Pinball, 1973

Description

Published in 1980 by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973 is the second book in the Trilogy of the Rat series. It is preceded by Hear the Wind Sing (1979) and followed by A Wild Sheep Chase (1982) and is the second novel written by Murakami. 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. He describes living with a pair of identical unnamed female twins, who mysteriously appear in his apartment one morning, and disappear at the end of the book. Interspersed with the narrative are his memories of the Japanese student movement, and of his old girlfriend Naoko. The plot alternates between describing the life of narrator and that of his friend, The Rat.