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A review by samarakroeger
Wind/ Pinball: Two Novels by Haruki Murakami
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
no wonder Murakami didn't win that debut novelist award. I can see why these remained out of print for ~30 years -- they're just not very good novellas. They're not that bad, either, to be fair. The Murakami bingo card would almost certainly have at least two bingos on it.
I actually liked Hear the Wind Sing more than Pinball, 1973, despite the utter lack of plot, concerning characterization of women, and the lack of an ending. The twins? Hard pass from me, dog.
I'm also pretty confident that these are mediocre translations -- maybe they'd have been more captivating if Philip Gabriel or Jay Rubin retranslated them.
I actually liked Hear the Wind Sing more than Pinball, 1973, despite the utter lack of plot, concerning characterization of women, and the lack of an ending. The twins? Hard pass from me, dog.
I'm also pretty confident that these are mediocre translations -- maybe they'd have been more captivating if Philip Gabriel or Jay Rubin retranslated them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, and Sexism