Tag: the Rat

Pinball, 1973

by Derelict Space Sheep on June 4, 2022 in 42 Word Retrospectives • 0 Comments

Pinball, 1973

by Haruki Murakami (Kodansha International, 1980); trans. Ted Goossen; audiobook read by Kirby Heyborne (Random House Audio, 2015)

In volume two of the Rat tetralogy, Murakami renews his commitment to dressing up shallow student nihilism as intellectual profundity. The contemplative simplicity of prose, the bleakness of the narrator’s mindset and the banality of subject matter combine alluringly, only to deceive.

Hear the Wind Sing

by Derelict Space Sheep on July 5, 2021 in 42 Word Retrospectives • 0 Comments

Hear the Wind Sing

by Haruki Murakami (Kodansha International, 1979); trans. Ted Goossen; audiobook read by Kirby Heyborne (Random House Audio, 2015)

The narrator looks back on when he was a 21-year-old student of little interest to anyone. Murakami, rather like Vonnegut, writes what may or may not be deadpan literary satire. Narrator Kirby Heyborne does his best to make it all sound meaningful.