Nessuno puo’ sapere cosa sogneremo domani. (73)

Le medesime passioni hanno nell'uomo e nella donna un ritmo diverso: perciò uomo e donna continuano a fraintendersi.
FRIEDRICH WILHELM NIETZSCHE

Erano i capei d’oro a l’aura sparsi
che ’n mille dolci nodi gli avolgea,
e ’l vago lume oltra misura ardea
di quei begli occhi, ch’or ne son sì scarsi;

e ’l viso di pietosi color’ farsi,
non so se vero o falso, mi parea:
i’ che l’esca amorosa al petto avea,
qual meraviglia se di sùbito arsi?

Non era l’andar suo cosa mortale,
ma d’angelica forma; e le parole
sonavan altro che, pur voce umana;

uno spirto celeste, un vivo sole
fu quel ch’i' vidi: e se non fosse or tale,
piagha per allentar d’arco non sana.

Petrarca

Lui per un certo periodo si dedico’ con particolare passione alla calligrafia. Tracciando ideogrammi sulla carta candida col pennello imbevuto di inchiostro nerissimo, gli pareva di veder sciogliersi a poco a poco il groviglio che aveva nel cuore. (17)

Se nel nostro operato non intervenisse un organo che ci spinge ad altezze vertiginose o ci fa precipitare storditi in fondo al baratro, un organo che a volte ci mostra splendide visioni, a volte ci induce a cercare la morte, la nostra vita sarebbe una cosa ben squallida. Si ridurrebbe a una serie di abitudini. (110)

Perche’ le donne offrivano un tempo speciale che annullava la realta’, pur restandovi immerse. (141)

Ma tra noi due, fin dall’inizio, era come… come dei bottoni sfasati rispetto alle asole…
“Dei bottoni sfasati rispetto alle asole”, penso’ Kino. (165)
To do list: comperare ago e filo.
Alternative: cucire tutte le asole ed usare i bottoni lanciandoli sopra l’acqua di uno stagno (che rimbalzano!).
Infine: ‘Posto che la verita’ sia una donna’... (sempre lui).

Gli bastava pensare a lei, rivedere mentalmente la sua figura, per sentire un calore in petto. E comincio’ a rallegrarsi di non essere un pesce o un girasole.
…
Rimase per molto tempo seduto a occhi chiusi. Assaporava tranquillamente quel calore, come una persona accanto a un falo’. (204-5)

Un giorno all’improvviso diventi uno dei tanti uomini che non hanno una donna.
…
Mentre controlli la pressione delle gomme, versare lacrime sulla strada arida. (215-6)
( )

Seven stories, all first person and all very like Murakami's kind of story, each one entertaining in its own way. ( )

Great short stories. I like his calm flat way of describing strange situations where people's emotions are very familiar even though the story is so weird. ( )

There are two things I will state up front when it comes to this book:

1. I am a HUGE Murakami fan. The day I read 1Q84, I was blown away and went through his entire back catalogue of books in one summer and one after the other.

2. I never read Hemingway's book with the same title. If there is a parallel between them, I wouldn't know.

With that stated, I did enjoy this book, but did find myself forgetting what certain stories were about.

This is a collection of seven short stories (more on that later) that I would describe as being about the loneliness found even within relationships. This book is also not only about men, as one is focused on a woman who has a sexual, but unromantic relationship with a man, but finds breaking into empty strangers' houses and switching one item is her true turn on. These types of relationships are what unify the book together.

Another example is the opening story- a stage actor is driven to his shows by a "plain looking" woman whom he is not attracted to. The more their relationship grows, the more he tells his story. He reveals he knew his wife was cheating on him and with whom, so he attempted to become best friends with his wife's loves to seek his revenge. As he went through with the plan, he realizes he doesn't actually love his wife, so why was he seeking revenge?

These are the flow for his story collection. These are not short either. The shortest was about 30 pages long, so be prepared to read a bit. I decided to read one a day for a week just to allow each story to flow through my day. As stated there were at least two that I could not remember what they were about, until I went back to review them. So, like all short story collections, there are some that hit and some that miss.

I will also write that I wouldn't recommend this to be the book to introduce yourself to a typical Murakami. These are less fantasy mixed with reality and more grounded in reality with zero fantasy elements. Several of these stories also appeared in other publications.

I gave this one 4 stars.
( )

This book is a collection of seven short stories by Haruki Murakami, each were a delight to read. Murakami’s prose was easy to read as his style flows well. Each story, as the title suggests, centers around a man that is without a woman. Each man has a different situation, but the common denominator is that each one is alone for one reason or another.

Some of my favorite stories were “Drive My Car,” in which Kafuku, an actor, hires a woman to chauffeur him as he is unable to drive, “An Independent Organ,” which was a sad story of a plastic surgeon, “Scheherazade,” another sad, but very good story, and “Samsa in Love,” in which Gregor Samsa, from Kafka’s famous short story comes to life in a hilarious tale.

These stories were fun to read and read so quickly, I was disappointed when I finished the final story. I wanted more. I highly recommend this for any Murakami fan or as a starting point for anyone who has not read him before. ( )