Book Review: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running By Haruki Murakami

I finally finished the first of the three running books my Mom gave me for Mother’s Day. Even though I picked the shortest one to read first, it has taken me this long! That’s partly because of my busy schedule, and partly because I had a hard time getting in to it.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami

The author, Haruki Murakami, is an award-winning, Japanese novelist who took up running when he was 33. At first, I found his writing to be boring. Although he was writing about interesting things, I didn’t feel engaged. I wondered if that stemmed from a difference in culture (Japan vs. U.S.) or perspective (male marathon runner vs. female non-marathon runner). Sometimes I felt like he was just too “zen” about everything to capture my attention. In the “Afterward” he explains the tension he feels as a novelist between “staying true to the novel” and “revealing his own true voice.” Maybe that holding back is why I felt like there was something lacking.

The book was interesting enough that I did want to finish it, even if only to see if it got any better–and it did. I found myself immersed in the descriptions of specific runs and races, and there seemed to be more of those as the book went on.

Probably because it resonates most with my own experience, I was struck by the struggle to find the right balance between under-training and over-training. Early in the book he writes this about one event:

There are three reasons I failed. Not enough training. Not enough training. And not enough training.

But then later he provides this important warning:

It’s important to push your body to its limits, but exceed those and the whole thing’s a waste. 

There are lots of other good nuggets in this book, and I probably will remember it more than I expect. Maybe that means it is a good book after all.

Have you read this book?

What did you think?