I thought this might be interesting. I am not a writer, nor have I read any of this author's work. It s a very personal account of his journey to become a writer, in a series of essays. I skimmed it, but in the end I was not sufficiently engaged to read it in its entirety.

You don’t need to be a fan of Murakami’s fiction to benefit from this personal and informal account of the author’s own journey into novel writing. His style is both engaging and informal , filled with valuable insights into the craft of writing, including topics such as the importance of exercise, how to deal with criticism and ways of finding inspiration. Highly recommended.

I’ve never read any Murakami, I guess I just didn’t think he was my kind of thing, but reading this meandering non-fiction piece has changed my perception. It’s not so much instructional as kindly advice; autobiographical in places, along with more general points on forging a successful and sustainable writing career. I loved it, and I’ll be looking out some of his novels or short stories soon.

This book wasn't what I was expecting.
I honestly thought that it would be just from the authors point of view. But it was so much more than that.
I'm a reader not a writer but I found the whole book fascinating.
I've recommend it to several authors I know.

This is a newly translated book by Haruki Murakami. It was published in Japanese in 2015, and its English translation took a few years. It was worth the wait, and as any novelist or writer can benefit from Murakami's work. He offers insight on how he became a novelist and the path that he took along the past three and a half decades. It offers insight on how he dealt with criticism, the importance of exercise for his career, and how his work progresses. Excellent volume for anyone interested in being an author or being successful at a career.

I’m a fan of Murakami’s novels and enjoyed learning more about his process of writing. I particularly liked the chatty style of these essays, as if we were in conversation. As this is a collection of pieces written at different times there is some repetition, but not enough to marr what is a very interesting book.

In "Novelist as a Vocation" Haruki Murakami has collected together conversational essays he has written describing his experiences as a writer, and his observations on writing. Written in 2015 these essays precede the pandemic.

I have not read any of Murakami's novels, but I am very interested in writing and have read similar books by other authors. In his first essay, Murakami argues that instead of being like the "intelligent man" and able to understand a mountain from observing it, "Novelists...are the type who has to climb to the top to understand Mount Fuji," From this, I took him to be saying that Novelists can often make hard work of understanding something and are uninterested in the short and simple form. For me this was reflected in Murakami's essays, which from my perspective involved him taking a long time to say something he could have said in a sentence. I therefore ended up getting a bit bored. However, hidden within the prose are some interesting insights on novelists and writing and this book might appeal to those who are already fans of this novelist.

How to write like Haruki Murakami
1. Attend a baseball match, at which you will experience an epiphany: you can write a novel
2. Start writing your novel and realise it’s not working
3. Rewrite instead in a foreign language (English in this case) and then translate it back into Japanese
4. Complete novel and win major prize
5. Become a full-time novelist, writing the equivalent of sixteen hundred words in English a day
6. Do not win the Akutagawa Prize, as winning it would be a distraction
7. Live in different places around the world (Italy, the UK, the US) to avoid the distractions of the Japanese publishing industry*
8. Go running every day
9. That’s about it

*What of Mrs Murakami? Does she accompany the writer on these journeys? What about her own career? Or is she pursuing her own career overseas, with HM the dangling spouse? The book is silent on the matter.

A read this in one evening, fascinating. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

A really interesting series of pieces on what it means to be a writer. Even though it's a little repetitive at times, it's a joy to hear from one of the greats. It'll give me a deeper appreciation of his work, along with some food for thought on my own life as a writer.

Love this author especially kafka on the shore, men without women and first person singular so was excited to read this new book!

Absolutely wonderful, I recommend this book to everyone! I’m certainly buying a copy for friends and family!

Five stars

I've read two books by Murakami and his 1Q84 is one of my all time favourites. To me there is always a sort of familiarity in his writings, and I can see that in this non-fiction book of his too.
In this book he tells how he became an author, and what are his opinions on different subjects. Recently I read in NYTimes (by the book) that he does not like his books and he never reads them, he's too humble tbh, and I think I appreciate him more with every other book I read written by him.

I had already read parts of this book in the form of scattered articles on the web and various newspapers, but so collected they make me appreciate this brilliant writer even more.

Avevo giá letto parti di questo libro in forma di articoli sparsi su web e giornali vari, ma cosí raccolti mi fanno apprezzare ancora di piú questo scrittore geniale.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

This is a collection of essays by prolific writer of novels and short stories, Haruki Murakami. They cover how he wrote his first novel, his process of writing, his career in Japan and worldwide, his thoughts on originality, and so much more.

Despite not having read any of Haruki Murakami's novels I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of essays. They are written in a very conversational style so it feels as though he is chatting to the reader. I read them in one go and recommend them to anyone who is interested in writers and their writing lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.