Karashima is a background presence in the tale he has told of Murakami’s rise to international success. The text is a collage of various interviews and letters; Karashima’s role as a ‘writer’ seems to have been not to offer analysis on the unfolding events of publication and translation but rather to be the arch-voice sewing disparate snippets and quotations together. So, while this is an enormously interesting book, its telling leaves rather a lot to be desired. 

The complexity of publication, particularly in translation, is a hidden labour that cannot be surmised or understood from the finished product. Murakami’s reputation - that he is a solitary, long-distance running and somewhat stoic writer - does not at all take into account the complex teamwork behind his translated works. The extent to which the translators have overtly edited and changed his work for an English-speaking readership is quite remarkable, and a reminder of the importance of considering the role of the translator and the consequences of translation as a practice, whenever reading a translated work. I suppose, cynically, this book is perhaps meant to highlight the more ‘scheming’ parts of Murakami’s success - dropping his initial translator for Jay Rubin, or tactically switching publishers - but I think what came across instead was just an image of the publishing world as a world of ‘business’ like any other. Had Karashima offered any analysis, though, the impression may have been markedly different.

To summarise, this is an interesting book solely because its subject matter is so interesting. It is honestly quite badly written; I reached the end mourning for what could have been, had the same wealth of archival material been in the hands of a more competent or analytically minded writer. Nonetheless, a very interesting story for any fan of Murakami’s work.