Wind / Pinball Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 (Two Novels)

More than anyone, Haruki Murakami invented 21st-century fiction. . . . He is the novelist of our mash-up epoch. . . . Murakami s atomic sensibility characterizes world literature."  The New York Times Book Review

Powerful, unsettling, mature novels. . . . Murakami gives his characters' quirks a humanizing legitimacy. Chicago Tribune
 
Early Murakami isn t Murakami-in-the-making, it s already and entirely Murakami. The Guardian
 
Both books have that unique blend of melancholy and beauty that Murakami manages so well; they are mysterious, moreish. . . . What stands out . . . is the writing, beautiful in its simplicity, and also the deadpan humour and one-liners. . . . The dialogue is sparklingly clever, drunkenly witty. The Independent

A fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master. . . . Signals that would become familiar in Mr Murakami s fiction make an early appearance: characters alienated by society and afflicted by loneliness and ennui; quotidian detail that is, by turn, banal and fascinating; musical references; supernatural undertones; dark dreams and black humour. The Economist
 
Murakami's trademark postmodernist flourishes abound . . . and never fail to surprise and delight. O, The Oprah Magazine

Short, darkly magical coming-of-age tales. Elle
 
Indispensable. . . . There is evidence of the themes, motifs and yes, obsessions, that would come to infuse his later books. The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg)
 
An invaluable addition to the canon. Toronto Star
 
A great treat both for Murakami enthusiasts and for the more casually interested reader. . . . A pair of early literary excursions that are never less than insightful and intelligent; brisk and diverting; unusual and transporting. The National (UAE)
 
The writing and, above all, Murakami s way of making emotionally resonant images and symbols bump around on the page, and in one s mind, remains fresh, miraculously, more than 35 years on. Evening Standard