His life was like his recurring nightmare: a train to nowhere. But an ordinary life has a way of taking an extraordinary turn. Add a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit, implicate them in a hunt for a sheep, that may or may not be running the world, and the upshot is another singular masterpiece from Japan's finest novelist. (20021018)
A Wild Sheep Chase
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Amazon Review
As with many of Haruki Murakami's novels, the plot curdles with complex diversity only to be resolved by a collision between wild fantasy and outright slapstick. A Wild Sheep Chase refers aptly to the tradition of cool but kitsch detective sagas. Except here, the metaphoric goose is now a literal sheep with a distinctive marking; an urban myth with the promise of immortality.
The anonymous narrator is a mild-mannered thirtysomething with a more than understanding attitude--things happen because they are supposed to and there's no sense standing in the way of progress or nature. It takes the disappearance of a friend and some gentle intimidation from a right wing conglomerate to break the pattern of apathy and send him off on his adventure.
Murakami's detail of the most mundane situations makes his lead character endearing. Those who've read Murakami before will recognise that certain empathy for the strange thoughts and rituals that are now hallmarks of his wry humour. Although an unlikely hero, the quest for a missing friend and the support of a lover with mysterious ears takes him off in search of the elusive sheep in a bizarre adventure--danger and absurdity hindering every movement. --David Trueman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Wonderfully easy to read and just as wonderfully difficult to make sense of...like the narrator, who slowly accepts the presence in his life of mystery, we slowly recognize the possibility of a new kind of world. Like him, we lean forward and topple headlong into magic" (Washington Post )
"It begins as a detective novel, dips into a screwball comedy, and at its close becomes a tale of possession...A highly accomplished piece of craftsmanship" (New Yorker )
"Mr. Murakami's style and imagination are closer to that of Kurt Vonnegut, Raymond Carver and John Irving" (New York Times )
"A Wild Sheep Chase has the conventional hull of a thriller - a quest, a mystery, an extraordinary woman, and plenty of elegant duress - but its fantastic superstructure transforms it into something quite different...a science fiction fantasy, a romance, a metaphysical tease, or a dramatisation of philosophical ideas" (Independent )
"If you consider yourself an intelligent, sensitive common reader but wish to accommodate something a little removed from your experience, and probably your imagination, I dare you to turn your eyes towards Murakami and head off on a wild sheep chase." (Glasgow Herald )
"It begins as a detective novel, dips into a screwball comedy, and at its close becomes a tale of possession...A highly accomplished piece of craftsmanship" (New Yorker )
"Mr. Murakami's style and imagination are closer to that of Kurt Vonnegut, Raymond Carver and John Irving" (New York Times )
"A Wild Sheep Chase has the conventional hull of a thriller - a quest, a mystery, an extraordinary woman, and plenty of elegant duress - but its fantastic superstructure transforms it into something quite different...a science fiction fantasy, a romance, a metaphysical tease, or a dramatisation of philosophical ideas" (Independent )
"If you consider yourself an intelligent, sensitive common reader but wish to accommodate something a little removed from your experience, and probably your imagination, I dare you to turn your eyes towards Murakami and head off on a wild sheep chase." (Glasgow Herald )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Greshon
Format:Paperback
Written in 1982, this is the earliest Murakami novel widely available to the English-speaking world, though it isn't Murakami's first novel (he wrote two before this one).
Attempting to find the meaning in this bizaare and surreal detective story will probably always be fruitless, but trying to work it out while reading is so much fun. Reading it again is just as good, as you think that perhaps this time you are ready, this time you will understand what it all means - but you never are ready and you never do understand.
It is worth noting that despite its jaunty and carefree tone, the book is full of death and images of death, which lend it something of a brooding darkeness. It is also worth noting that here is a very early example of Murakami's frequently repeated 'mysterious woman who goes unexplainably missing' trick.
In 1988 Murakami produced a sequel, Dance Dance Dance but, despite being quite frightening and easy to read, it is inferior to Wild Sheep Chase and doesn't stand up to repeated readings.
Attempting to find the meaning in this bizaare and surreal detective story will probably always be fruitless, but trying to work it out while reading is so much fun. Reading it again is just as good, as you think that perhaps this time you are ready, this time you will understand what it all means - but you never are ready and you never do understand.
