Some time ago he published a picture of a field of sheep , seemingly ordinary . Hidden in this picture was a sheep , one with a cream star on its back , which was far from ordinary . A sheep utterly unknown by the world . Our nameless main character is ordered to find the sheep , put under threats to his job and material life . With his girlfriend , a woman whose ears possesses the power of zen satori ( momentary enlightenment ) , he embarks on a journey across Japan and through the levels of his consciousness . The goal he approaches becomes more personal than physical , and what he finds in the end is not at all what he was looking for in the beginning . Along his search for the sheep he meets people who have encountered the sheep in their lives . The sheep has profoundly changed the life of everyone it has touched . When the sheep is in a person ( for that is what it does , it takes control of people ; using them to its own sheepish ends , ) they can do no wrong . They experience leaps and bounds in every aspect of their lives and unbelievable satisfaction , happiness and success . When the sheep leaves them , they are destroyed . They spend the remainder of their often short lives searching desperately for the sheep , trying to re-gain the perfection their lives had during its presence , recapture their lost enlightenment . Many readers of this book believe that the sheep symbolizes zen enlightenment , as the sheep possessed characters often demonstrate these characteristics . This contrasts sharply with the author's estrangement from his own culture which can be seen by his characters ' surprising Americaness , so we are left to wonder why he has based a book around an idea as Japanese as enlightenment . All characters touched by the sheep in Murakami's novel are hurt by it ; he may be suggesting a different approach to life , something our modern consciousness can better reconcile with . A different way to find happiness . Perhaps zen enlightenment is too difficult and unrealistic a path for humans , with all our flaws , to pursue . Perhaps we need a path that focuses on embracing the present in the face of an uncertain future instead of demanding our faith in the unknown . A goal that Murakami expresses as unreachable save through supernatural , and possibly corrupted help ( the sheep ) is perhaps not the path he is recommending to the reader . Through the course of his search , the main character slowly sheds his material possessions and gains a sense of intuition which he did not have in the beginning of the book . He goes from having a very extrinsic personality to having true intrinsic understanding . This could be viewed as a progression along both / either the path of zen enlightenment or existentialism , philosophies in both of which the character embraces their life for what it is and rejects the false appearances of the world . Something Kundera would call stripping away the kitsch . The last person we meet who was touched by the sheep , the sheepman , finds the strength , ( or weakness , in this case they are the same ) to reject the sheep from himself . He is too weak to give up the simple pleasures of his life for the greater ideals offered him by the sheep . He is strong enough to resist its lure . Thus instead of embracing a philosophy which focuses on the pain in life and on death , he chooses to embrace his own life . He states that he was too weak to give up his life , too in love with the world to let the sheep take over . His weakness in this way becomes his strength . And he is able to attain true happiness unlike other sheeped characters . Perhaps the only strength of humankind in general is our weakness , and we do not have the moral fiber it takes to pursue the sheep . Even the title , A Wild Sheep Chase implies that the sheep is something which cannot be caught , that perhaps does not exist at all ( a wild goose chase ) . Instead of following the sheep the main character embraces his life for what it is , all the suffering and pain , but all the beauty at the same time . Despite the meaninglessness of it he finds point in living . In the end having nothing left in his life he sits on a beach to cry , but possibly less over his lost life than over what Camus would call the gentle indifference of the world . This is an existentialist awakening . He could , at this point , be considered an existentialist hero . He has discovered that the meaning in his life lays not in what he does with it , or in some greater truth beyond it , but in himself , and in his love of the world around him . In the end the main character has lost everything in his life , and though he cries it could be said that he is , at last , truly happy .
001 4 . . . and I use the term freak in the most reverent of ways . I also use it to describe the author ; because while the main character is a freak in his own right , he's one of an entirely different caliber .
A Wild Sheep Chase takes us to Tokyo Japan ' round 1980 and dumps us into the sharp but entirely unexercised , and increasingly apathetic mind of our 30 year old ( male ) main character . Funny , I just checked the book because I couldn't remember his name . I couldn't find it . I may be wrong , but I don't know if the author gives him one .
Anyway . . .
Newly divorced , incessantly smoking , and always musing in very interesting ways about largely uninteresting things , I found myself pulled into this novel immediately . We soon find ourselves embroiled in an epic and supernatural mystery with only a half-tank of gas . When tasked by an uber-powerful businessman to find a certain certain one-of-a-kind sheep or face financial ruin ( if not death ) , our adventurer shruggingly agrees , and half-heartedly pursues .
The slurring pace of this book , filled with philosophical musings , David Lynch like weirdos , and a spattering of phenomenon , was a rare treat for me .
Murakami is a wonderfully gifted creative writer . His prose ( even though translated ) is at once elegantly crafted and playful . I recommend this book highly .
Christian Hunter
Santa Barbara , California
002 4 The genius of Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase ( like the genius of his other works ) is the total believability of his characters and plot . Everyone who reads this work is immediately engrossed and sucked in , and only realizes how truly bizarre the whole thing is when they try to tell someone else about the book .
The narrator of Sheep Chase begins as something of an Everyman . His mate leaves him , his job pays him well but isn't very satisfying , he is intelligent but little in his life seems to stimulate him to thought . You wouldn't say he is going through life with blinders on , but nor is his life totally examined , either . Life is , more or less , something that is just happening to him . You could probably think of a dozen people you know who would easily fit his character .
Still , this is a Murakami novel , after all , and pretty soon he is , in the words of Tolkein , simply swept away , a stranger in a strange land with no idea of how he got there . A perfectly ordinary photo that he uses in a brochure catches the attention of a powerful political figure , The Boss , who has been inexplicably lying on the verge of death for some years , hanging on as if by some supernatural power . The photo , it's discovered , has a special sheep in it . A type of sheep who's breed does not exist . A minion of The Boss makes him an offer he cannot refuse : find that sheep . . .
He meets up with a young woman who , among other things , is a call girl for an exclusive members-only club , and does ear modeling on the side . Together , they set off to find this elusive sheep-that-doesn't-exist , all the while trailing the narrator's old friend , The Rat , who seems to always be one step ahead of them .
Much has been written about Murakami and Wild Sheep Chase , including that this work is a shining example of the postmodern novel . While this may be the case , potential readers shouldn't shy away from this book simply because they may not know a fig about postmodernism . Unlike other postmodern novels , which are often thickets of high rhetoric and voluminous nonsense , Wild Sheep Chase can be read on a multitude of levels : both as lit crit and as pure , enjoyable fiction . To read it strictly as one or the other is to do a great injustice to this work .
003 4 I enjoy Japanese authors , Kawabata , Dazai , Mishima . All very different in style , but all presenting serious work . So when I randomly picked this book up after seeing it was by a Japanese author , I really had no idea what I was getting into .
