4/5
On Writing.
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is set to return to the literary world again this April, just in time for the cherry blossom of Sakura season. But westerners be advised, there's no word on the English version of his new novel 'The City and its Uncertain Walls' as yet. All as we await second-names like Rubin and Gabriel. Our angels that ensure we don't become Bill Murray in Park Hyatt translation with shades of Scarlet.
Soon we will be reunited with Murakami, like his radio show clothing at Uniqlo, for his first novel in six years. The '1Q84' magnum-opus like 'Killing Commendatore' (this new one is over 1000 pages too) came out in 2017, and we must be out of our pandemic minds if it's really been that long. To tide us over at least we have the short-stories of 'First Person Singular'. Remembering that his moving stories of 'Men Without Woman' compelled an Oscar winning movie with one of its enthralling extracts (The Beatles titled 'Drive My Car').
Not to mention the much-anticipated 'Novelist As A Vocation' that has finally been translated for the western world. A collection of eleven essays (six previously published and five new for these pages) in an autobiographical format that serve as a guide for young aspiring writers who want to make writing novels in their own voice their vocation. All in a beautiful jacket like shopping in Ginza or on Saville Row in the U.K. Like Stephen King's 'On Writing', this is part memoir and part mentorship.
Want to write? Then this read will show you by the book. Want to get into the mind and process of one of the world's greatest living writers? Then this is the book for you. Taking you through broad minds and all the things you wanted to know, but had no way of asking. From that first pitch sent out at a Yakult Swallows baseball game and the rounding of those bases that hit home for Haruki that he could write a novel. To the Murakami's you still see to this day on the bold-face cover-to-cover of books you find at airports and your friend's coffee table. Even in his 70s, he's still writing for the city.
Awards? He doesn't need them. He says he's the average type to still get a terrible table at a restaurant, no matter how many terrific classics he's clacked and churned out of his typewriter. Yet he's still a prized writer of prestige all around the world, even though originally being shunned in his native Japan led to a sojourn across the globe. He's a true original, who will help you find your own voice here as you wonder what to write. Introducing you to your new ally. Time, on your side like it has been for Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones for so long. Yes it is. So don't let it get its licks in any more. Take care of your body and your craft, and you too may one day be able to write an autobiography of sorts that moves more than your average memoir. Just like 'What I Think About When I Think About Running'.
Just think, this is more than what you find in a school book. These are the characters that leap off the page and will take you to your next stage. This is who you write for and moreover yourself too, because if you can't please number one first and foremost, who cares if you're on top of the New York Times Bestseller list? Reading what comes from the classic covers of The New Yorker is better anyway (wink emoji with a monocle). These stream of consciousness speech like chapters take you through Murakami's thought process with equal measures of self-deprecation and appreciation for his fans. As he opens his mental chest of drawers for what was previously 'Monkey Business', there will be times reading this where you may just wish you were reading a new novel from Murakami as you scratch your head. But that's just because of how great a writer Haruki is. Besides, his next novel is coming from the walls soon.
Until then, it's not everyday you get to meet your heroes. And this is one you should make acquaintance with as he sits you down for a conversation over a coffee. Wrestling with 'kitchen table fiction' until it reaches your coffee table, Haruki tell us all about his influences and innovators. Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan. All whilst giving us almost a dozen reasons to the rhyme of his modern day generational inspiration on paper. And even more in heart. For this we are certain. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Reading: 'First Person Singular', 'The City and its Uncertain Walls', 'Stephen King-On Writing'.
