Some thoughts on "Wind/Pinball" by Haruki Murakami

I am a big fan of Haruki Murakami's writing. Although I've only read a handful of his books so far, I haven't come across one that didn't completely suck me in. I just finished reading "Hear the Wind Sing" and "Pinball, 1973" (often referred to together as "Wind/Pinball"), which were Murakami's first two novels, although perhaps "novellas" is a more precise term as they are individually quite short.

Though it is not generally considered comparable to his later and more famous works in terms of quality, reading "Wind/Pinball" can nevertheless be an interesting experience for an established Murakami fan. Below I've set out some thoughts I had while reading the book (warning: here be spoilers).

Quality

A lot of the reviews I read about "Wind/Pinball" online are quite critical of its disjointed, rambling storyline and its flat characters. And, honestly, I think some of those criticisms are valid. "Wind" doesn't seem to have much of a coherent plot, and most of the meaningful action in "Pinball" happens very close to the end. The characters aren't particularly well developed either. The Rat seems like an interesting character and clearly goes through a transformation of some kind in "Pinball", but we only really see it from a distance; we never learn much about what goes on inside his head (other than that he is quite clearly depressed).

Apparently even Murakami did not want the English translations of these novels to be published because he considered them to be of a lesser quality. I'm glad they were published, but I do think it's evident that "Wind/Pinball" was Murakami's first serious attempt at writing and it lacks a lot of the depth and polish of his later works.

It's not all bad though! The second half of "Pinball" is really quite good and more reminiscent of Murakami's later works. Interestingly, I thought the very first chapter of "Wind" was gripping in a way that I would not expect from Murakami. It has a kind of "punchiness" that reminds me more of Kurt Vonnegut. Personally I thought "Wind" started well but soon waned, and the writing didn't really pick up until the second half of "Pinball". And when that happened, it was like reading a different author.

Murakami motifs

For someone who has read a number of Murakami's books already, probably the most interesting thing about "Wind/Pinball" is finding those little references to objects and themes that would go on to feature more heavily in his later works. A lot of these are minor "props" that are kind of constantly hanging around in the background of his novels: cats, spaghetti, jazz records and so on. Others go on to play a more central role in future stories; as a huge fan of "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" I enjoyed witnessing an early manifestation of Murakami's fascination with wells.

Beyond the physical, there are some references in "Wind/Pinball" to things being "off" in some vague sense, like the universe has become subtly and inexplicably out of sync. Near the end of "Wind", the narrator describes experiencing some of the pleasant sounds and sensations of summer, but concludes:

> But none of these were the way they once had been; they were all somehow off, as if copied with tracing paper that kept slipping out of place.

"Wind" doesn't explore this concept any further, at least not explicitly. It just hangs there on its own, almost like an afterthought. But to me, this is the epitome of Murakami's dreamy, surrealist style.

The narration in "Wind/Pinball" also bounces between two perspectives: that of the unnamed narrator (written in the first person), and that of the Rat (written in the third person). This is another stylistic feature that features prominently in later works like "Kafka on the Shore" and "Hard-Boiled Wonderland". I think it's used to better effect in those books than it is here.

A while ago, I watched a video produced by the National Gallery of Ireland about the career of Piet Mondrian, the Dutch artist most famous for his grid-like abstract paintings characterised by vertical and horizontal lines and simple blocks of colour. Mondrian's earliest works looked nothing like these abstracts; rather, they were mostly landscapes, depicting factories, windmills and other common scenes from Dutch life. But even in these paintings you can find early evidence of the style for which Mondrian would eventually become so well known. In "The Royal Wax Candle Factory", for example, the scene of a factory beside a river is composed of distinct blocks of colour, and several chimneys (and their reflections) help to divide the canvas into a grid of sorts.

Reading "Wind/Pinball" was a similar experience for me. At a glance, it looks different to Murakami's later works, but look closely and you can see the genesis of many of the motifs for which he has since become so well-known.

Hoarding

To me, "Wind/Pinball" ("Pinball" in particular) is about letting go of the past and accepting that memories are enough--and even if they're not, they're all we have.

I'm currently preparing to move to a different country, and for logistical reasons we're trying to bring as little with us as we can get away with. At the same time, my mother is planning on selling the house I grew up in, in order to move somewhere smaller. All this means that it's time to (finally) get rid of some of the masses of stuff I've accumulated over the course of my 30+ years. But it's hard! I'm a total hoarder at heart. Every burned CD, dusty video game or scribbled-on scrap of paper brings back memories of times enjoyed with friends and family years ago. Some of those people I don't know any more. Some of them are on the other side of the world and, sadly, some of them are no longer with us at all.

The unnamed narrator's struggle to say goodbye to the three-flipper Spaceship and the switch panel, and the Rat's struggle to leave town, resonated with me. Keeping old junk around doesn't actually let us hold on to the past, and throwing it away doesn't mean we're throwing away our memories.

And so, for all its flaws, "Wind/Pinball" may have given me the perspective I need to finally clean out my old room!

Some thoughts on "Wind/Pinball" by Haruki Murakami was published on 2021-06-21

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