Pinball by Haruki Murakami

Pinball, published in 1980 by Japanese author Haruki Murakami is the second book in the "Trilogy of the Rat" series. It is preceded by Hear the Wind Sing and followed by A Wild Sheep Chase and is the second novel written by Murakami.

The theme continues into Pinball 1973 which takes place three years after Hear the Wind Sing. This virtually plotless book alternates between describing the life of the narrator and that of his friend, The Rat.

It tells the tale around 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 with. He works from ten to four in a comfortable office and earns a generous amount of money. Despite this, the narrator seems bored and somewhat dissatisfied with his life.

The Rat still doesn’t know what to do with his life. He’s mulled over it and lost sleep at night thinking about it. At the end, still uncertain about what to do but tired of his current life, the Rat decides to leave his hometown behind.

To quote the book, “Every day was a carbon copy of the last. You needed a bookmark to tell one from the other.” Perhaps Murakami is trying to declare that all paths of life come with discontent. Whether one goes the “normal” way by graduating college and getting a job like a narrator or if one tries to "forge" their path like the Rat. It seems everyone feels regret for their choices at some point.

My verdict- The book is good to read, if you have already read and understood the first part (i.e. Hear the Wind Sing (For review read the previous blog post)).

Quotes from the book

“So many dreams, so many disappointments, so many promises. And in the end, they all just vanish.”

“If you look at things from a distance, most anything looks beautiful.”

“There are — how do you say — things in this world our philosophy cannot account for.”

“Happiness is a warm friendship.”

“Things that come out of nowhere go back to nowhere, that's all.”