The J-Horror reading this week was A Wild Sheep Chase. I did not know anything about Japanese Horror going into this week's reading. I am personally not a horror fan, so I never ventured to foreign versions. As I was reading I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Haruki Murakami's novel. I am so used to fast pace novels where there is so much action taking place that having an author slow me down and take in the surroundings and the main character's daily life was refreshing, to say the least.
It was also interesting that in class someone had pointed out that Murakami never gives the characters names, except for the cat, Kipper. It is something I never realized as I was going through. It seems now that names are trivial to the actual plot and the author's storytelling abilities. I suppose sometimes author's rely on the names of characters than the actual personalities and what they have to offer the story.
The girlfriend is my favorite character in A Wild Sheep Chase. She is really interesting and I love how Murakami decided to portray her; her beautiful ears that she hides and her sixth sense. I think it is cute that she will reveal her ears only to the main character, kind of proving their relationship to the audience in a way.
I have not yet finished this novel, but I fully intend to. I am currently at the part where the main character and his girlfriend have just met and interacted with the Sheep Professor. The novel is beginning to pick up in pace, and yet still manage to capture the essence of the slow pace of Japanese life. Only now is the mysterious sheep with the star actually having a part in the novel. The first half did not really mention what the sheep had to do with anything. Everything was very wide open and ambiguous; leaving the reader’s mind to wonder and question. I enjoy novels that give me the chance to think and attempt to figure out the mystery for myself before it is revealed.
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