I love Haruki Murakami’s novels, and have ready everything of his that’s in print in English. His first two novels, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 were only published in Japan, even though they had english translations. As you can see from those links, they’re pretty rare and pricey.
Has anyone read them? Are they worth the inflated prices? Murakami has repeatedly said that he has no intention of releasing them in America, as he’s not very proud of them.
I haven’t read either, but you might like to know that you can order Hear the Wind Sing from Japan for much, much, much cheaper than 280$.
I got 'em at the Japanese-language bookstore in NY for a few bucks apiece. They were okay as I recall. I am a rabid HM fan, and they were worth reading to see how he got started but they are nowhere near the level of Norwegian Wood or his subsequent work…
I have a few English language first editions of his, but assume they don’t have much $$ value since they aren’t true firsts. I doubt I would invest much money in Murakami first editions until I had a sense of their market value…