In the spring of a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write The result two remarkable short novelsmdashHear the Wind SingandPinball mdashthat launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time These powerful at times surreal works about two young men coming of agemdashthe unnamed narrator and his friend the Ratmdashare stories of loneliness obsession and eroticism They bear all the hallmarks of Murakamirsquos later books and form the first two-thirds withA Wild Sheep Chase of thetrilogy of the Rat Widely available in English for the first time ever newly translated and featuring a new introduction by Murakami himselfWindPinballgives us a fascinating insight into a great writerrsquos beginnings