It is worth noting that despite its jaunty and carefree tone, the book is full of death and images of death, which lend it something of a brooding darkeness. It is also worth noting that here is a very early example of Murakami's frequently repeated 'mysterious woman who goes unexplainably missing' trick.
In 1988 Murakami produced a sequel, Dance Dance Dance but, despite being quite frightening and easy to read, it is inferior to Wild Sheep Chase and doesn't stand up to repeated readings.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By andrew pack
Format:Paperback
I can describe this simply - it's Raymond Carver's sense of human smallness and dignity coupled with Raymond Chandler's sense of pulp, but with a sort of Marx-Brothers/Manga thrown in. The girl with beautiful ears is perhaps Murakami's best kooky-girl and the plot rattles along. It's weird as hell, but firmly anchored to the real world too. Rather like "The Wind-up Bird Chronicles" there's a sense of opaqueness to it, a sense that you are not glimpsing everything that is to be found on first read. But it reads just as well second time.
There's nobody to touch Murakami, and this is a particularly good Murakami book. Maybe my favourite, though Wind-Up Bird is his most accomplished work.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Dorothy Shaw
Format:Paperback
If there is one criticism that can be made of Murakami's wild, fascinating and intensely thoughtful novels, it is that the humanity of his characters can occasionally be lost in the wistful poetry of his writing. This is not the case of The Wild Sheep Chase: the book's poignant, terrifically tender ending moves the reader not, as is usual with Murakami, with sympathy for a universal failing, but instead with a unique, very human, sense of loss.
This is a witty and wonderful book, with the power to transform the reader's view of the world. While this is often the case with Murakami's novels, this book has a peculiarly prosaic setting, which slowly gives way to the bizarre universe just outside one's doorstep. I would recommend it especially for those new to Murakami's twisted galaxy of writing, but also to those fans who already find they prefer Murakami's fantastical Japan to their personal reality.
This is a witty and wonderful book, with the power to transform the reader's view of the world. While this is often the case with Murakami's novels, this book has a peculiarly prosaic setting, which slowly gives way to the bizarre universe just outside one's doorstep. I would recommend it especially for those new to Murakami's twisted galaxy of writing, but also to those fans who already find they prefer Murakami's fantastical Japan to their personal reality.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A real pleasure to read
This book was recommended by a friend and is the first Haruki Murakami novel I have had the pleasure of reading. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Robin Webster
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murakami at his best!
Here, murakami writes in his own inimitable style about love and loss, and memories lost in the gulf of time, and the ennui of existence ...
Published 1 month ago by Chris Holden
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wry, Fun to Read and A Little Dark Too
Wild Sheep Chase is the earliest publish novel by Murakami available in English, as such I thought this might be a better way to get into Murakami than Norwegian Wood which I read... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Harry the book monkey
4.0 out of 5 stars
strange but interesting
It was a book club book. Took some getting into but a worthwhile read. Out of the normal style of things I read.
Published 3 months ago by Mollie Sayer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really strange!
I have listened to one of this author's books before and really liked it. I put this in my Wishlist, and when it dropped in price, I bought it! Read more
Published 4 months ago by K. D. Hallam
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
I was very disappointed with this book as I had enjoyed "Dance, Dance, Dance" which is a sequel to it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by James Brydon
1.0 out of 5 stars
No more Murakami for while, thanks
Murakami sounded like the kind of writer I would enjoy, but it didn't work out that way. I think I must have chosen the wrong book, or perhaps just the wrong translation of it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by vfhackenbacker
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Murukami i've read
i've read alot of his work and i have to say that i really love this book, i would say its his best story certainly if you are new to Murukami, he can be pretty bizzarre but i... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Rishters123
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great read, but a disappointing end
I bought the book after having read Norwegian Wood - one of my favourite books by far.
A Wild Sheep Chase is an easy and interesting read. Read more
A Wild Sheep Chase is an easy and interesting read. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Eva F.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best, but the end saves it
I was really looking forward too reading another Murakami but it really took me a long time to get into this one. Read more
Published on 11 April 2011 by Lucybird
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