Book Review: Novelist as a vocation by haruki murakami

Title: Novelist as a Vocation

Author: Haruki Murakami

Rating: 4/5 stars

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Penguin Books)

Synopsis:

A unique look into the mind of a master storyteller.

In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.

Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.

Review:

You don’t have to be an aspiring novelist to read this. If you love Murakami’s writing and want to learn some fun facts about him as a writer, I’d highly recommend!

Murakami may be known for his brief, snappy prose that we all know and love (he even goes in depth about this in his book, what his method is like, which is super fascinating). In “Novelist as a Vocation”, while a non-fiction, his talents in writing truly shines, stemming mostly from analogies about novel writing; its processes, hardships, and triumphs. I made a bunch of annotations in general. They are SO good to read… So vivid and so satisfying, so easy to follow.

There is something very human about this book. The insights he gives are clear and evident in his works. It’s fascinating to see what his thought process is like and, frankly, a bit bizarre to read something so grounded from a man who has the ability to extract unthinkable magic from mundanity.

One caveat: I’d personally recommend staying away if you want to go into “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki” completely blind, but that is the only exception as far as I am aware. Murakami made brief remarks about his books here and there, for obvious reasons…

I can guarantee that this will be a pure delight for Murakami fans :)

Thank you so much to Penguin Books for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review <3