Pinball

Pinball, 1973 is Murakami's second novel, available for the first time in English outside Japan. With a new introduction by the author.

Pinball, 1973 picks up three years after the events of Murakami's debut novel, Hear the Wind Sing. The narrator 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.

Review: 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 * Observer *
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 * Evening Standard *
Wind/Pinball is a fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master * Economist *
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 * The Times Literary Supplement *
quintessential Murakami... an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation -- Guardian * Hannah Beckerman *
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 * Travel Guide *
Early Murakami isn't Murakami-in-the-making, it's already and entirely Murakami -- Ian Sansom * Guardian *
bizarre and often surreal, these stories act as an intriguing exploration into Murakami's wacky mind and thought processes * Herald *
Wind/Pinball makes a great introduction to Murakami for new readers, and is a real treat for long-time fans -- Brendan Wright * Nudge *
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 * Skinny *