Okay, so this is my second review on Murakami. By now you might have guessed he is one onf my favourite author. Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country.
In this book the Protagonist takes on a political business industry syndicate with apparently limitless money and power, and he does it on his own terms. Some of the most interesting parts of the novel take place in the rural wilds of Hokkaido, which has been interpreted alternately as the hero’s inner mind, or as a mythological land of the dead. At its heart, like many Murakami novels, this is a tale of conflict between the will of the individual and the demands of an impersonal State. Oh, and there is a really cool, all-empowering sheep, too.
Of course, we start with a typical Murakami narrator. Think Philip Marlowe with preference for bar stool philosophy, and pit his nonchalance and cynicism against Carroll’s Wonderland. This narrator is also joint owner of a translating and advertising business, and has a girlfriend whom he describes as having ears that are so beautiful that they “transcended all concepts within the boundaries of my awareness” who is “a part time proofreader for a small publishing house, a commercial model specialising in ear shots, and a call girl in a discreet intimate friends-only club. Which of the three she considered her main occupation, I had no idea. Neither did she.”
What makes’A Wild Sheep Chase’ so appealing is the author’s ability to strike common chords between the modern Japanese and American middle classes, especially the younger generation, and to do so in stylish, swinging language. Mr. Murakami’s novel is a welcome debut by a talented writer who should be discovered by readers on this end of the Pacific.