Who Would Like This Book:
If you love stories that blend mystery, adventure, and surreal humor, Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase is a must-try. It’s a quirky, genre-bending quest that takes you from the streets of Tokyo to the wilds of Hokkaido in search of a mythical sheep - and maybe a few existential answers along the way. Murakami’s writing is both playful and poetic, offering offbeat characters, pop culture nods, and dreamlike logic. Fans of magic realism, metaphysical detective tales, or anyone looking for a novel that makes the everyday strangely fascinating will eat this up. Great for discussion and rereading, especially if you enjoy books that are more about the journey (and the weirdness) than tidy resolutions.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If you prefer straightforward plots or need all your story threads neatly tied up, this one might leave you scratching your head. Some readers find the pacing slow in places, with a plot that meanders and a sense of ambiguity that can feel frustrating rather than intriguing. The surreal elements and lack of clear character names can also make it hard to connect or keep track. If poetic tangents, magical realism, and open-ended symbolism aren’t your jam, you might find it bewildering or unsatisfying.
About:
A Tokyo entrepreneur embarks on a bizarre quest to find a sheep with immense power, leading him to remote locations and uncovering the mysteries surrounding his friend's death. The narrative weaves the strange into the everyday, presenting themes of disconnectedness, acceptance of mediocrity, and the nature of change, all while blurring the lines between reality and the paranormal.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Has Romance?
Romance is present in the narrative to a medium extent, focusing on the relationship between the unnamed protagonist and his girlfriend.
From The Publisher:
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 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.
Ratings (53)
Incredible (14) | |
Loved It (22) | |
Liked It (11) | |
It Was OK (5) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (88):
Read It (56) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (26) | |
Not Interested (5) |
1 comment(s)
Its no understatement to say that this book/novel is bizarre in the extreme. I'm used to certainly some Japanese novels being pretty random and having perhaps a mystical, or fantasy type, element to them but this one is even more bizarre/random than usual. Its a relatively easy read I suppose on one level, with no complicated terms, medical details or anything like that. Suffice to say, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense but then I assume thats sort of the point.
It made me think of the Jon Ronson book (and the subsequent film) 'The Men Who Stare At Goats', only this book is about Sheep of course. The characters are quite vividly described and it is a somewhat engrossing read I suppose but it is very much an acquired taste sort of a read. I was glad the pagination was slightly short by novel standards at only just under 300 pages (299 pages long).
I'm not sure I could say I greatly enjoyed it, as I felt confused for most of the time I read it but it kept me busy for a while I suppose. Its an alright read overall - it won't suit everyone, so I'll give it a 3 star rating.
What can you read after
A Wild Sheep Chase?
About the Author:
HARUKI MURAKAMI was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and the most recent of his many international honors is the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in…
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
