A Wild Sheep Chase - (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami (Paperback)

About the Book

A marvelous hybrid of mythology and mystery, "A Wild Sheep Chase" is the extraordinary literary thriller that launched Haruki Murakami's international reputation. A lonely 20-something young man begins a surreal quest in which he confronts not only a herd of mythological sheep but also the demons deep within himself.

Book Synopsis

A New York Times bestselling author--and "a mythmaker for the millennium, a wiseacre wiseman" (New York Times Book Review)--delivers a surreal and elaborate quest that takes readers from Tokyo to the remote mountains of northern Japan, where the unnamed protagonist has a surprising confrontation with his demons.

An advertising executive receives a postcard from a friend and casually appropriates the image for an advertisement. What he doesn't realize is that included in the scene is a mutant sheep with a star on its back, and in using this photo he has unwittingly captured the attention of a man who offers a menacing ultimatum: find the sheep or face dire consequences.

Review Quotes

"Murakami is a mythmaker for the millennium, a wiseacre wiseman." --New York Times Book Review

"A delight ... equal parts screwball comedy, detective story, and heroic quest." --USA Today

"A witty adventure ... a piece of verbal anarchy ... a labyrinthine mystery from start to finish." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Marvelously engaging, at turns witty, dry, wicked, even loopy. Reading A Wild Sheep Chase is like spending a splendidly foul weekend with the Four Raymonds--Chandler, Carver, Massey, and Queneau." --Frederick Barthelme

About the Author

Born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1949, HARUKI MURAKAMI grew up in Kobe and now lives near Tokyo. The most recent of his many honors is the Yomiuri Literary Prize, whose previous recipients include Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages.