Aside from The Strange Library, A Wild Sheep Chase is the only Murakami book that I have finished (started but never finished Kafka on the Shore). Despite not having much experience with Murakami’s writing going into this class, I already had an idea of which parts of his writing I liked and which parts I disliked. After reading A Wild Sheep Chase, I’m able to better pinpoint these parts.
Starting with what I liked, I appreciated his use of metaphors and similes, something inspired by hard-boiled style. They painted a picture in my mind and drew me into the story. One simile I liked was at the beginning of Ch. 34: “Loneliness wasn’t such a bad feeling. It was like the stillness of the pin oak after the little birds had flown off.” Another element borrowed from hard-boiled style I liked was the full action descriptions. Instead of simply having Boku make coffee, Murakami would provide a play-by-play of every step in the coffee-making process.
While I appreciate Murakami’s descriptive style and magical language, I think sometimes he gets a little too weird or abstract for my taste. For example, I don’t really understand the purpose of including the section about Boku's girlfriend's ears. I also find that the conversations between characters can be aimless or nonsensical. A lot of times throughout the book, I found myself a bit confused, questioning “Why???”. I feel like I had these little ?? moments almost every chapter, and they ended up distancing me from the story. Also, Murakami writes in a style of detachment that I don’t appreciate either. Instead of making a connection with the characters and the story, I feel like I never fully engage with the book. I’m curious to see how I enjoy Norwegian Wood since I’ve heard it’s supposed to be a bit more straightforward than his other books.
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