I enjoyed this book, although it feels like it was written for a very niche audience. I liked getting to see how the process of translation worked and some examples of how translators dealt with specific examples (I wished there had been more examples). I even enjoyed reading about the translators themselves (Birnbaum in particular had an interesting life story, which is detailed here). There was also quite a bit about how Murakami's novels were marketed to an English-speaking audience, how they choose which novels to translate, how they were abridged, even how they chose novel covers. Most of this is concerned with NYC publishers, although there is some about UK publishing/marketing.

If you are part of the niche audience interested in these things, I would encourage you to give this a try, but I doubt it will be on most people's to-read list. ( )

An absolutely fascinating look behind the scenes and the many voices that go into translation work. I loved all the details that lead Murakami’s editors, translators to translate into English the worlds that Murakami Imagines. ( )

An absolutely fascinating look behind the scenes and the many voices that go into translation work. I loved all the details that lead Murakami’s editors, translators to translate into English the worlds that Murakami Imagines. ( )

Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami by David Karashima is an interesting glimpse at both the work of translating as well as the making of Murakami as an international phenomenon.

First, since I saw at least one review that read the book blurb from a very specific perspective and was thus disappointed, I want to clarify what this book is and isn't. the blurb states clearly this is about the making of Murakami's international fame, not a history of it. So, using my home country as an example, if one reads a book about the making of the US, there probably won't be anything much covered after 1800. Same here, what kick-started the international acclaim was breaking into the US market, so that is what is covered here. To complain that the book does indeed do what it claims just because you misunderstood the blurb and wanted a different book is grossly misleading. Okay, so now we know how to read the book blurb...

This is a fascinating look behind the scenes at how an author becomes known outside the language in which he writes. In this case, it is someone whose fame took off once he was known, in part because of the work of bringing the work to a wider audience and in part because it happened early enough in his career that his growth could be followed by readers in other languages.

I have read several books over the last year or two about translating and the work of translation, mostly written from the perspective of the translator and written in broad terms even when referencing specific works. Those were very interesting and definitely, for me, set the stage for this book. Here we get details about translations of one author but with multiple translators offering insights. We also see just how much the economic side of the equation plays a role. At one point it is mentioned that, if the first foray into the US market had been ten years later, less money thus less attention would have been allocated. Would it have been as successful? Who knows, but it would certainly have had a different trajectory.

While having read Murakami will help to make this book far more interesting, I think readers who are less familiar with his work can still get a lot from it. The specifics of this author and his translations illustrates the range of things, from coincidences to finances to degree of input of the author, that goes into making literature of one culture or language accessible to others.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )