) came out three years back, and while there are translations available in other languages of his latest long effort, we may have to wait a while until it appears in English.
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