Wind/ Pinball cover art

Wind/ Pinball

Two Novels

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'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.

© Haruki Murakami 2015 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Coming of Age Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature

Critic reviews

Murakami fans will no doubt delight in this new publication. For newcomers, these early works are an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation (Hannah Beckerman)
Murakami’s way of making emotionally resonant images and symbols bump around on the page, and in one’s mind, remains fresh, miraculously, more than 35 years on (Jerome Boyd Maunsell)
Wind/Pinball is a fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master
To read a Murakami book is to feel comforted by the familiarity and predictability of its strangeness. These are Murakami’s two earliest novels and so, like archaeological artefacts, they detail the early construction of his now-famous style. (Claire Kohda Hazelton)
quintessential Murakami… an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation (Guardian)
This two-for-the-price-of-one hardback really is something special… The decorative covers are exquisite, but it is the literature between them that cemented Murakami as one of the world’s most celebrated writers (Dan Lewis)
Early Murakami isn’t Murakami-in-the-making, it’s already and entirely Murakami (Ian Sansom)
bizarre and often surreal, these stories act as an intriguing exploration into Murakami’s wacky mind and thought processes
Wind/Pinball makes a great introduction to Murakami for new readers, and is a real treat for long-time fans (Brendan Wright)
From the very beginning, it seems, Murakami has had the ability to make a story in which nothing happens seem completely irresistible. And to make almost any degree of bizarreness seem completely natural
All stars
Most relevant
Murakami’s first novellas are among his best work. Enigmatic yet comfortable, they are a perfect entry point into the writer’s world.

Amazing Origins

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