Mr. Haruki Murakami calls this one a ‘Kitchen Table Novel’ and rightly so. In the introduction, he mentions it as "The Birth of My Kitchen Table Fiction," which describes his journey to becoming a great writer. This is Murakami’s first ever work, and hence you would get a flavor of Murakami’s style, but you would be left wanting for more. You would also see that this work of his is not as polished since he was just beginning to become a writer.
For people who are new to Murakami, they should know that this book is the First one, in a trilogy. The trilogy (which is actually called the ‘Rat Trilogy’), consists of below books in this order:
#1 Wind/Pinball
#2 A Wild Sheep Chase
#3 Dance Dance Dance
Both "Wind" (a random mess) and "Pinball, 1973" (slightly more promising) feature an unnamed protagonist, and his best friend "The Rat" (we don’t know why he’s called so), who smoke large quantities of Seven Stars cigarettes and drink beer and contemplate their love lives. No story, no narrative flow, just aimless, random thoughts on their places in the world. There’s also mention of a prominent place called J's bar, a drinking hole in Tokyo. Only "Pinball" has anything resembling a story, but it's just as frustrating as the first because, you can see glimpses of the Murakami we know and love, but the story abruptly ends with no resolution, just when things are finally starting to get somewhat interesting.
If you are a fan of Murakami’s and are interested in finding out how he started his writing career, then this little book is for you. "Wind/Pinball" features two novels which were the very first stories that Murakami wrote in his kitchen, late in the night. The stories are somewhat quirky, incoherent and plotless, and it's evident that they're written by an author starting out.
What I appreciated the most about this book was actually the foreword by Murakami himself, in which he - among other things - reveals how he came up with and developed his unique writing style. If you’re looking for a great story, avoid this one. However, if you’re Murakami fan, and would want to dig deeper into his first ever literary work, go ahead and pick this one. I would rate it a 3/5 only because I’m a Murakami fan, otherwise, I would have given it 1/5 or max 2/5. Cheers!
Overall Rating - 3/5
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