Pinball, 1973

Despite being an early work, Pinball shares many elements with Murakami's later novels. It describes itself in the text as "a novel about pinball," but also explores themes of loneliness and companionship, purposelessness, and destiny. As with the other books in the "Trilogy of the Rat" series, three of the characters include the protagonist, a nameless first-person narrator, his friend The Rat, and J, the owner of the bar where they often spend time.

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, who hanged herself. The plot alternates between describing the life of the narrator and that of his friend, Rat. Many familiar elements from Murakami's later novels are present. Wells, which are mentioned often in Murakami's novels and play a prominent role in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, occur several times in Pinball. There is also a brief discussion of the abuse of a cat, a plot element which recurs elsewhere in Murakami's fiction, especially in Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (in which the search for a missing cat is an important plotline). Rain and the sea are also prominent motifs.

In order of appearance in the story.

I / Protagonist - The narrator of the story, 24 years old. He is the co-founder of a translating company and he takes care of the twins. He is looking for a pinball machine named the three-flipper Spaceship.

Naoko - She is the deceased college girlfriend of the protagonist.

The twins - Completely identical, the protagonist awakens to both of them in his bed one morning. They do not reveal their names and live with the protagonist. It is mentioned multiple times that they make good coffee.

The Rat - The protagonist's friend from university, 25 years old. Rich university dropout, he seems to be stuck in time since the spring he quit school. He goes to J's bar daily.

The friend - The friend is the co-founder of the translating company. He translates from French. He also has a sick wife and a 3 year old son.

The girl - She is a young woman out of business school and an employee of the translating company. Described as having long legs and a sharp mind, she likes humming the song "Penny Lane".

J the bartender - J is a 45 year old Chinese man and he owns a bar where the protagonist and the Rat used to go frequently during their university days. The Rat still goes daily.

The repairman - The repairman is from a phone company and he shows up at the protagonist's apartment to replace his switch panel.

The girl with long hair - She lived above the protagonist in university, until she dropped out of school. The protagonist would often answer phone calls that were intended for her.

The woman - The woman and the Rat are in a casual relationship and see each other once a week. She is a 27 year old architect.

The Spanish instructor - He is a university Spanish instructor and a pinball machines junkie. He helps the protagonist on his quest to find the three-flipper Spaceship.

The doctor - She is a woman in her fifties. She helps the protagonist regain hearing.

Pinball 1973, as well as the Rat Trilogy in general, introduces themes known today as classic Murakami tropes such as the appearance of the uncanny into the mundane.[1] The narrative, detached from the tangible world and highly introspective, sets a surreal tone for the novel, in which the narrator seems to find little unusual about such things as living with twins whom he cannot distinguish and whose names he does not know, or performing a funeral for a telephone circuit box. The novel also hints vaguely at supernatural occurrences (which often appear in Murakami's fiction), for instance with the anthropomorphic presence of the three-flipper Spaceship pinball machine.[1]

Similar to many of Murakami's other novels, the protagonist is a detached, apathetic character whose deadpan demeanor stands either in union or, more often, starkly in contrast with the attitudes of other characters. He confesses in the novel that he is at a stage in life where he copes with a meaningless routine by "wanting nothing more". However, the protagonist's calmness appears to be a protection against the loss he went through in the first novel of the trilogy, which explains his attitude of detachment.

Furthermore, there is an overall sense of melancholia that follows the protagonist in Pinball 1973.[2] This emotional state is established early on as he explains that there is sometimes a strange feeling that comes over him, a feeling as if he is splitting into pieces.[2] Shadows of his past keep following him as he is trying to move on. He expresses himself often on Naoko and her family, and travels to a train station she had described to him in an attempt to mourn.[2] There is also in a sense the loss of the Rat, who is still alive and present in the story, but not in contact with the protagonist anymore. The pinball machine is a direct reference to both Naoko and the Rat, and therefore to a life he will never find back.[2]

• Akutagawa Prize - nominated
• Noma Literary Newcomer's Prize - nominated

• Murakami, Haruki (4 August 2015). Wind/Pinball: Two Novels. Translated by Ted Goossen. ISBN 978-0-385-35212-3.