I’ve raved about Haruki Murakami before, but I can’t help it. I’m a fan girl. “A Wild Sheep Chase” was the first of Murakami’s novels published, but it shares the same mix of the real and the surreal, the mundane and the strange, as later books.
At the start of the book the unnamed narrator splits up with his wife and is confused that no trace of her existence remains in his apartment, not even a slip. It’s strange, but it wasn’t until page 225 that I noticed neither the main character nor his girlfriend, the girl with exquisite ears, is named. I only realised at that point because of the lyrical acrobatics needed to bring her back into the action without naming her. Before then it was seamless. Murakami does this a lot. He seems to enjoy separating his characters from any objective identity.
After the narrator’s marriage ends we are taken to his workplace where he designs advertisements and marketing materials. He uses a photo of sheep, sent to him by a friend named “The Rat” for a project, but the photo has a significance that takes him on a strange journey across the country with his unnamed girlfriend who has a heightened understanding and senses things through her magical ears.
A unique sheep is central to the story. People claim that the sheep has travelled inside them, directing their lives and choices, only to abandon them later. We meet people who claim to have had a sheep living inside them and another person who wears a sheep disguise (a man within a sheep). Beyond the themes of time, abandonment and death very little about the story makes sense. But anyone who loves Haruki Murakami will know that is part of the charm of his novels. They rarely make sense. Imagine a Japanese David Lynch and you’ll get some idea of what to expect.
It’s beautiful. It’s strange. It’s compelling, and it makes you think deeply and even if the meaning eludes you at the end, as I suspect it’s eluded me, that’s okay. Is the sheep real? Is the cabin real? Was the girl with exquisite, magical ears real? Or is it simply a question of an unremarkable man dreaming remarkable things?