Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one is more sophisticated than Hear the Wind Sing, but a little more all over the place. Definitely see more Murakami-ish stuff here.
This was... fine. It came paired with Hear the Wind Sing as a single volume as both were only translated into English years after Murakami found global success, basically once his publisher had translated every single other thing. Apparently, if you buy the print copy these days, book 1 reads front to back and book 2 reads back to front while the cover art is of a vinyl record. It’s a fun idea that I’d like to have held while reading these two. Ah well. I enjoyed Hear the Wind Sing but this was a noticeable step down from it. It doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s got some very odd features (the protagonist lives with/sleeps with a pair of nearly-always-naked twins who serve his every need) that don’t lead to anything or seem particularly symbolic of anything either. Anyone who reads Murakami gets used to weirdness and even bewilderment but this just felt like he was experimenting with the early stages of weirdness and hadn’t quite gotten a handle on it yet. It’s an okay read. The prose is up to Murakami’s usual standard but it’s definitely one of his weakest works.
The first "book" in the Rat Trilogy (followed by [book:A Wild Sheep Chase] and [book:Dance Dance Dance]. It's worth reading merely because it's part of this trilogy, though it's not nearly as strong nor as readable (even if you can find a copy of it).
I sincerely wish he had focused a little more on the Rat. Especially since I've already read Wild Sheep Chase and know what happens to him in that book.
I appreciate the Wild Sheep Chase's ending more, now that I've read the first two books in the series.Somehow, less is always more and Murakami still keeps up with his (annoying) habit of not revealing quite enough about his characters. Yet, this is what leaves me wondering at the end of each novel, so I am happy.
But seriously. I NEED TO READ MORE ABOUT THE RAT.
I appreciate the Wild Sheep Chase's ending more, now that I've read the first two books in the series.Somehow, less is always more and Murakami still keeps up with his (annoying) habit of not revealing quite enough about his characters. Yet, this is what leaves me wondering at the end of each novel, so I am happy.
But seriously. I NEED TO READ MORE ABOUT THE RAT.
Haruki Murakmi's second novel picks up with the same protagonist as Hear the Wind Sing, and (eventually) follows his quest to track down a rare Pinball machine that made a meaningful impression on his life, while The Rat struggles with love and finding a way forward.
I don't quite love this one, but I do like it, and what a fantastic leap forward from the slog was Hear the Wind Sing. Murakami has a better grasp of his style here, a little more confidence in leading us to places that have the texture of the real world despite feeling wholly unreal. The start still meanders, but the meandering feels alive this time, and once it gains some traction I found myself wholly invested in the character's completely inconsequential quest. This character and The Rat would go on to feature in Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance, both of which I'd read in the past (and are disconnected enough that they can be read without either or both of these), and both of which I like quite a bit. Pinball, 1973 doesn't rank among my favorites of Murakami's work, but it's quite good.
2,5 stars. Not my favourite Murakami. I missed the surrealism a bit. After having finished the book I was simply asking myself if that was already it... I don't feel like I gained anything from this novel or that I will remember the story next year...or already next month...
While "Hear the Wind Sing" was a short little novella about the narrator's return to his hometown for a summer and moments therein, giving it a sort of cozy, nostalgic feel, "Pinball, 1973" takes place in the Autumn and has a darker, more disjointed feel.
The fact that all but 3 characters are unnamed makes it feel even more like I'm just floating along for the ride as the narrator flits back and forth between past and present, memory and feelings and current events. At the same time, he keeps things grounded in place and time by mentions of songs and bands ("That was 1961, by the Western calendar. The year Ricky Nelson sang 'Hello Mary Lou.'"). There's darkness, but there's also absurd things, non-sequitors, and in the end it's just a story of a moment in the life of two people, and the people they surround themselves with.
I liked "Hear the Wind Sing" more, but this was good too
The fact that all but 3 characters are unnamed makes it feel even more like I'm just floating along for the ride as the narrator flits back and forth between past and present, memory and feelings and current events. At the same time, he keeps things grounded in place and time by mentions of songs and bands ("That was 1961, by the Western calendar. The year Ricky Nelson sang 'Hello Mary Lou.'"). There's darkness, but there's also absurd things, non-sequitors, and in the end it's just a story of a moment in the life of two people, and the people they surround themselves with.
I liked "Hear the Wind Sing" more, but this was good too
I’m starting to learn Murakami’s novels either have a confusing plot but compelling story, or a confusing plot and lack of story. This seems to be a compilation of chapters about two characters. One of which seems to reflect the author’s weird (and sexual?) fantasies and maybe his love for pinball.
If this was not part of the rat series I would not recommend it at all. I was able to read through it because the characters are introduced in other books, and so I’m already acquainted with their story, but I was unable to find a hidden meaningful aspect to it.
The only great thing about this book is that it’s a short quick read.
If this was not part of the rat series I would not recommend it at all. I was able to read through it because the characters are introduced in other books, and so I’m already acquainted with their story, but I was unable to find a hidden meaningful aspect to it.
The only great thing about this book is that it’s a short quick read.
“Aren’t you lonely?”
“I’m used to it. I trained myself.”
“I’m used to it. I trained myself.”
A certified Haruki Murakami banger, and absolutely insane that this is his second ever book, because it almost feels like an apotheosis of the themes he's spent his career writing about.
Pinball is thematically focused (in a manner more explicit and intentional than anything else I've read by Murakami) on ephemerality, the weird and almost paradoxical way in which the important things in our life, up to and including our life itself, sort of drift away like dust on a breeze, as well as the way in which small, simple, ephemeral things end up imbued with a great deal of importance and significance. The way that important people can just drift in and out of your life without ceremony, the way you can know someone for years and care about them without really ever getting to know them, the amount our memory anchors to things as trivial as a song, a smell, a pinball table, it's just an absolutely magical encapsulation of the anti-drama of real life. Not everything that matters in life is given the weight of fiction, Murakami argues. Sometimes stuff just sorta... drifts in and out.
Also, while this book is definitely rife with the usual Murakami-isms about women (all of them are barely fleshed-out characters whose narrative purpose is to drift on a spectrum between Sexual and Mysterious), it is unique in being the first Murakami book, if not book, I've read where the narrator seems to want to fuck a pinball table. So, y'know. Neat!
Pinball is thematically focused (in a manner more explicit and intentional than anything else I've read by Murakami) on ephemerality, the weird and almost paradoxical way in which the important things in our life, up to and including our life itself, sort of drift away like dust on a breeze, as well as the way in which small, simple, ephemeral things end up imbued with a great deal of importance and significance. The way that important people can just drift in and out of your life without ceremony, the way you can know someone for years and care about them without really ever getting to know them, the amount our memory anchors to things as trivial as a song, a smell, a pinball table, it's just an absolutely magical encapsulation of the anti-drama of real life. Not everything that matters in life is given the weight of fiction, Murakami argues. Sometimes stuff just sorta... drifts in and out.
Also, while this book is definitely rife with the usual Murakami-isms about women (all of them are barely fleshed-out characters whose narrative purpose is to drift on a spectrum between Sexual and Mysterious), it is unique in being the first Murakami book, if not book, I've read where the narrator seems to want to fuck a pinball table. So, y'know. Neat!