First published 2015
The narrator returns from college to spend his summer break drinking beer at J's Bar with his friend the Rat. He starts a relationship with a girl who has nine fingers. Three years pass. The narrator moves to Tokyo where he works as a translator and lives with twin sisters who look identical. The Rat stays behind in their hometown, unable to leave despite wanting to escape both the place and his girlfriend. In Tokyo, the narrator becomes consumed by memories of playing pinball at J's Bar, specifically a three-flipper machine called the Spaceship. This obsession drives him to search the city for that exact model. Meanwhile he reflects on his failed relationships and the women from his past. The Rat remains trapped in the small town, struggling with his own romantic entanglements. Both men drift through their lives, connected by shared memories of the bar and their youth, yet separated by distance and time.
Genres: literary-fiction, friendship, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tokyo, Japan
Period: 20th-century
234 pages · Hardcover · Knopf