HARUKI MURAKAMI / PINBALL, 1973
HARUKI MURAKAMI / PINBALL, 1973
Despite being an early work, "Pinball, 1973" shares many elements with Murakami's later novels. It describes itself in the text as "a novel about pinball," but also explores themes of loneliness and companionship, purposelessness, and destiny. As with the other books in the "Trilogy of the Rat" series, three of the characters include the protagonist, a nameless first-person narrator, his friend The Rat, and J, the owner of the bar where they often spend time. The plot centers on the narrator's brief but intense obsession with pinball, his life as a freelance translator, and his later efforts to reunite with the old pinball machine that he used to play. Many familiar elements from Murakami's later novels are present. Wells, which are mentioned often in Murakami's novels and play a prominent role in "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle", occur several times in Pinball. There is also a brief discussion of the abuse of a cat, a plot element which recurs elsewhere in Murakami's fiction, especially "Kafka on the Shore" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" (in which the search for a missing cat is an important plot line). Rain and the Sea are also prominent motifs.
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