A Wild Sheep Chase

This week’s reading was a very different sort of ghost story. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami is an almost mock tale of a detective following the ghost of a man called the Rat Man. Here in which we are also following a ghost sheep which hasn’t been seen for years and has a black star upon its back. Inevitably it turns out to be the spirit of a dictator that has taken over the Rat Man and has jumping bodies this entire time seeking power. The whole book had a feel of transcendence and almost unreal quality to it as if I was expected to suspend my disbelief similar to watching movies.
            First off her ears! Our main detective falls erotically in love with his newly found girlfriend’s ears, and not just a set of them, more like a couple of them. Especially when he was describing his sexual encounters with her ears exposed it was, at least, a bizarre feeling of awkwardness.
            His next encounters were following the trail of an old friend he had met in a bar called The Rat Man. This man, with characteristics of a filthy rat undoubtedly, is sending letters to our hero which turn more and more coded and full of warning as they are being sent. By following this man you can’t help but feel like we are never meant to meet this man and that he is some figment of our hero’s imagination.
            Next we meet up with the sheep man who promptly tells us about the holy grail of our quest; the dark star sheep. This sheep has not been seen in a long time and apparently has driven both the sheep man and the rat man to the brink of insanity. “Eating” their minds and ruling over their bodies this mythical sheep is our shadow in the night.
            Through this entire time we are being loose handedly guided through the book with estrange writing. I feel as if this book itself was set in some other worldly dement ion where they themselves are ghosts. It was a bizarre experience to say the least but one that left tiny chills that I couldn’t quite explain. Did I believe in the Rat Man and the overlord ghost sheep who stole you body and soul or was it so weird that I couldn’t comprehend. Maybe both.

Mmmm I'll have twelve more please