I more or less read it in one sitting because it's quirkiness grabbed me . A lot of people compare Haruki Murakami to Kurt Vonnegut . But I have to tell you , after reading nearly all of Vonnegut's work ( Excluding Happy Birthday Wanda June , and the two new books , Bagombo Snuff Box and God Bless You Dr Kavorkin ) , Vonnegut is a thousand times more lucid .
That isn't to say I didn't like A Wild Sheep Chase , it was bizzare , humorous , and at times touching ( when the protagonist visits the beach he used to hang out at , and finds that it has been filled in and there now sits pavement really affected me . ) And in many ways the non clarity could be considered a strength . When you have a story as absurd as this one , trying to explain the universe in which it is operating can cause it to just fall apart .
But I was also left with a feeling of , What the hell is this guy trying to say ? Then agian , does he really * have * to say anything ?
Interesting characters and extremly fun . I enjoyed it and would recommend A Wild Sheep Chase .
004 4 It's hard not to reach the end of Haruki Murakami's wonderfully entertaining A WILD SHEEP CHASE and not find yourself asking , What was THAT all about ? Sometimes hilarious , sometimes sad with loss , almost always quirky after the style of Kurt Vonnegut , Murakami's story line pulls you in and keeps you hooked with unexpected twists and turns that leave you as desperate as his nameless main character to learn the ovine truth .
On its face , the book is a combination mystery story , grail quest , and science fiction novel , laced with biting sarcasm . A perfectly regular young advertising executive is approached one day by a mysterious stranger concerning a photograph of sheep grazing in a mountain pasture that the agency used in an insurance company ad . Buried within the herd is one sheep of an unknown breed with a star-shaped birthmark on its back . Unbeknown to the young executive , he has transgressed some unmarked boundary and caught the attention of The Boss , an immensely rich Tokyo businessman and power broker . The mysterious stranger delivers an ultimatum from The Boss : find the sheep in one month and be exceedingly well-rewarded , or be forced into permanent career ruin if he fails . The balance of the book traces the quest of the young executive and his unusual girlfriend to find the sheep and discover its bizarre significance .
With A WILD SHEEP CHASE , Murakami has constructed a bizarre novel populated by an alcoholic business partner , a godlike mysterious stranger dressed in black , a girlfriend with uncanny sixth sense and ears that turn her into an irresistible beauty when exposed , a philosophizing chauffeur , a borderline psychotic Sheep Professor , and a man who lives in the woods and dresses like a sheep . All of the characters are nameless , at most given nicknames like The Boss , The Rat , J , and Sheep Man . Only the hero's aged and unnamed cat is bestowed with a name , Kipper , in the course of the story .
Fabulous imagery and clever prose riffs abound in Murakami's world . Consider the following small sampling :
- - Far off , someone was practicing piano . It sounded like tripping down an up escalator .
- - The elevator shook like a large dog with lung disease .
- - Occasionally , someone coughed with a dry rasp that sounded like a mummy tapped on the head with a pair of tongs .
- - The yellow glow of the light bulbs drifted about the room like pollen .
- - The house kept its own time , like the old-fashioned grandfather clock in the living room . People who happened by raised the weights , and as long as the weights were wound , the clock continued ticking away . But with people gone and the weights unattended , whole chunks of time were left to collect in deposits of faded life on the floor .
So what is the book really all about ? Perhaps it's a commentary about economic and emotional gain and loss in our lives , or maybe it's a parable about the existence of free will and how much more difficult it is to exercise than we think ( and how less often we really do it than we believe ) . Or possibly , it's a novel about individuality and mediocrity in Japanese society . Then again , it could be a protest against a powerful and homogenizing globalization that threatens to turn us all into nameless , unindividuated sheep . Of course , it could just be a silly , pseudo science fiction story without any meaning . Whatever - res ipsa loquitur , the thing speaks for itself .
A WILD SHEEP CHASE is a great read , fun and funny , full of memorable characters and pungent commentary about modern life . This is Murakami with a twist . Step up to the bar and take an unforgettable drink . And don't forget to write down God's phone number and give him a call .
005 4 I've never read a novel which passed between the mundane and the bizarre so easily . Once I accepted that a magical sheep with a star on its fleece could become an obsession to an absolutely normal lead character , I stepped into a world where anything could happen . And Murakami does not disappoint . And he never over-explains , either . The story is told simply , refreshingly bereft of any self-agonizing characters or deep dissection of events . The plot unfolds and the reader is left with absorbing its odd contents and memorable characters . Overall , a beautiful , reality-suspending novel written with a light touch .
006 4 This was the second of Murakami's books I've read ( previously read Sputnik Sweetheart ) and I can easily see myself becoming addicted as I have fought all urges to buy Dance Dance Dance before I work down my pile of previously purchased books .
Murakami is particularly gifted in working with imagery and symbolism which are the qualities that give this book its dreamlike atmosphere throughout . Everything takes on a feeling of unreality , as if we are walking through a waking nightmare which can turn disastrous or horrifying at any moment . I was reminded of my own nightmares where I struggle to speak or perform some act that increasingly seems impossible , or reach for a person or object that manages to remain just out of reach . When I wake from such nightmares I'm left bothered and questioning for the remainder of the night , sometimes days afterwards , questioning with nothing there to offer me solace or comfort . I analyze every angle and image and am often left with nothing but a mystery that will not leave me .
That's what A Wild Sheep Chase did to me .
What does it mean to be sheeped ? Who is The Rat ? What will become of the Sheep Proffessor ? Murakami seems content to not let us know . I'm perfectly willing to not know .
This book is not for you if you must have answers to all questions . I could attempt to make comparisons with other authors , but I feel he is unique ( to me at least ) . The only comparison I could make outside of literature is to say reading the book is like watching David Lynch attempting to be slightly more accesible - and I pray that never happens .
What remains is a feeling of a need to re-read , knowing there are mysteries that will reveal themselves in time and with patience . Meanwhile , I itch for more of his work . The titles need to be devoured .
007 4 I like this book very much because I couldn't help identifying with the central character who reminds me in some ways of Woody Allen's screen persona - a nerdish type loser of no particular physical attraction who has a way with words and who usually gets a very attractive woman to sleep with , though he spends most of his time rueing what he HASN'T got and is continually in search of that SOMETHING . This novel is about a quest . About dreams . And finally , about the realisation that life is about bugger all , so you'd better enjoy that friendship , that meal , that lovemaking , that scene , that memory , and relax a bit and have a laugh . There are laughs aplenty in this sly book , many of the laughs are in the details such as the scene where a very damaged black moggy cat sitting on the front seat of a distinguished limousine causes the Chauffer to lower the windows from time to time on account of the deletirious odour the cat emits from time to time in the form of brief but audible farts .
And I suppose , in our life we don't wander around the shopping mall thinking themes or great and noble thoughts but more like Why does that woman get into the 8 item express lane when she clearly has 11 items ? Incidentally , the novel is also a very likeable and satisfying read .
008 4 Haruki Murakami is modern-day Japan's most popular novelist . Both a literary success and a commercial success , Murakami has been the recipient of the Noma Literary Award for New Writers ( A Wild Sheep Chase ) and the Tanazaki Prize ( for The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World ) .
