PINBALL 1973, true English language first edition published by Kodansha in Japan. This item is unavailable.PINBALL 1973, true English language first edition published by Kodansha in Japan

Wraps (PB) in near fine condition with few tiny darkened spots top page edges. Dust jacket in near fine condition with slight rubbing to upper right corner and right edge. Published in Japan for domestic readers who wanted to improve their English. First edition in English of this early novel by Murakami. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum. 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. The plot alternates between describing the life of narrator and that of his friend, The Rat. 215 pages with notes.