As my first Murakami book, A Wild Sheep Chase was extremely enjoyable. It had a slow start for me in my opinion but it developed quickly and had a satisfying conclusion to its strange story. In particular, the way Murakami handles the loss of friendship as a melancholy goodbye was amazing, as it felt both too brief and yet long enough to be meaningful. In a way it felt very Chandleresque, Terry's goodbye was also brief but powerful. As a text with elements of The Long Goodbye, it captured everything I loved about Chandler's novel and added really cool aspects of folklore and surrealism.
I am curious about how A Wild Sheep Chase connects or interacts with the detective style short stories Murakami wrote. "Sydney, Green Street" feel like attempts at getting the detective style down, and references both the Sheep Man and the Sheep Professor. Are these meant to be related to the narrative and characters from the novel, a potential precursor story, or something completely new with similar ideas? The short story certainly doesn't cover the full depth of ideas as the novel but the ideas it does explore (wealth, expectations, purpose of self) is just as fascinating. Plus, the description of Green Street had an enjoyable Chandler cynicism to it, in contrast to the disorientating and surreal streets of Hokkaido. Speaking of surreal, "Where I'm Likely to Find It" just cements in my mind that mirrors are magic in Murakami's work. This is the third story where mirrors are gateways (portals?) to the surreal and bizarre and I am fascinated to see in which other works mirrors pop up in.
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