July 23, 2024 |  Genres:  Literary Fiction   Magical Realism  

Wind/Pinball

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.

The best word I can use to describe this book (or books) is surreal. Everything about it, even the writing, makes me feel like I'm part of someone's fever dream adjacent to reality. Somehow, nothing at all happens and yet there's so much said in the time between. I find it hard to pinpoint exactly what draws me to this book but its one of my favorites for now.