Murakami's fiction shares almost nothing in common with more classical Japanese authors like Kawabata , Mishima and Tanazaki , and early reviews compared his work to that of Raymond Carver , Thomas Pynchon , Raymond Chandler and Thomas Berger . Comparisons , however , are always unfair . Murakami is most definitely an original . The worlds he creates are his and his alone , and although he invites us to visit for awhile , only he can truly inhabit them .
Embracing Murakami's signature themes of isolation and alienation , A Wild Sheep Chase is part detective thriller , part allegory , part fantasy , and part post-modern send-up . It is thoroughly Western in both its outlook and writing style and thoroughly original by any standard .
Murakami , who is more likely to speak of the Beatles ( a book he titled Norwegian Wood remains his best seller in Japan ) and Heineken than of kabuki and sushi , takes us on a wild-and-woolly roller coaster ride in A Wild Sheep Chase that often modulates from deadpan minimalism to a kind of fantastic fantasy world reminiscent of magical realism wherein sheep inhabit men's souls , a woman possess ears so beguilingly beautiful that they must be perpetually covered and old friends often return as ghosts for no other reason than to share a beer and a chat .
A Wild Sheep Chase features a signature Murakami protagonist : a nameless , aimless , ordinary man , just about thirty and living an equally aimless , ordinary life in an essentially nonexistent Tokyo . In other words , Everyman . It is this talent of Murakami's to capture the everyday individual innuendo so easily and fully that endears him to the hearts and minds of both Japanese and Westerners alike . In fact , a signature Murakami protagonist could well be Charlie Brown all grown up - - a seemingly ordinary man caught up in extraordinary problems and one for whom nothing ever goes right ; the personification of Murphy's Law in the extreme .
This particular novel's protagonist has his sort of life interrupted with the unexpected arrival of something as seemingly innocent , innocuous and mundane as an advertising photo of a field of sheep , sent to him by his old friend , the Rat .
When the narrator makes the mistake of printing the photo in a newsletter , he then draws the unwanted attention of a singularly sinister stranger currently in the employ of the Boss , a powerful political and financial magnate who is now lying near death and whose extraordinary avocational abilities are somehow derived from the very same sheep pictured in the mysterious photo .
Blackmailed into procuring the definitely desired sheep , the nameless narrator , along with his girlfriend ( she of the covered ears ) , embarks upon a parody of adventure of near mythic proportion that finds its climactic end in a stormy sea of surprises on the remote island of Hokkaido .
Although not as densely-layered as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , ( to date , Murakami's masterpiece ) , A Wild Sheep Chase is nonetheless filled with the verbal agility , antics and double entrendres for which Murakami is so well-known . It is , after all , Murakami's narrator , himself , who says , sure we're tossing out fluff , but tell me , where does anyone deal in words with substance ?
The answer , of course , is : right here . Murakami does . Although A Wild Sheep Chase may , at first , seem almost as inconsequential as the latest detective thriller in a long string of detective thrillers , the weight of this book , as with all of Murakami's works , eventually lands on the reader like a ton of . . . sheep .
009 4 A Wild Sheep Chase is a wonderful and colorful read . Ostensibly the story of a nameless and flat protagonist as he searches for the answer to a puzzling riddle , the story sees to wander greatly in the first two-thirds of the book . The lead character , coerced into searching for a missing and mysterious sheep , never seems to sense the urgency of what his failure could mean . He is a character who feels he has nothing to lose . Indeed , his only redeeming characteristics seem to be that he cares for a missing friend ( called The Rat ) and that he has enough curiosity to even push him towards an attempt at solving the riddle .
While the protagonist is very much an empty vessel , the reader of this book will find themselves attracted to the detached yet interesting interactions with some of the other main characters . The characters and scenes , for the most part , are David Lynch-like ; quirky , with murky motives , and strange communications .
Structurally , the book wanders around a bit while getting started . It feels as if the author just started writing one day and learned how to tie it all together as he went along ( near the end of the book ) . Even so , while it may feel that not much plot progress is being made , however , Murakami is able to delight the reader enough with his inventiveness that the story seems worthwhile . The book climaxes with a brilliant metaphyical dialogue between the protagonist and his friend . The last several chapters are done so well , I had to read them a couple of times and scribble all over the pages ( that's surely a good sign ) .
I found Murakami to have a concise and enjoyable writing style that is deceptively simple for the deeply layered plot it conveyed . I certainly wil be recommending the book to my friends .
010 4 This review is from :
A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel ( Paperback )
If this was Murakami's first novel translated into English , he must have been born with the knack .
This is a little more juvenile than some later masterpieces , possibly . But what a great mess of worlds . Mystery plus surrealism plus existentialism . And a conspiracy theory in the center of it all . Entertaining writing without joining the trash league .
The big right wing Capo has tied up the world behind the screen , but met with natural problems . His underlings try to bully our hero , the little uptight nobody , and the little guy stands up and becomes obnoxious . Add some weird characters like the Rat or J or the narrator's alcoholic business partner or the narrator's divorced wife , not to forget the Capo's personal assistant , who is maybe one of the best incarnations of Mephisto .
And of course : the girl with the most beautiful ears . This is all ear fetishists ' favorite novel , I am sure .
Great entertainment on an intellectually pleasing level .
011 4 If this was Murakami's first novel translated into English , he must have been born with the knack .
This is a little more juvenile than some later masterpieces , possibly . But what a great mess of worlds . Mystery plus surrealism plus existentialism . And a conspiracy theory in the center of it all . Entertaining writing without joining the trash league .
The big right wing Capo has tied up the world behind the screen , but met with natural problems . His underlings try to bully our hero , the little uptight nobody , and the little guy stands up and becomes obnoxious . Add some weird characters like the Rat or J or the narrator's alcoholic business partner or the narrator's divorced wife , not to forget the Capo's personal assistant , who is maybe one of the best incarnations of Mephisto .
And of course : the girl with the most beautiful ears . This is all ear fetishists ' favorite novel , I am sure .
Great entertainment on an intellectually pleasing level .
012 4 I just finished reading this book , and I want to read it again . It's a perfect novel for me . Fast paced , well written prose . Interersting surreal story line , but not as intense as Kafka on the shore , so an easier read . And it gives you something to think about even when you've finished - - about the mysteries in the story , about the human nature , about our world . This is my current favourite novel . Highly recommended .
013 4 As I myself am living in a very small isolated town on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido , this book couldn't have come to me at a better time . Not only are his descriptions acurate but they rang so true to me in a very meaningful way . What a wonderful story . It reminds me of Allende's House of the Spirits in a very modern sense . Where reality and magical reality come together so perfectly that you cannot identify one from the other . His tone is so frank and honest . . . often in life we tend to dramatize every detail , his character takes it all in stride in an envious sort of way and makes one question their own dramactic handling of their own life . I laughed so much throughout this book and look forward to reading more of his work .
