“ remains in top form.” - San Francisco Chronicle His meandering, mesmerizing tales of profound alienation are driven by puzzling circumstances that neither his characters nor readers can crack-recalling existentialist Gabriel Marcel’s assertion that ‘Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be experienced.’” - The Washington Post Murakami is a master of the open-ended mystery. “Beautifully rendered.” - Financial Times A short story is brief enough to be perfectible-and Men Without Women showcases that.” - The Kansas City Star “Time and again in these seven stories, Murakami displays his singular genius.” - Los Angeles Times voice-cool, poised, witty, characterized by a peculiar blend of whimsy and poignancy, wit and profundity-hasn’t lost its power to unsettle even as it amuses.” - The Boston Globe Like a lost lover, it holds on tight long after the affair is over.” - The New York Times Book Review In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84 and Men Without Women, his distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring Murakami's place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, NPR, and Esquire His passions colour his non-fiction output, from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running to Absolutely On Music, and they also seep into his novels and short stories, providing quotidian moments in his otherwise freewheeling flights of imaginative inquiry. Murakami writes with admirable discipline, producing ten pages a day, after which he runs ten kilometres (he began long-distance running in 1982 and has participated in numerous marathons and races), works on translations, and then reads, listens to records and cooks. His books became bestsellers, were translated into many languages, including English, and the door was thrown wide open to Murakami's unique and addictive fictional universe.

More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, which turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game.

In 1978, Haruki Murakami was 29 and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo.

Men without women short story