{"id":15541,"date":"2011-10-21T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T21:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=15541"},"modified":"2018-12-29T16:34:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-29T21:34:22","slug":"a-wild-sheep-chase-by-haruki-murakami-translated-by-alfred-birnbaum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/a-wild-sheep-chase-by-haruki-murakami-translated-by-alfred-birnbaum\/","title":{"rendered":"A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wild<\/a>As most\u00a0<\/em>Haruki Murakami<\/a> fans as well aware, the countdown to the pub date of his latest 1Q84<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>ends after this weekend … just a couple more days until you can crack open those almost-1000 pages!<\/p>\n

Having had early access (not to brag, really!), I’ve been feeling SOOO nostalgic for more of Murakami that I started going back to his earlier titles … and landed back with his first major hit in English translation, the<\/em> book that started it all. I can’t believe more than two decades<\/em>\u00a0have passed since I read this wild, Wild <\/em>uniquely fantastical odyssey … and, not surprisingly, all those years makes for a very different reading indeed.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: yes, it passes the test of time with great ease … sigh of relief and a yippee<\/em> indeed.<\/p>\n

A not-too-dedicated PR\/advertising company co-owner has recently lost his wife to his best friend. He’s bored with his career, is a bit of a slacker, finds himself a new girlfriend who’s “nothing special” except when she bares her extraordinary ears. Said slacker gets embroiled in a mysterious hunt for an errant sheep somewhere far away and is given a month to hunt it down. His only clue is a certain photograph sent by a friend-in-hiding named ‘The Rat,’ who disappeared a few years ago although he sends strange missives with impossible-to-read postmarks. In the picture: mountains, 33 sheep, including one with a certain star … thus the chase begins …<\/p>\n

Here’s something I didn’t know 20+ years ago … something I learned from Murakami’s running memoir,\u00a0What I Talk About When I Talk About Running<\/em><\/a>: Wild<\/em>\u00a0is his third novel, and the last in a trio commonly referred to as “Trilogy of the Rat.” The previous two novels,\u00a0Hear the Wind Sing<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1979) and Pinball, 1973<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1980),\u00a0were translated into English by the same Alfred Birnbaum here,\u00a0but the translations had rather limited distribution from the Japanese publishing giant Kodansha (unlike Wild<\/em>\u00a0which had a major U.S. publisher). Having never read the prequels, I finally ordered both today from a used bookseller.<\/p>\n

The “trilogy,” however, is a bit of a misnomer, as Murakami returns to familiar sheep territory in Dance Dance Dance<\/a><\/em>\u00a0which I also read so many years ago … but intend to re-read, newly re-addicted as I’ve become! So definitely stay tuned for more, more, more.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 1989 (United States)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As most\u00a0Haruki Murakami fans as well aware, the countdown to the pub date of his latest 1Q84\u00a0ends after this weekend … just a couple more days until you can crack open those almost-1000 pages! Having had early access (not to brag, really!), I’ve been feeling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,6,76,66],"tags":[1191,6608,11,1193,13,216,64,795,42,5712,6105,2325],"class_list":["post-15541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-fiction","category-japanese","category-translation","tag-alfred-birnbaum","tag-bookdragon","tag-friendship","tag-haruki-murakami","tag-love","tag-mystery","tag-pets-animals","tag-rupert-degas","tag-series","tag-series-a-wild-sheep-chase","tag-series-trilogy-of-the-rat","tag-wild-sheep-chase"],"yoast_head":"\nA Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/a-wild-sheep-chase-by-haruki-murakami-translated-by-alfred-birnbaum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As most\u00a0Haruki Murakami fans as well aware, the countdown to the pub date of his latest 1Q84\u00a0ends after this weekend … just a couple more days until you can crack open those almost-1000 pages! 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