014 4 A story that starts off in a familiar way - The main character - a man who seems average to us - has a job and a house , a cat , he just split with his wife , he isn't happy , but he isn't really unhappy either really . The most un-Japanese of characters , a stranger in his world , but still an Everyman . Changes in his life come when he is contacted by the agent of a mysterious but powerful man about a strange matter : Some time ago he published a picture of a field of sheep , seemingly ordinary . Hidden in this picture was a sheep , one with a cream star on its back , which was far from ordinary . A sheep utterly unknown by the world . Our nameless main character is ordered to find the sheep , put under threats to his job and material life . With his girlfriend , a woman whose ears possesses the power of zen satori ( momentary enlightenment ) , he embarks on a journey across Japan and through the levels of his consciousness . The goal he approaches becomes more personal than physical , and what he finds in the end is not at all what he was looking for in the beginning . Along his search for the sheep he meets people who have encountered the sheep in their lives . The sheep has profoundly changed the life of everyone it has touched . When the sheep is in a person ( for that is what it does , it takes control of people ; using them to its own sheepish ends , ) they can do no wrong . They experience leaps and bounds in every aspect of their lives and unbelievable satisfaction , happiness and success . When the sheep leaves them , they are destroyed . They spend the remainder of their often short lives searching desperately for the sheep , trying to re-gain the perfection their lives had during its presence , recapture their lost enlightenment . Many readers of this book believe that the sheep symbolizes zen enlightenment , as the sheep possessed characters often demonstrate these characteristics . This contrasts sharply with the author's estrangement from his own culture which can be seen by his characters ' surprising Americaness , so we are left to wonder why he has based a book around an idea as Japanese as enlightenment . All characters touched by the sheep in Murakami's novel are hurt by it ; he may be suggesting a different approach to life , something our modern consciousness can better reconcile with . A different way to find happiness . Perhaps zen enlightenment is too difficult and unrealistic a path for humans , with all our flaws , to pursue . Perhaps we need a path that focuses on embracing the present in the face of an uncertain future instead of demanding our faith in the unknown . A goal that Murakami expresses as unreachable save through supernatural , and possibly corrupted help ( the sheep ) is perhaps not the path he is recommending to the reader . Through the course of his search , the main character slowly sheds his material possessions and gains a sense of intuition which he did not have in the beginning of the book . He goes from having a very extrinsic personality to having true intrinsic understanding . This could be viewed as a progression along both / either the path of zen enlightenment or existentialism , philosophies in both of which the character embraces their life for what it is and rejects the false appearances of the world . Something Kundera would call stripping away the kitsch . The last person we meet who was touched by the sheep , the sheepman , finds the strength , ( or weakness , in this case they are the same ) to reject the sheep from himself . He is too weak to give up the simple pleasures of his life for the greater ideals offered him by the sheep . He is strong enough to resist its lure . Thus instead of embracing a philosophy which focuses on the pain in life and on death , he chooses to embrace his own life . He states that he was too weak to give up his life , too in love with the world to let the sheep take over . His weakness in this way becomes his strength . And he is able to attain true happiness unlike other sheeped characters . Perhaps the only strength of humankind in general is our weakness , and we do not have the moral fiber it takes to pursue the sheep . Even the title , A Wild Sheep Chase implies that the sheep is something which cannot be caught , that perhaps does not exist at all ( a wild goose chase ) . Instead of following the sheep the main character embraces his life for what it is , all the suffering and pain , but all the beauty at the same time . Despite the meaninglessness of it he finds point in living . In the end having nothing left in his life he sits on a beach to cry , but possibly less over his lost life than over what Camus would call the gentle indifference of the world . This is an existentialist awakening . He could , at this point , be considered an existentialist hero . He has discovered that the meaning in his life lays not in what he does with it , or in some greater truth beyond it , but in himself , and in his love of the world around him . In the end the main character has lost everything in his life , and though he cries it could be said that he is , at last , truly happy .
015 4 For those who don't know , this is the third book of his chronology : ( 1 ) Listen to the Wind Song ; ( 2 ) 1973 ' s Pinball ; ( 3 ) A Wild Sheep Chase . Of course , after that , you have Dance , Dance , Dance . A story about I , Mouse and Sheep Man - with the grand finale in A Wild Sheep Chase . So , if you like this one , read Murakami's first novel , Listen to the Wind Song and proceed . Finish off with Dance Dance Dance in the Dolphin Hotel of Sapporo . Enjoy .
016 4 This review is from :
A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel ( Paperback )
Multiple story lines ; multiple characters that maybe aren't . Where am I going ? I don't know . What am I going to do when I get there ? I don't know . Who am I going with ? I don't know . Why am I doing this ? I don't know . Will I ever know ? Maybe .
Confusion abounds ; but that is a good thing . Characters do things we don't understand ; and that is a good thing . To enjoy this , just go along for the ride . This was my first Murakami and I had to re-read the first 20 pages or so and slow down . It was much more fun then .
Murakami is not imitating any other writer . I wish him a long life and many more stories . I've already ordered several more .
017 4 Multiple story lines ; multiple characters that maybe aren't . Where am I going ? I don't know . What am I going to do when I get there ? I don't know . Who am I going with ? I don't know . Why am I doing this ? I don't know . Will I ever know ? Maybe .
Confusion abounds ; but that is a good thing . Characters do things we don't understand ; and that is a good thing . To enjoy this , just go along for the ride . This was my first Murakami and I had to re-read the first 20 pages or so and slow down . It was much more fun then .
Murakami is not imitating any other writer . I wish him a long life and many more stories . I've already ordered several more .
018 4 Mediocre lives we live in this mediocre modern world . Told in first-person perspective by a man whose name the author doesn't mention , this is a story about our aimless quest for something we don't have . We chase it and when we have it we take it for granted .
' The Man ' ( for lack of a name ) has divorced his wife or rather the wife decided to call it quits with a loser who lives like a zombie . Working at an ad firm with his business partner ' the man ' sleepwalks through his life . Then he chases and wins over the affection of a girl with 3 occupations who has an ear so magnificient . . . you would have to read Murakami's description to get the picture .
Then suddenly a picture of sheep grazing among the mountains brings him to a Boss's experienced assistant who coolly involves ' the man ' into a hunt for a special sheep with a star on its back . This Boss controls everything but he has lost the sheep so ' the man ' has to find it or face doom .
Out among Northern hills ' the man ' faces great characters such as the Sheep Professor , the Sheep Man , his old friend The Rat and his own mirror image .
Then on , you just keep turning the pages as it gets murkier , more thrilling , cold , breathtakingly beautiful and sad . If you think too much into what ' the man ' thinks and goes through then probably you would go to the looney-ville and check in .
A thoroughly enjoyable and engaging novel from the author who knows the soul of young , lonely , aimless men of this world .
