Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

I found it hard to get into this one, probably in part due to the small pockets of time I had available to read, but while on holiday I had the chance to put more time in and halfway through Wind I found my stride. Of the two books I much preferred Pinball, which I would rate higher than Wind, and now feel like I want to go back and read Wild Sheep Chase to see if I get a different perspective knowing some back-story of the Rat.

These two short novels are Murakami's first works. “Wind” (actually, “Hear the Wind Sing,”) didn't grab me, but “Pinball, 1973” did. Both feature the narrator and his friend Rat who frequent a bar owned by J (which is perhaps Murakami's own bar, as that's what he did when he wrote these stories). Rat has woman troubles in both books and the narrator is at perpetual loose-ends, although he seems to come to equilibrium by the end of Pinball when he gets the wax cleaned out of his ears!