Wind/Pinball: Two novels

by Haruki Murakami Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels-Hear the Wind Sing*and*Pinball, 1973-that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time.

These powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age-the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat-are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. They bear all the hallmarks of Murakami's later books, and form the first two-thirds, with*A Wild Sheep Chase, of the*trilogy of the Rat.*

Widely available in English for the first time ever, newly translated, and featuring a new introduction by Murakami himself,*Wind/Pinball*gives us a fascinating insight into a great writer's beginnings.

Editorial Reviews

OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile

An existentially adrift man and his overly critical friend spend much of their free time at a bar, hunting conversationally for meaning. A woman overflowing with mistrust and resentment finds a reason to smile. WIND/PINBALL are Murakami’s earliest novels (novellas, actually), and longtime fans might notice this in their pacing or style, but Kirby Heyborne’s delivery skillfully smoothes out any rough edges. His performance of The Rat’s diatribes, fueled by doubt and cynicism, contrasts believably with the unnamed narrator’s search for what once existed. (Over time, he tells us, things become “irreparably different” from what they were.) As portrayed by Heyborne, Murakami’s trademark detached, introspective characters, familiar even in these early works, are brought expertly and memorably to life—with bankrupt regard for life’s tangles intact. N.J.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Library Journal

03/15/2015
Murakami is more popular than you ever imagined; 3.25 million copies of his 16-book backlist are in readers' hands, and Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage has sold upwards of 86,000 copies, having debuted last fall as No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list. Here, the publisher releases two major early works—prequels to A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance—nearly 30 years out of print, newly translated, and together in a single volume with an exclusive introductory essay by the author.

OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile

An existentially adrift man and his overly critical friend spend much of their free time at a bar, hunting conversationally for meaning. A woman overflowing with mistrust and resentment finds a reason to smile. WIND/PINBALL are Murakami’s earliest novels (novellas, actually), and longtime fans might notice this in their pacing or style, but Kirby Heyborne’s delivery skillfully smoothes out any rough edges. His performance of The Rat’s diatribes, fueled by doubt and cynicism, contrasts believably with the unnamed narrator’s search for what once existed. (Over time, he tells us, things become “irreparably different” from what they were.) As portrayed by Heyborne, Murakami’s trademark detached, introspective characters, familiar even in these early works, are brought expertly and memorably to life—with bankrupt regard for life’s tangles intact. N.J.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169466959
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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