019 4 Murakami is known for his unconventional storytelling , sometimes completley surrealist , in which images have more importance than ideas . When he seems to be trying to say something cohesive , it's still hidden behind layers of strange imagery . What I liked best about A Wild Sheep Chase was that the message was so direct - and , at least to me , interesting . It seems to be suggesting that humanity and ' greatness ' are irreconcilable ( of course , it's a lot more complicated than that ) , which is especially interesting in contrast with a reference to Yukio Mishima near the beginning . I found it very though-provoking .
On other levels , though , it isn't so succesful . A lot of the characters are very thinly drawn . This may be intentional ; it works in the case of the main character , who I guess is supposed to be one of those everymen , but his girlfriend , for example , has such a total absence of personality that when she disappears from the narrative , it seems like an attempt by the author to get rid of an awkward character . A few of the characters really are outstanding - the villians , and one eccentric chauffer , but they are mainly present in the first half of the book . Later , when the narrative rests entirely on the protagonist and his girlfriend , it gets somewhat boring . Its first novel status , though , is more than an excuse for that . I still recommend it .
020 4 Japan , 1978 ; after a brief introduction of our un-named main character and his own description of a casual fling he had with a former classmate that has recently died we are brought forward 8 years to 1978 . Now 29 years old and partner in an add agency . A friend had sent him a postcard with an unusual picture in it and asked that the picture be used in something that would be viewed by a lot of people . What our protagonist doesn't know is that captured in the picture is a sheep that isn't supposed to exist in Japan and a very powerful politician / business man is very curious as to the whereabouts of the sheep . With the threat of financial ruin placed over his head , our protagonist sets out with his new girlfriend to locate the sheep . . .
A Wild Sheep Chase is another interesting story by Murakami . This is my third encounter with Murakami , with
Kafka on the Shore
being my first and
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle : A Novel
up being the second . When comparing the 3 , Kafka stands out as the best with Wind Up bringing up the rear . For those not familiar with Murakami , his books are filled with metaphysical elements , and mythological elements . His characters tend to be very average people caught up in situations that are much larger than they themselves are . The protagonist from A Wild Sheep Chase is no different . He is a very average person who begrudgingly takes on the task for no other reason than he really doesn't have anything else to do .
The Good : The characters , even though very average for the most part , are still very interesting . Murakami's writing is full of the main character's internal musings which are as crazy , or more so than your own internal dialogue . The story itself and the character building aspect of it unwind in an interesting and atypical way . There are lots of metaphysical and mythological aspects that add to the Japanese flavor of this book which is one of the things that I enjoy about Murakami .
The Bad : Nothing memorable for me .
Overall : Enjoyable book and if you haven't tried Murakami before this may be a good place to start .
021 4 This is not the first time I'm reading this book but the first time I'm reading it after reading
Dance Dance Dance
which its sequel is .
I enjoyed it much better this time , finish reading after intensive 4 hours .
A Lonely 29 old guy meet lonely weird girl with ultra power ears . They enjoy chain-smoking and casual sex . A photograph of the wild sheep has appeared accidentally in a newsletter the guy had published . He is asked by a business man with plan face to go out on a quest to find the sheep . This is a mystery story with a long chase . On the way we meet interesting characters . One is called the Sheep Professor , another Rat , a rather nice fellow despite his name .
The story is both realistic and fantastic . It is humorous and surreal , and at the same time reflects loneliness , and longing for love .
I'm reading Murakami's books on the wrong order . . . if you think of reading this , you might consider reading '
Pinball , 1973
' and
Hear the Wind Sing
first . ' The Wild Sheep Chase ' is the sequel to Pinball , and is the third book in Murakami's Trilogy of the Rat . Both ' Pinball ' and ' Hear the Wind Sing ' are out of print in the US and are available online for free .
022 4 The first book I read by Murakami , ( South of the Border , West of the Sun ) I hated . The second , ( Kafka on the Shore ) I had mixed feelings about . The third , I loved - - this was the third . A Wild Sheep chase is in my opinion a great place to start if one has never read Murakami before . It is easily accessible , intriguing , and interesting , while still being thought-provoking . The fact is , you can read this book on vacation for fun and you can also spend half a year exploring all of the allegorical possibilities .
The general academic consensus is that this book explores the search for the identity of Japan in a postmodern world . There are several different interpretations , however - - see Dances With Sheep : The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki ( Stretcher )
It's important to note that this book is the third book of Murakami's Trilogy of the Rat ( although the first two are out of print because Murakami considers the fledgling novels weak ) and there is also something of a sequel ( Dance , Dance , Dance - - also recommended but very different ) .
023 4 I kept thinking of the odd characters that appear in David Lynch movies as I read this book - - those ones that play peripheral parts we don't know too much history of , but filled with eccentricities and some type of magick . This book is a romp through such a landscape - - odd people with odd behaviours , all tinged with some tragedy or sadness . We have a girl who looks plain until she shows off her ears and then she becomes stunning . A man who dresses as a sheep and talks in unbroken slurs . A best friend who disappears 5 years ago and communicates strange favors by mail without disclosing where he is . It is all strange and mysterious , and in fact , the story reads like a Western detective story told first-hand . If you are looking for a good storyline , Murakami is probably not your author as much of the enjoyment of the book is in the absurd . However , if you are interested in modern Japanese literature , this has a very Western feel to it and cultural differences will not affect the enjoyment or understanding of it .
024 4 I like to think of there being two very different kinds of novels : ones about characters , and ones about events . Some try to tell a story of something that happened , some try to tell a story about the people that fill up this world .
Of these two , the work of Haruki Murakami is definately character driven . The entier point of his books , actualy , tends to be the people in them , looking for eachother , separating and reconnecting , beeing twisted together in the braids of fate .
Some people , ( esspecialy those who prefer the events-driven novels ) may be frustrated with this book , because for much of it , very little in the way of events happen , and when events do happen , they are so strange and outlandish that one is half tempted to ignore them as tall tales fabricated by the characters to pull at our collective legs .
Thus , if a reader is of the right mindset , one can discount the plot and events entierely as some bizzaro-world never-never-land hallucinations , and cut straight to the jewels of the book : Murakami's ecstatoc observations about people , places , and things that are normaly so mundane in our life that we just over look them . By brining these banal things under such intense scrutiny he presents a world more fantastic then reality , more concrete than fantasy , and reminescent only of the way you must have looked at things as a child , where a bug in a jar was as fascinating as a plasma screen TV .
I will tentatively outright recomend Murakami to anyone , however , I will attach to that recomendation a warning , that you shouldn't be surprised ( or take it personaly ) if you don't like it .
To really appreciate his work on a personal level you have to be cut of the same cloth as a mad scientist , a Buddha , or Humphrey Bogart , although which one - I'm not yet sure . Ultimately , though , I think it is safe to say that a persons opinons on literature are more a reflection of themselves than it is any objective judgement of quality . When I praise a book , that just means it's my kind of book , or I'm it's kind of reader . When I dislike a book , that means the book and I are at odds , not that either of us are bad , but that , like some people , we just don't get along .
