a wild sheep chase. haruki murakami. (238)

i have read a handful of murakami books but have fallen behind on his latest works.  i bought a beautiful paperback edition of 1Q84, but have yet to read it.  i am not opening my paperback, but plan on getting the ebook to read from the library.  also i have not read his most recent novel, though i see it everywhere.  however, i decided one day that i really needed to start from the beginning and so i checked out a wild sheep chase.

i was recently asked if murakami was a favorite author of mine, and i couldn't say yes or no.  i enjoy his books but am often confused by them or shocked to the point of uncomfortableness that is hard to call them favorites though i find his work very intriguing.  but after finishing, a wild sheep chase, i can call him one of my favorites.

a wild sheep chase is exactly that, a wild sheep chase.  our narrator, we never learn his name, recently divorced and just turned thirty received letters from a old friend called the rat.  the rat sent him a photo of a mountain scene with sheep, and asked him to share it.  the narrator then placed it in a life insurance company's pr bulletin, not due to the rat's instructions but because it was in his desk.  this appearance of the photo was the catalyst for the wild sheep chase.

the narrator had a meeting with a man, in this meeting it is revealed that there is a boss that quietly and secretly ruled all of japan.  the man was the secretary to the boss.  the boss had taken ill and was on his death bed.  he had a cyst in his brain which the man believed was link to his power and was also connected to a sheep that was in the photo.  the sheep had a star on its back.  the secretary wanted the narrator to find that sheep and if he didn't he would destroy his life.

the narrator initially decided not to do it, he figured it was pointless, but at the urging of his girlfriend he decided too.  his girlfriend had magical ears (seriously, murakami is brillant at times) that helped lead the narrator in the right direction, ie helping them discover the dolphin hotel.  in the dolphin hotel, they discovered the sheep professor and from him learn the most outrageous but true story.

it turns out that the sheep professor was invaded by the sheep with the star on its back.  it was a powerful creature and used the professor to come to japan.  from there the sheep must have invaded the boss' body which explained how he came into power.  with this new knowledge, the narrator goes to the sheep professors old ranch where he used to breed sheep for the government.  

while waiting for the rat to returned, the narrator encountered the sheep man, which was a man dressed up as a sheep and seemed to be two souls, a sheep and a man,  within one oddly dressed body.  

then as if another twist could not happen, it turns out that the rat possessed the sheep man and that the rat was in fact dead.  his ghost or whatever, he kept the lights off so we do know what form the rat was in, came to visit the narrator and explained what happen.  it turned out that the rat grew up on the professors old ranch.  he was at the dolphin hotel and saw the photo of the ranch and decided to come to the ranch.  he then became possessed by the star sheep and committed suicide to kill of the sheep.  (wow! i know, insane but amazing.)

the boss' secretary, it turned out knew all of this and met the narrator as he returned down the hill, he needed the narrator as bait to pull out the rat.  however, the rat was brilliant and bombed the ranch and the secretary and hopefully destroying everything.

but yes, a crazy, bizarre but extremely interesting tale.  i mean i had no idea how it was going to end but i loved every twist and turn and random character that showed up.  murakami is truly brillant, i mean so weird but so great.  i look forward to read dance, dance, dance which is supposed to be a follow up to this.  i also look forward to reading the rest of murakami's work and will hopefully get caught up with everything.