Novelist as a Vocation
Ratings17
Average rating3.6
A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author's own novels. Haruki Murakami's myriad fans will be delighted by this 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.
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Murakami offers a refreshing, unromantic view towards the work of writing, revealing the difficulties and luck necessary in reaching the point of writing as a vocation. A lot of things have to fall in line for one to make it as a novelist, and not all of those things are in the hands of the writer. Regardless, Murakami's passion for writing is evident throughout the book and is contagious. Maybe the point of it all is to not focus so much on any dream of "success" but instead to focus on story itself.
Kinda left me cold at first but those last few essays were really insightful glances at his literary history, which was basically what I was hoping for.
This book has more personal anecdotes rather than Murakami discussing his writing that's why I was not invested in some chapters (I have no interest in personal life tbf). The chapters where he discussed about originality and how he writes were my favourites other than that it was a decent read. 3.5 stars out of 5.
