‘Wind/Pinball’ is a collection of the very first two novels by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. ‘Hear the Wind Sing’ and ‘Pinball, 1973’ are two short novels, which are more like novellas than novels. ‘Pinball, 1973’ is the sequel to ‘Hear the Wind Sing’. ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’ follows ‘Pinball, 1973’ as the third part of the so-called ‘Trilogy of the Rat’. Much later, Murakami wrote ‘Dance Dance Dance’, which is a direct sequel to ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’. But, it is not considered as part of a tetralogy.

Being the first two of his books, Murakami himself considers ‘Wind/Pinball’ as somewhat immature and flimsy. This edition of the ‘Wind/Pinball’ comes with a narration from Murakami himself where he tells how he was inspired to write a novel while watching a baseball game. He mentions ‘Wind/Pinball’ as his kitchen-table novels. Fans of Murakami will find this section as an insight on how the author feels about his own works. I remember getting the same feeling when I read ‘What I Talk about When I Talk about Running’.

Murakami wasn’t eager to do a translation of his first two works. It was in 2015 when the English translations became widely available. Until then, he didn’t feel his earlier works were worthy of translation. He finds ‘A Wild Sheep Chase’, the third of a trilogy, a more worthwhile work.

Yes, the first two novels are considered as Murakami’s poorer works. They are not extraordinary, but not ordinary either. As a stand-alone work, ‘Hear the Wind Sing’ can be considered weak. But, continuing to ‘Pinball, 1973’, it gets more meaning. Even the author can be seen growing through the pages. The number of pages of both novellas is close, but the contents are not. Significant increase in words can be seen as you move on to the later pages.

‘Wind/Pinball’ will give readers a first look into what makes a Murakami work. The extraordinary woman, the bar, lonesome guy, jazz, student unrest _ all that are part of Murakami are present from his very first works.

About the story, other than gulping through his writing prose, I couldn’t make much sense of ‘Hear the Wind Sing’. It is about an unnamed narrator and his friend called ‘Rat’. Moving on to ‘Pinball, 1973’, it all came gushing in what Murakami was trying to compose. It is about what every person goes through at some part of their lives, even at least for a moment. It is about finding who you are and who you should be.

Though less renowned, ‘Wind/Pinball’ made quite a contribution to my quotes notebook. Every word of it is worth a read for a Murakami fan. Although the sequels to ‘Wind/Pinball’ can be read as stand-alones, it is never enough.

“On any given day, something can come along and steal our hearts.” – Pinball, 1973.