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 couldn't be more aptly put!

You know when you read something which as a story, is not particularly great, and yet deep inside you find it amazing? It's like there are two parts of you that simultaneously read the story. The pragmatistic part, that interprets what you read in a matter-of-fact way, and the emotional part that sort of does so in a more inner and abstract fashion that you can't really put your finger on. For instance (and this is only a minor spoiler, so don't worry), the part where the girlfriend leaves the house on the mountain, made me feel inexplicably sad. Though Murakami doesn't seem to deliberately try to make you feel sad at that particular point, I felt genuine and pure sadness. Like a reflective reaction. I really hope what I'm trying to say gets through so far.

This is the third book of The Rat series and Murakami's third novel overall. Like any of his works, this one can be read in two ways: as a modern fairytale about a man on a quest to find a special sheep, or as an allegory of a modern person's quest to find the meaning of life. Choosing the former (although it's not so much a matter of choice), one misses a lot and probably ends up baffled and frustrated.

Many of Murakami's stereotypic allegorical themes are there. Unnamed characters for instance which, the way I see it, is a way to portray the also unnamed protagonist's detachment from everyone. Indeed our hero, like most of Murakami's heroes, shows a tendency to avoid emotional connections. Not even his cat has a name, until a secondary character gives it one. What's more, there is a constant uncertainty throughout the book of what is real and what is not, as realistic facts mingle with... not so realistic facts. There is even a point toward the end where the main protagonist is unsure of who and why he really is. These elements really hit home and are the main reason Murakami gets so much praise from me.

Trying to rationalize everything you read in this book won't work, so don't waste your time. You should rather let your inner eye read this amazing story about sheep. Trust me, you never know what you might discover within the pages of "The Wild Sheep Chase".

Bleah!!!

Tras leer -casi- la bibliografía completa de Murakami sacó tres conclusiones generales, en síntesis: soy mucho más cercano a sus novelas que a sus cuentos, es decir, lo considero un escritor de río largo, ni de afluente, ni de meandro, ni de reguero, ni de gota.
Segundo, creo que posee cuatro grandes textos que deberían sobrevivir, al menos, un par de siglos: Tokio Blues, Kafka en la Orilla, Crónica del pájaro que da cuerda al mundo y 1Q84.
Por último, si hubiera de destacar una quinta novela, (de reserva, diríamos); hablaría de: Baila, baila, baila; y ahora, me encuentro con una nueva narración que ya considero la sexta a tomar muy en cuenta: La caza del carnero salvaje.

Having read a good few of Haruki Murakami’s books – the strange Japanese scene he creates is now very much my happy place - and A wild sheep chase was no exception. A small mysterious tale, that has big ideas and philosophies. Every character has that Murakami mix of fascinating oddness and down to Earth relatability. Murakami doesn’t always wrap things up in a way that satisfies, so, as I rounded the last corner of this book with very little explained I wasn’t too surprised. However, with a wonderfully bizarre final twist Murakami brings the story to a close beautifully. I very much recommend the novel – it’s vintage Murakami.

cuốn quá, làm sao bây giờ? =)))) ai làm ơn giải thích lại cho tôi cái tôi hông hiểu =)

اولین داستان بلند موراکامی جان.
به عنوان طرفدار موراکامی باید این کتاب رو میخوندم ولی قطعا پختگی و جذابیت کتاب‌های دیگه‌اش رو نداشت. اما من دنیایی که درش پرت شده بودم رو دوست داشتم!

Um livro surreal e fantástico, bem ao estilo de Murakami.
Uma louca aventura da caça ao carneiro selvagem (“wild sheep chase” é um trocadilho com a expressão “wild geese chase”, que em português equivale a “caçar gambozinos”), que começa com um telefonema e uma fotografia perfeitamente vulgar (uma paisagem, montanhas, nuvens, prados e trinta e três carneiros).
Um carneiro sobrenatural, ou uma metáfora de algo que tem o poder de mudar as pessoas e o mundo…

A Wild Sheep Chase is the fourth Murakami book I have read. Like all his works this too seems to be a beautiful story but as one moves with the book words get deeper with their meanings.
Its actually a tale of one's own wild chase of human existence which is symbolised with a sheep.
Multi layered with human emotions and surreal quest embedded within frame of mythology and magical realism, book is bound to take the reader far from his living world.
What I appreciate the most is the author's simple style of writing that attaches a character to darkness, silence, winds, mountains and snow. Wonderful description of the natural landscape left me overwhelmed.
Like all other works of Murakami ( that I have covered so far) every reader has a different take.
Definitely recommend !!

