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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
(Actual rating 1.5/5)
Pinball, 1973 is the second book in the Rat series, and is the second published novel of Haruki Murakami. The first book, [b:Hear the Wind Sing|226973|Hear the Wind Sing (The Rat, #1)|Haruki Murakami|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1209948233l/226973._SX50_.jpg|2902423], has a relatively weak plot because nothing happens at all, but I still rated it 4 stars, because it had that incredible Murakami charm, so I didn't care that the plot was weak because I still enjoyed the writing a tremendous amount. This novel also had no plot, which in general isn't a huge issue, but where this book fell flat for me was that it didn't have the Murakami charm that Hear the Wind Sing did. Pinball, 1973 was severely lacking in any kind of depth or skilled writing, and it didn't feel like a necessary book at all. A sequel is supposed to build on the book that came before it, but this book just didn't. This book had no flair, and I think, most importantly, Murakami did not demonstrate his mastery of verisimilitude on any level in this book.
Murakami is a very talented writer, and one of my favourite aspects of his writing is his verisimilitude, which basically means authenticity and honesty. He does not shy away from giving details about the small, private, intimate parts of people's lives, which makes the reader connect to his characters. Pinball, 1973 had absolutely none of that. Both the unnamed narrator and The Rat felt like completely different characters from the ones I read about in Hear the Wind Sing.
The one redeeming quality of this book is the very brief, very quick reference to my all-time favourite film, Goldfinger. Other than that, I can't think of too many positives.
Let's just end this by saying that I was very underwhelmed.
Pinball, 1973 is the second book in the Rat series, and is the second published novel of Haruki Murakami. The first book, [b:Hear the Wind Sing|226973|Hear the Wind Sing (The Rat, #1)|Haruki Murakami|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1209948233l/226973._SX50_.jpg|2902423], has a relatively weak plot because nothing happens at all, but I still rated it 4 stars, because it had that incredible Murakami charm, so I didn't care that the plot was weak because I still enjoyed the writing a tremendous amount. This novel also had no plot, which in general isn't a huge issue, but where this book fell flat for me was that it didn't have the Murakami charm that Hear the Wind Sing did. Pinball, 1973 was severely lacking in any kind of depth or skilled writing, and it didn't feel like a necessary book at all. A sequel is supposed to build on the book that came before it, but this book just didn't. This book had no flair, and I think, most importantly, Murakami did not demonstrate his mastery of verisimilitude on any level in this book.
Murakami is a very talented writer, and one of my favourite aspects of his writing is his verisimilitude, which basically means authenticity and honesty. He does not shy away from giving details about the small, private, intimate parts of people's lives, which makes the reader connect to his characters. Pinball, 1973 had absolutely none of that. Both the unnamed narrator and The Rat felt like completely different characters from the ones I read about in Hear the Wind Sing.
The one redeeming quality of this book is the very brief, very quick reference to my all-time favourite film, Goldfinger. Other than that, I can't think of too many positives.
Let's just end this by saying that I was very underwhelmed.
"You write well, you argue clearly, but you don’t have anything to say."
This line from Chapter 9 of Pinball, 1973 sums up how I feel about this book. How I feel about Haruki Murakami's works in general, in fact.
I don't know how to explain why I like Murakami 's writing. I just do, a lot.
You often find yourself getting lost in murakamis books, even if they have no concept of a story. A beautiful and poetic world, but no action
Second installment from the Rat series. I don't know why but I kinda love this book. The twins, Rat and the narrator. There's nothing outstanding about it but it gives you a sense of longing, loneliness, and warm kind of vibes feeling.
“On the way home, a loneliness would always claim his heart. He could never quite get a grip on what it was. It just seemed that whatever lay waiting out there was all too vast, too overwhelming for him to possibly ever make a dent in.”
it was perfectly fine, not terribly interesting or terribly dull. one of his earliest novellas, you can see the classic murakami blueprint for success that he spins into most of his work. I think at the heart of every murakami novel is the unspeakable center - the magic flutes in Kafka on the Shore, the moon in 1Q84 that nobody notices, the bottom of the well in Wind Up Bird. In this way, murakami’s work is a little less like magical realism and more like weird fiction - he just couches it in a way that is casual and almost seems careless. I think that’s the appeal?
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“On any given day, something can come along and steal our hearts. It may be any old thing: a rosebud, a lost cap, a favourite sweater from childhood, an old Gene Pitney record. A miscellany of trivia with no home to call their own. Lingering for two or three days, that something soon disappears, returning to the darkness. There are walls, deep wells, dug in our hearts. Birds fly over them.”
Pinball is Haruki Murakami’s follow up novel to Hear the Wind Sing. It was published in 1980. My copy clocks in at 162 pages. Pinball isn’t perhaps as strong as its predecessor but it is certainly weirder and that’s a good thing. Set three years after Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball follows our narrator and his friend The Rat as they live their lives hundreds of miles apart from each other. Murakami does an incredible job of portraying depression and loneliness and those feelings we all get inside when we know something is wrong but can’t but our fingers in it. Pinball is an obsession in the latter half of this novel and the very act of interacting with a pinball machine is romanticised and characterised in a weird and wonderful way. My edition of Pinball came with Hear the Wind Sing and I read them both in one sitting, they’re that readable. To me, Murakami’s work, any of his work, is like gulping down a glass of cold water on a hot day, it quenches my need for a heartwarming character piece which is totally alive and that I have only ever found from the master Haruki Murakami.