Murakami is so forcefull and eccentric that it would not surprise me if there are a good number of people who don't get along with his books , but there should be equaly many people of the same ilk as the madness in his books that can admire his unabated and perpetualy unsatiated expressions of an unapologeticaly surreal outlook on life .
025 4 Uhm . Yea . I can honestly say this is the most original novel I have ever read . The hunt for the evil sheep with a star on its back . . . No one but Murakami would think of something quite this insane . Which isn't to say to book is bad . It's manic and rarely makes sense , yes , but it * works * .
This is my second Murakami book , the first being Wind-up Bird , which I loved . Compared to Wind-up Bird , though , A Wild Sheep Chase comes off more like a short story than an independant novel . It is not any where near as spawling or epic as Wind-up , nor is the plot as deep , or the characters as rich . But inpsite of this , I still really liked A Wild Sheep Chase . No , there were not any profound themes , and my view of the world has not really changed . But man , was that one enjoyable read . . . Great , but shallow , story . Great , but hardly dynamic , character . And , most importantly , GREAT writing . Man I love Murakami . . .
026 4 Like Pallahniuk or Nick Hornby ( his counterparts in America and England respectively ) , Murakami's first-person narrative has a fast-paced , personal feel . The plot unfolds in the same way such an unbelievable tale might be recounted on the stool of an intimate bar . Our hero , a recently divorced 29 year-old advertiser from Tokyo , is forced into A Wild Sheep Hunt based on his connecton to a mysterious photograph ; a photograph that on the closest examination reveals a nonexistent breed of sheep . In the course of the novel , Murakami's readership is introduced to a panorama of remarkable characters and bizzare coincidences . We eventually understand that the events we're witnessing are controled by something of an invisble hand . For the greater part of the novel we are a part of a mystery of the highest form .
On the otherhand when the loose ends were quickly tied in the last three or four chapters , I was left with the feeling that the answers were less than satisfactory . There were definately moments riddled with a depth of insight ( his thoughts on his ex-wife's slip or the discussion about the reproduction of body cells , come to mind ) , but on the whole i felt the novel was a bit superfiscial ; that it was , to some extent , just an outrageous story . Murakami's inclination towards the abstract metaphor and his quiky descriptions of the visual were ofte inspired but after 350 pages the device was stale . Though the journey was extremely interesting , the destination reached was , for me , hardly worth the exciement .
This was the first piece i'd read by Murakami and I look forward to reading other works ( especially The Elephant Vanishes ) , but it won't be tomorrow that i rush out to by one .
027 4 Haruki Murakami has the depth of perception of Mishima , the beauty of Kawabata , and the sense of wonder of Abe . This is the story of an ordinary man who has learned to roll with whatever life hurls his way . His wife leaves him - he reasons that she probably never really felt like she belonged to him anyway . His best friend disappears after sending him a picture of a sheep - he's sure his friend will show up again . The sheep turns out to have mysterious mental powers and is trying to take over the world - well , we'll stop him somehow . The beauty of this book is how effortless it all is for Murakami . There are passages of incredible beauty , as well as breathtaking humor , all delivered almost conversationally . I've read this book at least fifty times , and it never grows old . I have thankfully never taken any literature classes - I have , however , read thousands of books in my time - and for my money , Murakami is the best writer walking . Forget about the Lit Crit Voodoo Guru Of The Month - this guy is the real thing !
028 4 So this was the last book I had to read for my Modern Japanese Literature class and my first introduction to Murakami's list of works . It was fascinating , offbeat , and definitely enjoyable .
I loved the prose . It wasn't laden down with traditional metaphorical images that can usually be seen in Japanese novels , and had a more upbeat , modern tone to it that can easily be connected with . Another cool thing was the lack of names , or what the characters were named in this book . You might think it would be hard to keep track or distinguish who was who but this was never a problem with the book , and we could easily picture them without a need for their names .
There was a surrealist touch that almost bordered on fantasy but not quite when the chase for the sheep began . If you weren't paying close attention to the clues that were dropped very subtly throughout the story , you might find the plot twist shocking , but even if you were it was pretty neat .
If you wanted to try a more contemporary work with a fast pace by a Japanese novelist , then this would be something I'd suggest . A Wild Sheep Chase is quick , fun , and sprinkled with some deeper thoughts for those of you who like to think .
029 4 I came across this book years ago , and was absolutely delighted by it . I was very saddened that , at that time , it was the only one of Murakami's books translated into English . The years passed , and imagine my delight to find it , along with others of Murakami's books - - a veritable treasure trove of good reading just waiting for me ! I heartily recommend this book - - the mood , the imagination , the universal themes - - a wonderfully compelling read .
030 4 This gem of a novel was required reading for a world literature class I took . I waited until the last minute to read it , but it ended up being a breeze to get through because it was so fantastically odd . I would not be the least bit surprised to find out that Murakami was a Stanley Kubrick fan . I fully intend to check out the rest of his work .
031 4 there are many types of people in this world , but this review simplifies them into just two , the ones who love murakami work and the ones who dont . my guess is that there would be a fairly sizable contingent on either side .
others have reviewed the book fairly well . i would like to suggest that you read the first 5 pages of the book , before you decide to buy it . it may save you some money if you are not one of those who love it .
the story of this book if said in a plain vanilla fashion would sound absurd and perhaps even boring . However murakami puts things across in such an amazing way that it feels nothing short of fabulous . i loved it and i hope you enjoy it too .
032 4 Usually the second something happens in a novel that separates it from reality , whether it is visions of the dead or aliens invading the earth ( just to name examples , not that both those things happen in A Wild Sheep Chase ) I start to dislike a book . But Murakami's calm , reasoned , well-described mysterious quest on which he sends his main narrator overcomes my usual distrust of the unbelievable in books and I was willing to enjoy and even love the novel despite its slightly fantastical twist ( s ) . Murakami's characters are fresh - - you can see pieces of people you have met or know , but his characters are unique , the plot proceeds despite the completely illogical assignment given to the main character , and the bad luck on the quest makes the happy coincidences that much more easy to swallow . The descriptions of landscape and weather lend authenticity and depth to the novel . There are many traces of Japanese culture in the characters , but the stories and characters are universal . Murakami defies description , he blends so many threads of brilliant writing together . I highly recommend this novel !
033 4 This really is a wild sheep chase , which in Japanese can just translate wild goose chase . A man and his girlfriend take off in search for , you guessed it , a wild sheep with a star on its back , a one-of-its-kind breed that someone saw in an anonymous picture and that sheep breeders have never seen before . Packed with magic-realism and an air of the ridiculous , this novel is as hilarious as it is simply philosophical .
Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
034 4 The story itself is interesting and unique . The way it's told is beautiful and believe me , you don't want to stop reading once you start it . The thoughts behind everything is profound . Often confused between reality and his own imagination , the protagonist either can't or sub-consciously doesn't want to make connection between his own existence and the real world . There is also an obvious lack of his real emotion in his relationships with his ex-wife and girl friend . Why ? Murakami did an excellent job making us think what we usually neglect . How do we identify ourselves ? Do we need to ? What's reality and what's our imagination ?
035 4 The book is good , but not as good as Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ( WBC ) . WBC is a thrill to read and the writing is beautiful , and after reading it I was compelled to go and buy A Wild Sheep Chase . This book is good as well , but I am disappointed because the tone and tenor of the book is very similar to WBC . I just wish there was more variety to Murakami's writing .
036 4 Wild Sheep Chase , by his majesty Murakami-Sensei , is another superb addition to the fiction section . I absolutely loved this book for it was short , clear , easy-to-read and most of all - unlike other Murakami novels : A COMPLETE STORY ! Like The Chronicles , this novel also has a sequel ( well , prequel - maybe ) called DANCE DANCE DANCE . However , in order to enjoy the book fully , Pinball must be read as well .
WILD SHEEP CHASE starts out with Murakami's early 30 ' s protagonist being heart broken as his wife walks out on him . Right when the reader is caught up feeling sorry for our narrator missing his wife's non-existent slip , story takes a cute turn with the bombardment of Rat's first letter . Rat is on a lam and writes letters to the narrator about his plans , confusions and personal thoughts . Rat's name in the Japanese version is RatMan .
In many ways , the narrator is similar to most other Murakami novels for he is - single , smoker , spontaneous and slightly more neurotic . He's a great cook and has a magnet for attracting unusual women . In this book , however , he has a lot of money . Greatest thing about the book is that it surprises you more than just once . The story unfolds its mystery towards the last 150 pages , every 50 pages with a new mystery embedded in itself . Rats letters , especially the picture of the mutant sheep with a star on it's back , gets our narrator in a deep sh * t . This is also where the wild sheep chase begins . Although , the novel is filled with wacky characters like the professor , sheepman , limo-driver , narrator's business partner and J ; each and every character has a meaningful existence and is worth the confusion .
I do not want to give away the secret , but feel free to email me if the story is confusing .
037 4 This is the first book of Murakami's I've ever read , and if they're all this fun and bizarre , it won't be the last book I read . I can't say I fully understand this book ( in fact , I'd be pretty suspicious of anyone who said they did completely understand it ! ) but it was fully enjoyable . The ending was certainly unexpected , it definitely left me wondering what would happen to the protagonist .
An ordinary man experiencing an extraordinary adventure . . . his quest to find a mysterious sheep . . . if I had to describe this book to someone who's never read it I wouldn't be able to do it without explaining the entire book ! All I can say is this : READ THIS BOOK ! You won't regret it !
038 4 I am an avid reader of all fiction and this has to be one of the best books I've read in years . It has suspense , humor and philosophy all rolled into one . Before this book , I had never read contemporary Japanese fiction and didn't know much about Japanese culture or history ; however , it was beautifully translated and I had no trouble relating to the personal conflicts of the characters . I highly recommend this book and have since started reading many of Murakami's other novels . So far , this one is definitely top on my list .
040 4 I know my favorite Murakami book is the Wind-up Bird Chronicles . I know his most daring book is Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and his most moving book is Norwegian Wood . But , A Wild Sheep Chase is the most creative , well edited , well rounded exercise of Murakami's genius that there is in English . I have become disenchanted with the newer titles : South of the Border , Sputnik Sweetheart and even Kafka on the Shore not because of the content but because of the translator , Philip Gabriel . Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin ( the latter my personal favorite ) breathe life in their translations rather than just translate it word for word . I read and write Japanese myself and can attest to the fact that Gabriel's texts , while more accurate , lack the Murakami boyish spirit and reckless randomness . Here , Birnbaum pulls out all of the stops paraphrasing double entendres in a natural accurate style giving the very random plot a cohesive feel . Part deadpan absurdity and part absurdist absurdity as opposed to Gabriel's translations which play deadpan absurdity the whole novel . The plot is basically simple . The nameless narrator must find a sheep . It is a sort of metaphysical , supernatural sheep that enters people giving them great will and strength . There is a character named the Sheep Man . There is a Sheep Professor who is now sheepless . having had the sheep enter and leave him . The narrator's girlfriend is an ear model whose ears somehow augment her otherwise normal appearance to great beauty . The story's absurdity and creativity are handled with great skill . There are fewer non-related sidetrips as in Wind-up Bird Chronicle ( of which I love but tend to dilute the pace of the novel a bit ) . Anyhow , a golden rule , check to see who translated the Murakami book you are about to read . Jay Rubin / Alfred Birnbaum yay , Philip Gabriel boo .
041 4 When reading a review of Murakami , I stumbled across references to Chekhov , Kafka , Carver , Tom Robbins , Vonnegut . All favourites of mine . The conclusion , then , would be to simply add Murakami's name to this illustrious list . Well , not so fast , pardner .
While I enjoyed the beginnings of this existential detective story ( my own addendum to the above list would be Paul Auster , whom I also adore ) , the characters turned out to be too vague and uninteresting , and the story too breezy to sustain my interest . I found my eyes glazing over for pages at a time , because nothing interesting was happening . In the interest of fairness , I should note that many of my misgivings about the story might be the fault of the translation .
I will give Murakami another chance , though , because I do see much potential for him and I to be close literary friends . Anyone who can draw comparisions like those listed above can't be all bad , can they ?
042 4 An extraordinarily fun read that still somehow seems to be profound , Murakami's masterpiece had me laughing and scratching my head . It's quite a page-turner , too .
043 4 This review is from :
A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel ( Paperback )
This book was so unwieldy I had to force myself to read it . I realize this is probably the Japanese version of magical realism , but for some reason it was a tedious read . I think part of the reason why it was slow is the typical Japanese insistence on describing boredom and the mood of what good can possibly happen a little too well .
The only other Murakami novel I have read as of now is Norwegian Wood , and that is a wonderful breath of fresh air in comparison . In fact , Norwegian Wood is one of my favorite novels in general - check that out if you are just starting with Murakami .
044 4 This book was so unwieldy I had to force myself to read it . I realize this is probably the Japanese version of magical realism , but for some reason it was a tedious read . I think part of the reason why it was slow is the typical Japanese insistence on describing boredom and the mood of what good can possibly happen a little too well .
The only other Murakami novel I have read as of now is Norwegian Wood , and that is a wonderful breath of fresh air in comparison . In fact , Norwegian Wood is one of my favorite novels in general - check that out if you are just starting with Murakami .
