novelist as a vocation gives us a glimpse into haruki murakami’s venture into the literary world from being a book translator into one of this generation’s renowned author in this insightful recollection of his lifetime in literature.

this book was definitely made for murakami’s loyal readers indeed as he dives into his writing process and perspectives to some of his hit books such as hear the wind sing and norwegian wood as well as his thoughts about the literary world itself and being in it.

i took my time with this book quite longer than i expected it to be as i really was trying to consume everything that he wrote wholeheartedly as i find myself within his own experience with life and literature more and more deeply as i flip through the pages. this book felt more than a memoir to me. i don’t particularly know how to elucidate how this book made me feel but it has been delightful to read of murakami’s wise words once again in a much more direct way this time as compared to his usually beautiful prose he has written through his characters. not only did he offered his advices when it comes to writing but to also live and experience the life that we are living to the fullest.

although the experience that he shared felt somewhat on a surface level only as opposed to diving much deeper into the intricate detail of writing, there are still lessons to be learned from his lifetime in literature and not only would it be beneficial for just simply writers but also for people in multitude of careers as well as i find some of his advices comforting and just what i needed to hear or listen or see in this season where a career’s dilemma haunts me to no end.

4 stars