Reading Murakami is like experiencing someone else's dream. Trying to review Murakami is like trying to remember your own -- scattered events, confusing narrative lapses, inexplicable elements, petrified whale penises. A series of images: And then you wake up. And wonder what that was all about.

A roller coaster of a book. Since it's hard to describe and others have already done so, I'm just going to go with how it made me feel to read it. An unorthodox way to review a book, but maybe not for a book made of magical realism, mystery, philosophy, sex, drinks, rock and roll and of course the ubiquitous sheep, in which you never learn the names of the characters and they really don't matter anyway. At times it's all wheeeeeeeee and then it's ooooof, then more wheeeeee and ooooooof with some...

My first Murakami and I really enjoyed it.

Was this a good book?Hell yesWas this Murakami's best?No, but he does hold high standards for himself.Did I enjoy it?AbsolutelyWas I confused since I read the third in this series first?Definitely, but it's Murakami so it might have been more confusing had I known the backstories.Do I remember any of the plot?Nope.Was the man dressed as a sheep/sheep man scary?Yeeep.Would I recommend this book?Definitely. I loved it. Can't remember why, or how, but it was good. 11/10 would read again.2021 edit:

“I don't really know if it's the right thing to do, making new life. Kids grow up, generations take their place. What does it all come to? More hills bulldozed and more ocean fronts filled in? Faster cars and more cats run over? Who needs it?”This is the first book Murakami wrote as a full-time novelist, and his third overall. The third book in the Rat Trilogy, the story revolves around a strange mystery surrounding an enigmatic sheep in Hokkaido, and how the narrator starts on an adventure to f...

Thank you again, brian tanabe!Books like these, I feel like a child who has finally graduated to the grown-up table only to find that the cultery is too big and sharp, the edge of the table is level with my eyes, and the conversation always above my head. But no! I refuse to be demoted back to the kids' table with all the babies! I wanna eat here and contribute to the discussions about whether a vacation home in Hawaii or the SE islands would be better (so boring...zzzz....) and did you catch wh...

Creepy.....as....hades.But that's why I loved it!!!I'm serious. This book was so creepy it had me wiggling around in my seat in discomfort. Yet, I was absolutely captivated! I couldn't put the book down!If you're a reader looking for a book that will take you more than one read to truly grasp, then this is the book for you. It had my brain churning and my fingers tapping with nervous energy.I'm not going to give a bit of a run-down of the book as I've done in previous reviews mostly because it w...

I wish I could have written about Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase here when I'd read it. I wish that goodreads was around back then. The magical and plain old world as we know it life through best teacher voice (this is my favorite kind of voice because I'm a confused person) that made the every day seem full of possibilities. Sinister possibilities as well as good ones. That's my favorite kind of thing, the ability to make that stuff interesting, with easy humor. I'm really into the build-up of t...

Haruki Murakami ran a jazz club in Tokyo prior to his career as an author. And it’s not just the presence of music in his novels that provides evidence of that. It’s also the books themselves which have a very “jazz like” feel to them. Murakami himself has said: "It's kind of a free improvisation. I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be. Many people don't believe me. But that's the fun of writing a novel or a story, because I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm searc...

The third novel in the Trilogy of the Rat sees our unnamed narrator go on his most ambitious and frenzied journey yet. Boiling the deranged plot down to its simplest terms, it is about a man trying to find a sheep. A Wild Sheep Chase is something of a love letter to Thomas Pynchon, or at least that's how I read it. The plot is quite similar to that of The Crying of Lot 49 (an ordinary person accidentally stumbles upon a very dark secret, they see the same mysterious symbol everywhere, there's a

A Wild Sheep Chase was the third book that I have read by Murakami. I found out after I finished that it is that third book in "The Trilogy of the Rat". The first two books in this series are now out of print, but after reading A Wild Sheep Chase, I think I have to chase down some used copies of the novels and experience the trilogy in full.I interpreted the novel to be a story of emotion journey more than a story of physical journey. There was an actual journey involved as the main character we...

'A Wild Sheep Chase' is a trippy tale with a mix of detective story, myth, fantasy and philosophy. Though it can be enjoyed simply as a fable at its face-value, just a little thought reveals a multi-layered allegory. On one hand, "the sheep" could signify post-war Japan itself. At the same time, the protagonist's sheep chase also ends up being a search for his own identity, his emotions and meaning of his existence. It is as much a physical journey as a spiritual journey. There are also several

A play on the old saying ‘a wild goose chase', I'm afraid this book reads more like another old saying, ‘a complete waste of time’. It felt to me that a random series of events had been linked together to form a very loose and aimless narrative. I really had no idea what was going on or what I’m supposed to take from this tale. I’m a fan of the author and I believe he’s written some stunning books, my personal favourites (in order) being:1. 1Q842. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle3. Kafka on the Shore4...

An interesting read, three and a half stars for beauty in language. While I can't say I "really liked it" in the "will re-read one day" sense, I appreciated the richness of the ideas and language offered. I normally tend to devour a book in two or three sittings, but this was a book that worked well reading three or four chapters a night, breaking into small, choice pieces. Although there is a mystery that drives the plot, I would hesitate to say that is the focus of the book, so I didn't feel l...

I wrote the following review two and a half years ago. Now that I've read A Wild Sheep Chase again, I don't think there's any need to change anything. Or maybe there's a great need to do so, I'm not sure. In any case, I'd rather put Benny Goodman's Airmail Special and breathe in deep the spring evening air.On the back cover of this special 3D edition of "The Wild Sheep Chase", there's this quote by The Washington Post which goes like this: "Lean forward and topple headlong into magic". Well, it

This book is incredibly imaginative and has vibrant, colourful characters I enjoyed. However, I feel like Haruki Murakami added many layers of meaning to this book and if so, they elude me. If there is an underlying meaning to this book, I can't tell you what the heck it is. Or maybe there is no underlying meaning. Maybe it's just a magical story and my brain always wants there to be something more.  For the most part,A Wild Sheep Chase is an enjoyable story and I'll probably go back and read th...