A Wild Sheep Chase

Just finished up reading Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase", and it was as entertainingly baffling as expected! The story of a man who is hired by a mysterious group to track down an elusive sheep of unknown breed with a star on its back is as surreal as it sounds, and with it came all the quirks a Murakami novel is known for...

Cartoonist Grant Snider once made a hilarious comic called "Haruki Murakami Bingo"which cited some of the odd ideas and images that run through your typical Murakami Book, and with A Wild Sheep Chase, I easily got a Bingo!

Unexpected Phone Call. Check!

Cats and Speaking to Cats. Check!

Old Jazz Record. Check!

Urban Ennui. Check!

Supernatural Powers. Check!

Feeling of Being Followed. Check!

Something Vanishes. Check!

Cooking. Check!

and, most of all, (drumroll)

...EAR FETISH!

I'd noted in previous books how Murakami would always describe a girl's features by including how captivating she ears were, my GOSH, in A Wild Sheep Chase, an unnamed girl's ears actually have mesmerizing powers!

A Wild Sheep Chase is the conclusion of a trilogy called "The Rat Trilogy" following books "hear the Wind Sing" and "Pinball, 1973"., both of which I've yet to read. Even, funnier, the first book I ever read from Murakami was "Dance Dance Dance", which was actually a sequel to the Rat Trilogy, so it's like I'm reading the Rat story BACKWARDS! Oh well, it's actually fun to read the older books and think "oh, so that's how he met so and so", etc.
Up Next: AFTER DARK!

PS: To Snider's cartoon, I might add "Drinking Cutty Sark" and "Elaborate Cigarette Smoking", two elements which I always notice in Murakami's books!