Customer Reviews:

0 out of 0 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A3L9W316RDNJHC 2008-11-12
 
Review Summary: Truly Disappointing...
 
Review Content: I have to say that I whole-heartedly agree with the few dissenters amongst the reviewers of this book. It was a complete let-down. Indulgent, poorly translated and factually weak, it missed the point completely. As a seasoned runner of twenty years experience I can, to some degree empathise with the author's feelings towards his need to run and the daily grind this inherently brings. However, any book worth it's salt needs to be engaging, entertaining and enlightening. This book was none of these.

The author failed to mention the obsessive-compulsive aspect of running training, the heart-ache, the time away from family and loved-ones not to mention the great highs the sport can also bestow.

After the first 50 pages I was left feeling cheated and a little concerned that an author of such undoubted talents (given his previous work), could submit such an 'unfinished and uninspiring' piece to market.

So, to conclude, if you're considering purchasing this book or browsing in your local shop and contemplating spending your hard-earned... run, run away, as fast as you can.
 
 
 

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: AJFQDF0LEQ3XM 2008-10-25
 
Review Summary: so disappointed
 
Review Content: I have just read the other reviews of this book and have to say I am in complete disagreement with them. I would say this is the most disappointing book I have read. I felt it failed on every level. It was not entertaining, informative, thought provoking or particularly well written. It seemed incredibly self indulgent on the part of the author. As someone who has run fairly seriously for the past 40 years, his musings were obvious, one-dimensionsal and boring. I kept thinking 'so what?' 'who cares?'. Why did he need to tell us he was a talented, award-winning writer? Perhaps because, if like me the reader had no previous exposure to his novels, we would never have guessed from this offering. If he wants to compare his writing to his running, then he has just had the equivalent of a 'stinker' of a race. I questioned what his editor/publisher was thinking about in releasing this material, however judging from the acclaim of other reviewers(are they simply fans who refuse to see that on this occasion their emperor had no shorts and vest on?)perhaps I have to accept that they are all right and I am wrong. That said, I know the extreme reaction the book prompted in me; I felt cheated and defrauded to the point I wrote to the publisher two weeks ago asking for a refund. I am still awaiting a reply.
 
 
 

4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A2VU8TUO3CGFZ7 2008-10-17
 
Review Summary: Writing and running at its best
 
Review Content: I enjoyed this book immensely, both as someone who has read all of Murakami's books available in English, and as someone who has just trained for and run a half marathon.

For the first time, Murakami publishes a unique insight into the man behind the vivid imagination that created all his legendary titles, explaining how he started running to stay fit while sitting at home writing, and how the discipline he attaches to writing is very much the same discipline it takes to run an average of 6 miles a day, every day, for the last 23 or 24 years.

Having just trained for a reasonbly long run for 4 months, and run "only" 3 to 4 times a week, I enjoyed finding that Murakami describes so well the thoughts of a runner - he sums up brilliantly how you overcome the fatigue and pain when running by stating: "pain is inevitable, suffering is not". Once you realise that, he explains it is a matter of how you manage your expectations when focussing on any task that requires stamina, dedication and a bit of pain, be it running, writing or anything else in life.

The other aspect of Murakami's personal life that comes out of this book is his sad realisation that you can not beat the ageing process; no matter how much he trains, he can not improve on his times any more, and he acknowledges with much pain the inevitability of getting older by the day. Alongside his diminishing running capabilities, he fears that his best writing years may be past him, though he takes comfort from knowing that a few writers produced their best works in their late years.

We will have to see what else Murakami has to offer - I certainly will continue to buy his books.


 
 
 

3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A2TLX0ZA4IDG9N 2008-09-30
 
Review Summary: The Lonliness Of A Long Distance Writer
 
Review Content: Anyone who knows anything of Murakmi's work should be aware that a book about running written by him won't just be a book about running. Short, but never slight, the book muses on many subjects from memory, to why he started writing, perfecting a swimming technique, to some of the best music to run to. All written in Murakmi's own distinctive voice.

Whatever he writes about this is Murakami's voice you're hearing. There is insight into the kind of person he is and also the kind of person runners are. There is plenty of running here and at times it does almost feel like the book has been written at the pace of a long run as its energy is brisk yet economical. For anyone looking for a big novel, it's not here. For anyone who wants a look into the world of a man who likes to write and run and tell you about it there's enough here to keep you entertained for a while.
 
 
 

2 out of 4 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: AN42MZ5FZ83TW 2008-09-26
 
Review Summary: OK, but not brilliant
 
Review Content: On the whole, I did enjoy this book. I bought it because I'm a runner not because I've read anything by him before. Great to read someone else's take on distance running and some of his observations are indeed spot on but I'm afraid a number of things grated with me. Take these two quotations - "I don't care about the time I run" and "competing against time isn't important". Mmm. Makes him very different from every serious runner I know!! And he IS a serious runner who later on is disappointed by his time in New York and tries hard to analyse the reason. He's also obsessed by the fact that, in his mid-50s, he's past it "that's what happens when you get older" which I found to be somewhat pessimistic. At 60 now, I'm lucky enough to be running better than I have for years - maybe he should rejig his philosophy? One other thing - some of the prose I found to be very jerky, with some use of idiom which doesn't ring true somehow. OK, English isn't his native tongue, fair enough but I notice the book has been translated from the Japanese by someone else. Perhaps it's the translator's fault. But then Murakami has lived in the US and is translating Scott Fitzgerald, implying, I would have thought, an excellent command of the language? Do you have to be a runner to appreciate this book? No, but it would definitely help. His description of how it feels at around 22 miles in the Marathon is right on the money and I like very much his would-be epitaph - "he never walked" to go with his assertion that the marathon is, after all "a running event" something many entrants to London could do with remembering.