Quirky and utterly captivating, A Wild Sheep Chase is Murakami at his astounding best.An advertising executive receives a postcard from a friend and casually appropriates the image for an advertisement. What he doesn’t realize is that included in the scene is a mutant sheep with a star on its back, and in using this photo he has unwittingly captured the attention of a man who offers a menacing … who offers a menacing ultimatum: find the sheep or face dire consequences. Thus begins a surreal and elaborate quest that takes readers from Tokyo to the remote mountains of northern Japan, where the unnamed protagonist has a surprising confrontation with his demons.
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I had to rack my brain to come up with a strange book that I’ve enjoyed, since I am not the most adventurous reader. And then I remembered my first taste of Haruki Murakami years ago, in The Wild Sheep Chase. I don’t even know how to explain the book, but basically a young man is forced to go in search of a mythical sheep. I’m sure there was a deeper meaning that I was not getting at the time, but as strange as the story was – I remember talking sheep and just surreal situations – I actually enjoyed Murakami’s writing, cleverness and wit, enough that I went on to read (and enjoy) 2 more of his books (Norwegian Wood and What I Talk about When I Talk about Running) and to acquire another 3.
A man has to find a sheep, because a shady secretary is ready to bring down his world if he doesn’t. This is no ordinary sheep, either. No, this sheep is something else. For those it has met, in “spiritual communion,” their world is forever changed.
This is the third book I’ve read by Murakami, and it certainly fits a certain formula that is familiar to his other works (I’ve read 1Q84 and Kafka on the Shore). It was a good read. It was a bit slow to start, but Murakami’s way of storytelling seems to work as a slow burn with firecrackers starting to go off along the way.
Definitely can see his craft building up into what would be his style in later works.
[Extra notes]
I haven’t read the other books in The Rat series, and didn’t know it was part of a series initially, but this book can be a standalone read.
I’ve seen some reviews out there that didn’t understand how this is part of The Rat series, and that they found no mention of The Rat. Ignore any of these reviews, because they clearly haven’t read the book! A character, referenced as The Rat, actually plays a repeating role much throughout the book. In fact, if you remove them from the book, it wouldn’t even work. So, I’m not sure where this confusion is coming from — unless they stopped reading very early in the book.
I have read Dance Dance Dance – which is a good follow-up book that continues the story, with the same main character/narrator.
I read my first Murakami novel, Dance Dance Dance, earlier this year. I learned from that book why Murakami has become an international favorite for many literary fiction readers. I decided I wanted to read another Murakami novel before the year ended. I chose A Wild Sheep Chase, the precursor to the aforementioned Dance Dance Dance.
A Wild Sheep Chase tells the story of an unnamed protagonist who receives a postcard for an insurance ad. However, the ad includes an image of a sheep with a star on its back. The postcard draws the attention of a shadowy figure who demands the unnamed protagonist go find this unusual sheep or suffer the consequences. The protagonist begins a journey that takes him to the remotest part of Japan to find this sheep. What he discovers is something that shakes him to his core and reveals an identity he had not realized.
Surreal. Strange. Philosophical. Readable. Murakami has all of those elements intertwined in A Wild Sheep Chase and symbolism of the sheep brought this verse of New Testament Scripture to my mind:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” (Luke 15:4-6)
This is from Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep. It seems in this novel our unnamed protagonist was the lost sheep that had to be found. Murakami fans and critics consider A Wild Sheep Chase to be one of the best novels in his oeuvre and I agree with that assessment. Recommended.
Brilliant, fantastical novel. Classic Murakami.