In a bid to come across as semi-intelligent, this post will be my take on Murakami's Men Without Women. Now, just in case this seems a little wanky, allow me to give some context. I like to ponder Waterstones - yes I support Waterstones instead of independent book shops because they are few and far between in the countryside bubble that is Kent - when I happened upon this book. Something about the title reminded me of a recommendation my brother had made a while ago, although the author's name sounded less than familiar. I took a chance and bought it. After finishing it I realised that I had - quelle surprise - fucked up. My brother had spoken of Hemingway's text of the same name. I have yet to read that. In any case, Men Without Women makes for very easy-going, poetic material. However, one aspect of the book that kept returning to me were his female characters. If my memory serves me well (i.e there is a high chance that I am mistaken), every woman - bar one - was an adulteress. It should be noted that my use of this term includes women who were not married and who were 'cheating' with married men.
If the recent press coverage or social media comments on Strictly Come Dancing are anything to go by, I think most people generally agree that infidelity is something that should be avoided if at all possible. (And if anyone was wondering, I think that particular piece of gossip brought out the not-so-great side of a lot of people - leave Seann, Katya, Neil and Rebecca be!)
I will just be honest. I am on a bit of a feminist tidal wave at the moment, by which I mean that I am really beginning to become very intrigued by feminism generally. So there is always the possibility that maybe I am being overly critical of Murakami who may very well simply be aiming to keep his reader entertained for the duration of the book. From my own attempts at script-writing (or lack thereof) I know it can be difficult to strike a balance between drawing in an audience whilst simultaneously considering what morals you are giving them to take away from the story. Perhaps Murakami is opting not to over-think the females in his collection of short stories; he has after all named it Men Without Women. My own reflection on this is a little defeatist, I will admit. Does Murakami view the majority of women as people who are very comfortable with having affairs left, right and centre?
Of course, people have affairs. Men, women, everyone. It happens because people make mistakes and this is life and we can't get it right all of the time. But why Murakami? Why?
A quick glance at reviews on Google and other such scientific, accurate forums (nowhere else, just Google) reveals that this book is regarded as pretty wonderful. And it is, it really is, but why are the women kinda heartless? I thought I'd ask a good male friend of mine for his stance on it. His response was as follows, 'he probably got cheated on and that's it'.
Maybe?
Or maybe I am making more of it than I really need to. It just bugs me because it's another piece of fiction that doesn't really seem to have a care for presenting women with feelings and emotions and reasons or even a couple of morals. But it is a book titled after men, written by a man. So I guess my view on the subject will differ from Murakami and that's okay. I believe that just as a female author has a right to write (that sounds like the Beastie Boys next major hit) about women, so too do men have their right to write about men (and anyone else who doesn't identify with either of these genders has their right also). Haven't we all got a lot of rights? Righto, time to wrap up.
In summation, I suppose I will never find out the whys and wherefores of this detail of Men Without Women. I just thought it was a bit BS.
Having said that the rest of it was great! There is a gentle and very personal dimension to Murakami's text. It is easy to fall in and out of, which is how I imagine he wanted it to be, so hats off to him. If you've got the time/inclination, please do read it and tell me what you think.
Take care and please visit again soon, Abs x
Author: Abi