Book Review: Hear the Wing Sing/Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami (Originally published in 1979 and 1980)

The odd "one book is always upside down" design of the 2016 edition of Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973, by Haruki Murakami.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

Japanese author Haruki Murakami has fashioned a career as one of the most critically acclaimed novelists of the past 45 years. Murakami’s career began with two short novellas, Hear the Wind Sing (1979) and Pinball, 1973 (1980). The two novellas were collected in one volume published by Vintage International in 2016. I had heard of Murakami’s work for a long time, but what really sparked my interest was a presentation on Murakami by one of my students when I was teaching 10th grade World History. The student relayed Murakami’s story about the moment he decided he should write a novel: when he saw American baseball player Dave Hilton hit a double. I thought, “Okay, that was the moment he decided to become a novelist? I need to read some of his work.” Murakami writes about that moment in the introduction, concluding that “All I can say is that my life was drastically and permanently altered in that instant—when Dave Hilton belted that beautiful, ringing double at Jingu Stadium.” (p.xi)  

Throughout Hear the Wind Sing, Murakami refers back to fictional American author Derek Hartfield, who committed suicide by jumping off the Empire State Building in 1938. Hartfield is not presented as a great author, but a mediocre stylist who nevertheless emerges with an interesting piece of advice for authors: “What would be the point of writing a novel about things everyone already knows?” (p.79)  

Murakami references my favorite author F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hear the Wind Sing when he quotes these famous lines from Fitzgerald’s essay “The Crack-Up": “The test of a first-rate intelligence is its ability to function while holding two opposite ideas at the same time.” Neither the unnamed narrator nor the character known as the Rat can remember who said that brilliant quote, unfortunately. 

Hear the Wind Sing is an unconventional novel, as there’s very little plot or character development. It’s a mood piece, creating a feeling of ennui and stasis. I enjoyed reading Hear the Wind Sing and settling into the mood of the book.  

Pinball, 1973 I found less successful. Hear the Wind Sing more convincingly breaks the conventions of literature. There is no real plot to speak of. Whereas in Pinball, 1973, there was just enough plot for me to be annoyed that it doesn’t go anywhere or do anything. Once again, there’s an unnamed narrator, and the Rat is again a character. It’s not entirely clear if the narrator of Pinball, 1973 is the same narrator as the one in Hear the Wind Sing, and it ultimately doesn’t seem to matter.  

The narrator of Pinball, 1973 lives with two gorgeous twins, who are literally indistinguishable from each other. It’s clear that the narrator is having sex with both of the twins, and the storyline is so ridiculous that it just comes off as a puerile masturbatory fantasy, like something that Norman Mailer or Philip Roth would have come up with and then discarded as too unbelievable. I thought it would have been funnier if the narrator wasn’t sleeping with either of the twins, but that’s just me. Because the twins are indistinguishable from each other, they offer no character development, and their defining character trait is their devotion to the narrator.  

The plot of Pinball, 1973 revolves around the narrator’s attempt to track down an old pinball machine that he was obsessed with playing. Spoiler alert: he tracks it down, but then doesn’t even play it! He just has an imaginary conversation with the machine. Of course, the pinball machine’s voice is feminine.  

The book design of Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 is too clever by half, as you have to flip the book upside down to read the second novella. It’s a gimmick that doesn’t serve any true purpose. 

Quibbles aside, I’d recommend Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball, 1973 to fans of Murakami’s who are interested in reading his first novellas. The book definitely sparked my interest in reading more of Murakami’s work.