Monday, September 24, 2012

Haruki Murakmi is an Interesting Writer.



I found A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami to be a very unique story. It’s probably my favorite story I’ve read so far for my speculative literature class.  This was the first novel that I’ve read by Haruki Murakami and it won’t be the last. To quickly summarize the premise; a man in his late twenties uses an image of a sheep with a star on its hind in an ad. This pulls him on an adventure that means life or death.  For my blog post tonight I’ll be discussing how interesting Haruki Murakami’s writing style is.
            Put simply, this book is one hell of a ride. I didn’t understand it until the last 50 pages. That’s when the whole story clicked in my mind. I still have no idea what kind of story it is. It transcends horror and spills into a whole range of other genres. Even though I struggled a bit, I pursued the story along with our protagonist and Ears. (Ears, is the protagonist’s rebound girlfriend which he acquired right after he got a divorce.)
            It’s my belief that Murakami spilled a lot of himself into the story. I don’t know anything about him and I’m sure a quick Google search would confirm my suspicions but here’s what I think I learned about Haruki Murakami:  He likes France a lot. He likes language and is a very metaphysical man.  Also, he enjoys talking about philosophical topics and he’s hilarious. Again, I’m completely ignorant to what he actually is like but after reading this novel and digesting his writing style I make these assumptions confidently.
            The interesting thing about this story is that it’s so hard to explain but makes perfect sense. I tried telling a friend of mine to read it. She asked me what the story is about and I tried in vain to help her understand. You really have to read it for the story to make sense. I attribute this to Murakami’s writing style. He leaves a lot up to interpretation and places the reader in the story with little or to explanation. If you haven’t read it already, I recommend reading A Wild Sheep Chase, it’s one wild ride.


- Jack

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