My first Murakami and I really enjoyed it.

اصللاا منو جذب نکرد و دوسش نداشتم نمی دونم چرا
هی ادامه میدادم به امید اینکه خوب بشه چون تعریف زیاد ازش شنیدم ولی خب اصلا چیزی نشد که بتونم دوسش داشته باشم

"Have your ears ever exerted a power over anyone other than me?
You want to know whether my ears have special powers?"



In Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase, the narrator learns that his adventure will begin with a wild sheep chase. Without knowing what that means, he quits his old life and embarks on an odyssey that takes him and the girl with the exquisite and powerful ears in search of a specific sheep. After reading several of Murakami's novels, I've learned that it is never enough to say that his novels are quirky.

The narrator's adventures seem like scattered dream images that we'll be able to piece together if we can just connect the dots. Therein lies the problem. That's also what the narrator is trying to do.
He is trying to make sense of this new world he is confronted by just like we are. And he is as often in the dark. What are we to make of the narrator, the Rat (who first enters the story with a letter to our narrator) or the Sheep Professor? I'm not sure it is as well developed as some of Murakami's later works, but it is an interesting and engaging read.

“It is special sheep. A v-e-r-y special sheep. I want to find it, and for that I will need your help.”

Wellthiswasonecrazyrideaboutsheep.
Whoisthesheep? Whatisthesheep? Whereisthesheep?

The sheep that wants to change the world! Insert "baaaaaa" noises.

A postcard displaying lush green fields and grazing sheep lands on the work desk of our unnamed protagonist. He works in a small translation office, just him and his buddy. Life’s good, they’re their own bosses, cash is flowing at just the right amount. But then this postcard arrives, and with it, trouble. As if you look very closely at the sheep, one of them is anything but ordinary. The race is now on to find this very special sheep, with the clock ticking until our man loses it all.

”Maybe my eyes were playing tricks again. Or maybe somebody did actually spill coffee on that sheep’s back.
‘There’s this faint stain on its back.’
‘That is no stain.’ said the man. That is a star-shaped birthmark.’ “

With the help of his new girlfriend who has exquisite ears, he sells his portion of the business to his friend and takes off on an adventure to the other side of Japan to find the sheep who is the key to it all.


Our friend Rat (who was in Murakami’s first two novels Hear The Wind Sing and Pinball) appears here, but only on the periphery. Since he last walked out of J’s Bar in the early novels, he’s been travelling around Japan. Both to lose himself and find himself. He only keeps in touch with our unnamed protagonist via the odd ambiguous letter, with no return address. The postmarks show the trajectory of his travels. The Sheep is very much a part of his journey.

It was nice to see J from J’s Bar make an appearance here too. While time does not stand still, J remains unchanged. Still very much the same calm, Zen-like manner. New bar, new view, but still J’s Bar.

It’s interesting in that so much of this story reminded me of David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten in that there is a thread here that deals with transference of a living entity entering the body of another in order to survive. Which is where the all-powerful-sheep comes into play. The other curious coincidence is that The Sheep has a star shaped mark on its back, which harks back to the comet shaped birthmark that appears on the skin of so many characters across many of Mitchell’s novels.

” The sheep that enters a body is thought to be immortal. And so too the person who hosts the sheep is thought to become immortal. However, should the sheep decide to escape, immortality goes. It’s all up to the sheep.

People who are abandoned by the sheep are called the ‘sheepless’.”

Hmmmmmmmm…no wonder everyone is looking for The Sheep.

The Sheep Professor and a manic-depressive living wild in the mountains wearing a sheep onesie are eccentric and intriguing to say the least. It’s an odd book with a high quirk factor.

What does any of it mean? Only Murakami knows.

If you like your adventures ovine, and have a bit of a soft spot for our woolly friends, this is the book for you.

3.5 quirky stars.

“We habitually cut out pieces of time to fit us, so we tend to fool ourselves into thinking that time is our size, but it really goes on and on.”