WHETHER you’re a dedicated fan or an observer, there’s no escaping the fact that Haruki Murakami is everywhere. It seems every six months a new book or story of his appears and then that’s all that his dedicated readers talk about for months. It is a testament to his perennial popularity that even his earlier works are eagerly sought out and read.

It won’t be fair to appraise his early writing by comparison with his later works; but neither is it right to commend them just because they were penned by Murakami. When I opened Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973, two of Murakami’s early works translated for the first time in English, I was wary of my predisposed taste for Murakami’s absurd world and yet I managed to keep my expectations low. However, I found the book surprisingly fresh and captivating, despite the fact there isn’t much of a plot or an ostensible purpose and the dialogues feel rather raw.

Nevertheless, it is quite unlikely that these novellas will have quite the same resonance that his later works do, or that they will have the same playful, passionate style of writing that we adore. However, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are impressive pieces of writing in their own right, with glimpses of the breadth of themes, teasing exposition, daring perspective, and troubled protagonists that we have come to associate with Murakami. Having said that, I don’t believe this book (comprising both novellas) would be a good starting point for someone new to Murakami; Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase or Kafka on the Shore will be better for that purpose.

“His son had smeared milk chocolate or something all over the backseat, leaving what looked like bloodstains from a gunfight. Not a single one of his cassette tapes was any good, so we spent the entire hour-and-a-half trip in silence. The rain grew stronger, then weaker, then stronger, then weaker again, at regular intervals. A yawn-inducing sort of rain. ” — Excerpt from the book

Aimed at providing intense, vivid snapshots of an individual life caught in a whirlwind, and the existential quest for meaning and companionship, whether it is in the form of human love or a legendary gaming machine, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are about an unnamed narrator and his friend, the Rat, who hang out at J’s Bar. No characters have real names; we have J the bartender, the Rat, girl with nine fingers, the twins, the business partner, the secretary, to name a few.

In Hear the Wind Sing the protagonist is suffering from depression at the age of 20, he feels disjointed as if “his body was out of whack”. Throughout the novel he drinks lots of beer, has queer conversations and thinks about his past sexual partners. Then he meets a girl with nine fingers who is also depressed and hates everyone. His friend, the Rat, revels in his depression, drinks and muses about the futility of life. Although he had hitherto virtually never read a book, he develops a voracious reading habit and decides to become a writer. As a matter of fact, Murakami begins this short novel by making observations on writing, as an art as well as an escape from painful reality. The narrator declares that he finds the act of writing very painful despite the popular belief: “In the end, writing is not a full step toward self-healing, just a tiny very tentative move in that direction”.

When we open Pinball, 1973 — the second novella in this duo — four years have passed since the events of Hear the Wind Sing; our protagonist is now 24 years old, has moved to the city and set up a translation company with a friend. He lives with twins whom he can’t tell apart. His persistent depression and inability to forget the girl with nine fingers evoke the sad love story of Norwegian Wood. Unlike the first short novel, the protagonist has given up his search for companionship: “My face and soul were lifeless shells, of no significance to anyone”. He likes stories about faraway towns and loves to listen to others’ stories but he cannot escape one question: “Would I ever find a place that was truly mine? Where might it be?”

The Rat’s depression continues as he finds himself incapable of forgetting the woman he liked; “It appeared as though time had stopped for the Rat, as if all of a sudden its flow had been severed.” The latter half of Pinball, 1973 shows his growing obsession, “that piece of junk that offers dead time in return for small change” and is also known as Pinball, which leads him to go on a quest for an obsolete model. “The goal of pinball is self-transformation, not self-expression, ego expansion, or analysis you’re after, the tilt light will exact its unsparing revenge”, writes Murakami.

It isn’t hard to find many of his recurring motifs: classical music, wells, whisky, crazy conversations, strange characters with even stranger names, and a fair number of cats, dogs and birds. Moreover, we find Murakami already experimenting with intertextuality and cross-genre writing. There is no overwhelming reading experience; it’s a day-long drizzle which refuses to become rain, or a leisurely walk with no goal in mind except the walk itself — and that is the beauty of Murakami. Strong imagery, smooth transitions and sad observations give this book a melancholy atmosphere: “On any given day, something can come along and steal our hearts ... There are wells, deep wells, dug in our hearts. Birds fly over them.”

Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 reveal a daring writer questioning the traditional narration as well as characterisation. Although not as strange or mindboggling as his later works, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 exhibit an atmospheric quality that has become one of the identifying features of Murakami’s unique writing style. 

The reviewer is an Ankara-based freelance writer and critic.

Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973

(TRANSLATED WORKS)

By Haruki Murakami

Translated by Ted Goossen

Harvill Secker, UK

ISBN 978-1846558351

336pp.