A Wild Sheep Chase

Counseling Needed

I fear severe withdrawl now that I only have one more book to delve into. Haruki Murakami has to be the most imaginative writer I have ever come across. His material profoundly provocative. And funny is very laugh out loud hilarious.
Normally I never revisit a book, but I have already begun with Wind Up Bird and this one will be no exception. These novels are written in minute detail though not overly wordy. Hopefully he has others coming down the pike. If you have not yet listened to any of these novels trust me you will be in for a royal treat. A Wild Sheep Chase is another masterpiece. Only thing for me is that Haruki is highly addictive.

12 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great read from Degas

Murakami seems to divide critics somewhat but for me this is a great novel. I've read it a number of times, and got the audiobook mostly because I wanted to hear Rupert Degas reading it. I recognised his voice from the Raymond Chandler series and thought that his noir style read would really suit Murakami. And it did, in spades. A brilliant listen

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A Good Listen

Our hero is led to look for a sheep.

An Haruki Murakami 'detective story'.

I enjoyed Rupert Degas portrayal.

As I have not read this book before, I have had no internal voice to compare with Rupert Degas' voice. For me the Haruki Murakami story is well presented with Rupert Degas reading.


In short..an excellent listen.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Read this before 'Dance Dance Dance'

What did you love best about A Wild Sheep Chase?

I have by now read (more heard) many of Murakamis' books and am a big fan. However I would have loved that somewhere it had been mentioned that this book precedes 'Dance, Dance, Dance' - I heard it before and was a bit at a loss in the story. Definetely listen to this one before!

Who was your favorite character and why?

There is basically one main character, so you can't escape him...

What about Rupert Degas’s performance did you like?

Having started with 1Q84 I understand the comments about R. Degas being 'too american' for these tales, but I have come to apreciate his voice because I think he understands the charachters and flows very very much with the stories. 1Q84 is a special issue indeed, but these are fine readings!!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Evil comes in all shapes

Any additional comments?

I started with the last of Murakami's books, 1Q84, and now I really apreciate the path he's done to get there, it's a fabulous book, really really beautiful. But I enjoy these earlier stories as well, they are more 'crude' and you can see many of the topic he revisits in different ways later on.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Fantastic, pity about the accents.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Great story. Classic Murakami. Very well read. My only gripe is the accent of the reader. I know your main market is the US, but couldn't you have got someone with even a slight Japanese accent? It was very hard to visualise the characters as Japanese when everyone had a variety of US accents. Still worth purchasing though.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

I just didn't get it

I've heard this narrator, Degas, before and am usually impressed, but here, he stumbles in his characterizations. To appreciate this book, you must be a Murakami fan or you won't get it either.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Reader Gets In the Way

I've read every English translation of Murakami's books, including A Wild Sheep Chase. I slogged through this Audible Book and cannot recommend it.

The reader uses Western voices that are just wrong. A previous reviewer mentioned a James Mason imitation. Let me add a Dustin Hoffman "Tootsie" imitation. Japanese women sound like a bad Blanche DuBois? Aargh.

Listen to NPR's "Selected Shorts" to hear what Murakami should sound like. I was astounded by how closely that reader matched the voice in my head when I read that short story.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

sublime to the ridiculous

On the heels of what was in the balance a very worthwhile listen...Kafka on the Shore expertly narrated, I tried A Wild Sheep Chase, and lasted to the bitter end just so I could pan it. The book meanders aimlessly via affected dialogue, quirky but otherwise shallow characters, with a story line from Hell, and basically leads up to one of the most pathetically unimaginative endings I can imagine. Unfortunately the narration made it just that much worse. Degas's baseline nasal drawl is bad enough but when he attempts character portrayal it is almost unbearable...from the pseudo-James Mason of one character to a cheesy Brooklyn (?) accent of The Rat, and when the end of this book was within sight, he comes up with an absurd peppery/staccato manner of speech for The SheepMan, who as a character is just part of the downward slide in this book. Was I just lucky with Kafka on the Shore, or is A Wild Sheep Chase more typical of Murakami?

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Another marvelous work by Murakami

Story was amazing. It was splendid. The journey from the beginning to the end made me feel and see so many different things that a movie probably could not have done. I really like Rupert Degas’ interpretation of Murakami characters and the performance despite the general dislike people show but it would have been better if he had done the voice of the sheep man a bit slower as it was unintelligible without decreasing the playback speed.

A Wild Ride

Murakami takes you on a lovely journey in his trademark style with bizarre happenings, back stories and twists and turns. As always wonderfully read by the excellent Rupert Degas.