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gabrielrobartes's review against another edition
4.0
The two early short novels themselves are entertaining and revealing for long term fans but the introduction by Murakami is just as fascinating.
babyintoyland's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Not my favorite Murakami, but still good. Yes, he writes women blandly, yes he talks about breasts way too much, and yes, if you read too deep into his characters they can appear pretentious. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad or shallow necessarily. The man knows how to paint a picture and for a debut? It’s a pretty excellent example into what his work would evolve into as he developed as a writer.
heathergstl's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
ovaltineplease's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookishbrainfart's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
marioliv72's review against another edition
2.0
Ganda seca meu 😭 só homens que passam o dia a beber cerveja e a fumar
book_cryptid's review against another edition
3.25
don't have much to say, except that this is the perfect book to read at the end of summer, preferably by the sea somewhere.
based on what i've read so far, murakami has a beautiful way of choosing just a few themes for a book, and then really building on those themes throughout the story. in these two stories, i'd say the themes were writing, summer, silence, and change and meaning in our lives.
i also love the paragraphs murakami writes, that you can't help but underline in their entirety, and it's one, long, beautiful quote. i'm afraid there's quite a lot of them down below. please enjoy <3
it had seemed as though those sweet dreams of summer would last forever. then one summer (when had it been?) the dreams had vanished, never to return.
one season had opened the door and left, while another had entered through a second door. you might run to the open door and call out, wait, there's something i forgot to tell you! but no one is there. when you close the door, you turn around to see the new season sitting in a chair, lighting up a cigarette. if you forgot to tell him something, he says, then why not tell me? i might pass the message along if i get the chance. no, that's all right, you say. it's no big deal. the sound of wind fills the room. no big deal. just another season dead and gone.
all things pass. none of us can manage to hold on to anything.
in that way, we live our lives.
each of us had all the troubles we could carry. they rained down on us from the sky, and we raced around in a frenzy to pick them up and stuff them in our pockets. why we did that stumps me, even now. maybe we thought they were something else.
on any given day, something can come along and steal our hearts. it may be any old thing. a miscellany of trivia with no home to call their own. lingering for two or three days, that something soo disappears, returning to the darkness. there are wells, deep wells, dug in our hearts. birds fly over them.
it feels strange somehow. like none of it really happened.
oh, it happened all right. but now it's gone.
does it make you sad?
no. there was something that came out of nothing, and now it's gone back to where it came from, that's all.
what we shared was no more than a fragment of a time long dead. yet memories remained, warm memories that remained with me like lights from the past/ and i would carry those lights in the brief interval before death grabbed me and tossed me back into the crucible of nothingness.
based on what i've read so far, murakami has a beautiful way of choosing just a few themes for a book, and then really building on those themes throughout the story. in these two stories, i'd say the themes were writing, summer, silence, and change and meaning in our lives.
i also love the paragraphs murakami writes, that you can't help but underline in their entirety, and it's one, long, beautiful quote. i'm afraid there's quite a lot of them down below. please enjoy <3
it had seemed as though those sweet dreams of summer would last forever. then one summer (when had it been?) the dreams had vanished, never to return.
one season had opened the door and left, while another had entered through a second door. you might run to the open door and call out, wait, there's something i forgot to tell you! but no one is there. when you close the door, you turn around to see the new season sitting in a chair, lighting up a cigarette. if you forgot to tell him something, he says, then why not tell me? i might pass the message along if i get the chance. no, that's all right, you say. it's no big deal. the sound of wind fills the room. no big deal. just another season dead and gone.
all things pass. none of us can manage to hold on to anything.
in that way, we live our lives.
each of us had all the troubles we could carry. they rained down on us from the sky, and we raced around in a frenzy to pick them up and stuff them in our pockets. why we did that stumps me, even now. maybe we thought they were something else.
on any given day, something can come along and steal our hearts. it may be any old thing. a miscellany of trivia with no home to call their own. lingering for two or three days, that something soo disappears, returning to the darkness. there are wells, deep wells, dug in our hearts. birds fly over them.
it feels strange somehow. like none of it really happened.
oh, it happened all right. but now it's gone.
does it make you sad?
no. there was something that came out of nothing, and now it's gone back to where it came from, that's all.
what we shared was no more than a fragment of a time long dead. yet memories remained, warm memories that remained with me like lights from the past/ and i would carry those lights in the brief interval before death grabbed me and tossed me back into the crucible of nothingness.
x0pherl's review against another edition
3.0
These early works by Murakami show some hints of the power of his later writing, but don't have the scope to deliver his full power.
While the two books are bundled together for obvious reasons, I regretted reading them back to back. I think I would have enjoyed Pinball better with some space after Hear the Wind Sing.
While the two books are bundled together for obvious reasons, I regretted reading them back to back. I think I would have enjoyed Pinball better with some space after Hear the Wind Sing.