Week3: A Wild Sheep Chase 6pt.

 9/25/2020

This week I read A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami. I have only seen a movie called Norwegian Wood, an adaptation of Murakami’s book Norwegian Wood, so I was excited to read this week’s novel. But honestly, when I finished it, I was a little confused. I wondered if I read too fast? Maybe I missed some important part? But maybe the story is like how it is. The story might be referring to the process of finding something would be fun and interesting, but at the end of the day, the thing we are finding is either destroyed or gone forever. Or maybe we realize that it has always been on our side, and there’s no need to search.

Overall, the storytelling of the novel is very integrated and interesting. It almost has a sense of a detective story. But compared with pure detective novels, it has a unique sense of freshness and it feels kind of laid back just like the movie, Norwegian Wood I watched.

I found it interesting that the characters have no name in the story. For example, one is the first person who dies in the novel, a girl who can sleep with anyone and has others to pay for the bill. The story begins with the protagonist going to her funeral. Her death seems as meaningless as her existence. The narrator’s wife doesn’t have a name either. She left with his friend, and she seems like she has never been with the narrator and he has never had anyone to be with.

Overall, I feel relaxed when I read, there are some things I do not want to understand, and I do not even have to think about. Perhaps, if I had what the narrator has and the determination to have nothing to lose, I would have gone to look for  the non-existent sheep.