Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

Haruki Murakami

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

Discover Haruki Murakami's first two novels. 'If you're the sort of guy who raids the refrigerators of silent kitchens at three o'clock in the morning, you can only write accordingly. That's who I am.' Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakami's earliest novels. They follow the fortunes of the narrator and his friend, known only by his nickname, the Rat. In Hear the Wind Sing the narrator is home from college on his summer break. He spends his time drinking beer and smoking in J's Bar with the Rat, listening to the radio, thinking about writing and the women he has slept with, and pursuing a relationship with a girl with nine fingers. Three years later, in Pinball, 1973, he has moved to Tokyo to work as a translator and live with indistinguishable twin girls, but the Rat has remained behind, despite his efforts to leave both the town and his girlfriend. The narrator finds himself haunted by memories of his own doomed relationship but also, more bizarrely, by his short-lived obsession with playing pinball in J's Bar. This sends him on a quest to find the exact model of pinball machine he had enjoyed playing years earlier: the three-flipper Spaceship.


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  • moise
    Aug 17, 2024
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  • VillageOfCats
    Mar 12, 2025
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  • iamthemuffin
    Apr 25, 2025
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    I'm not remotely surprised to say this isn't his best work. Very sloppy and simple at times, not to mention forgettable. That being said, I'm so happy they republished this and it was a treat to be able to read it finally. I love Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance (Dance Dance Dance more than the former) and never being able to read the first two installments was always a drag. So being able to finally read all of "the Rat" novels and read the clunky beginning of one of my favorite authors was time well spent.

    Now if they continue this retrospective mood and re-translate Wind up Bird, finally giving us the full uncut version without hundreds of pages slashed...I will lose my fucking mind.

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