045 4 I'm going to make this brief in honor of how much shorter the book should have been . I love Murakami and did enjoy this book , but frankly , the whole thing seemed like a short story that ballooned into a novel . I can't help but think Murakami was sitting around one day , came up with a great idea , then decided to write about it only to find that he had written a novel-length piece that he had originally intended to be 40 or 50 pages . The story centers on a guy who gets a postcard from a friend of some sheep that he puts in an ad . Unfortunately , this starts a series of bizarre events that lead to a stunning conclusion ( I would say more , but you really have to read it to get a sense of how hard it is to capture the small details Murakami includes in this story ) . I think what may have eventually turned me off to this book is the ending and Murakami's desire to explain everything to us , something that is not present in his later books . But everything he writes is enjoyable , so this is a chance to see a writer growing and improving his craft over time .
046 4 It's been a while since a novel blew my hair back . . . I'd missed that feeling of putting down a book to take it all in , and then hurriedly bring it back to my eyes to immerse myself once again . A Wild Sheep Chase is one of these gifts , a wonderfully mystic and fantastical tale set in a time and place nearly all of us can relate to , the modern city . It's true what they say , Murakami speaks to his readers across the continents , his Japan is about as far away from kimono's and tea ceremonies as Texas . We see ourselves and our families in these stories , and we all marvel at how we , and the characters , all adapt to bizarre situations as though they were simply meant to be . If you ever wondered how a thriller , a mystic tale focussing on sheep could possibly work , then read this and be happily surprised , and greatly rewarded .
047 4 As a Murakami fan , this is my favorite one . I'm not sure why , but that goes for all his books . When I'm reading them , it's a thrilling ride . But when I finish them , there's this sense of emptiness in me saying , What did I just read ? He seems to say so much , yet so little can be processed in the brain . The rest flows to the heart . Too bad the rating doesn't go to 11 .
048 4 This review is from :
A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel ( Paperback )
First off , know this was my first Haruki Murakami novel and I had no expectations . And I realize this review may upset some die-hard fans . Still , here are my thoughts . . . The mystery of the story kept me going , though the character's seemed somewhat flat and staid ( wish I knew that word when I was taking the SATs ) . There were a few brief moments of really nice creativity , but they came and went far too quickly . An example is one of the characters late in the book . The moment he made things interesting , he would disappear again into the woods .
With all that being said , I still finished the book and was glad I read it . While the story could have used some lift , what really kept me going was Murakami's use of language . He really sets up scenes and characters extremely well . And the mystery around the book was fairly interesting - enough to keep me reading anyway .
049 4 First off , know this was my first Haruki Murakami novel and I had no expectations . And I realize this review may upset some die-hard fans . Still , here are my thoughts . . . The mystery of the story kept me going , though the character's seemed somewhat flat and staid ( wish I knew that word when I was taking the SATs ) . There were a few brief moments of really nice creativity , but they came and went far too quickly . An example is one of the characters late in the book . The moment he made things interesting , he would disappear again into the woods .
With all that being said , I still finished the book and was glad I read it . While the story could have used some lift , what really kept me going was Murakami's use of language . He really sets up scenes and characters extremely well . And the mystery around the book was fairly interesting - enough to keep me reading anyway .
050 4 Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 , and is one of Japan's most famous authors . He started writing at twenty-nine - the ispiration , apparently , appearing out of nowhere at a baseball game . A Wild Sheep Chase is his third novel and was first published in 1982 . It apparently follows on from his two previous novels - Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball , 1973 - to form the Trilogy of the Rat . Unfortunately , for those of us who don't live in Japan , the first two parts of the trilogy are unpublished in English outside of the country - Murakami himself ( apparently ) isn't too happy with them and is against their translation .
Our narrator's thirtieth birthday is quickly approaching , and he's had a tricky couple of months . . . the book opens with a couple of rather difficult endings . ( Before the story's even properly got started , he's attended an old girlfriend's funeral and seen his marriage has end in divorce ) . However , the adventure the book sends him on comes out of his professional life . He and his business partner - old friends from college - had started out running a small translation company , before ( successfully ) branching out into advertising . The pair had once been good friends , but that friendship has faded a little as his partner's drinking has increased . The trouble really begins with a PR bulletin our hero had drawn up - one that uses a photo of an idyllic Hokkaido landscape . ( Mountains , grass , sheep , that type of thing . . . ) The bulletin is to be stopped , apparently at the request of an exceptionally well-informed , politically well connected , exceedingly rich and very influential character with right-wing tendencies . The character in question ( referred to only as the Boss ) owns half the advertising industry and has more money than you could shake a bank at . The message is brought by the Boss ' second in command . . . and he's very keen to make our hero an offer he can't refuse . Thankfully , he won't be on his own - he'll be helped along the way by his new girlfriend . ( Not only does she have the world's sexiest ears - EVERYTHING seems better when they're uncovered - but she also appears to be a little bit psychic ) .
A pretty sad book , overall . Having kicked the book off with the funeral and the divorce , I was sure that - somehow or other - the events or the characters involved would be revisited at some point , later in the story . They never were . . . instead , it seems they were used to set the tone for the book , as the kicks just keep coming . Having said that , it's not an entirely sad book . . . it is also a little surreal in places and it's certainly very enjoyable . Absolutely recommended - I enjoyed this one more than both After Dark and Norwegian Wood .
051 4 Not his best work . took a while to get into it but enjoyed it towards the end .
052 4 This story starts with a funeral and ends with a dead person . What a lot happens inbetween . I felt that I was missing something because of all the references to animals : rat , sheep , dorks . It was well written and a very good story . I was taken aback by the final chapters . It was not what I expected at all , and yet it was a really good ending . I guess that it ended with mediocrity winning . That is reality for all of us : we are mediocre , with flashs of excellence . The excellence may be what gets us by , but we live with reality , mediocrity .
053 4 This review is from :
A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel ( Paperback )
Not as exciting to read as his other novels , but there were some parts in the story that made me look forward to getting on the train during rush hour so that I can pick up where I left off . . . Made me think a lot about our advanced capitalist society ( along with Dance Dance Dance ) , and had a few interesting characters , but definitely not as interesting as his later novels .
Again , someone told me that the first Murakami book that you read ( the one that got you hooked ) will always be your favorite , and at least for me , it's true . Kafka on the shore ( Hard boiled Wonderland takes second place ) is still the best .
054 4 Not as exciting to read as his other novels , but there were some parts in the story that made me look forward to getting on the train during rush hour so that I can pick up where I left off . . . Made me think a lot about our advanced capitalist society ( along with Dance Dance Dance ) , and had a few interesting characters , but definitely not as interesting as his later novels .
Again , someone told me that the first Murakami book that you read ( the one that got you hooked ) will always be your favorite , and at least for me , it's true . Kafka on the shore ( Hard boiled Wonderland takes second place ) is still the best .
055 4 This is definately not my favorite book by Murakami . Although this book has Murakami's similar writing style , it is not the same as Kafka on the Shore , The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Norwegian Wood . There are moments where the book is good , but it seems to drag . Also , most of Murakami's books have a lot of different things going on , all of which hold some purpose in his plot . This book has just one central plot with nothing else going on . In the beginning of the book , it seems like there are going to be sub plots but they don't last . Definately not the best book by Murakami .
