A Wild Sheep Chase

I know we've been discussing this topic via Gmail already, shewhowearsred (are we allowed to use each others' real names here?), but I thought we could continue it here.

I'm at Chapter 9! I am completely befuddled as to who this right-wing boss is! I certainly didn't expect a businessman (Or should I say "biznessman"?) to be the one to bring the sheep problem about.

Does this main character have a name? Does anyone ever have a name in this book?

I love the description of the businessman! It's so precise!

I've already finished the first ten chapters, and I can't wait to go on and figure out all the mysteries in the beginning. There are so many loose ends that seem to have nothing to do with each other! I'm curious to see how they'll all be tied up neatly.

What is the significance of the severed whale penis? The main character mentions that it made him sad, and that he thought of it after he had sex with the girl. Then he says he's not a whale. Am I missing something here? Is the severed penis a symbol of emasculation?

The funny thing is, I didn't even realize that the main character doesn't even have a name until you pointed it out. But you're right, I can't find it anywhere. Maybe because he's supposed to be an Everyman-- you know, the ordinary Joe Schmoe?

I wonder what's so strange about the picture of the sheep. Are there even sheep in Japan? Hmmm... come to think of it, I've never seen a sheep in Japan in movies or pictures or anything. Ever. Maybe that's why the picture is so important? Okay, that doesn't make much more sense. Why would sheep be so important even if they didn't exist? Maybe I'm reading too much into this.

Oh, and I wouldn't mind if you used my real name. Would you mind me using yours?

Okay, maybe I'm a nerd for even trying, but I googled to find out about sheep and whales.

Apparently whale sex is a "shockingly brutish, nasty, ugly business" because they get quite violent. Is that it? Or maybe it's not about sex at all, or the whale's penis, but about the whale itself. The blue whale can live as long as 110 years. Maybe Murakami is exploring the sex-death connection, and when his main character said "I'm not a whale", he was saying that he'd realized he wouldn't live forever? Okay, too much whale sex talk.

I found this and this about sheep. Apparently they are rare in Japan! Not sure if that helps, though.

LOL! You might be reading too much into things. Hehehe. I think the whale penis is mostly about emasculation or a bad end -- about a SEVERED whale penis. How such a great being somehow came to that sort of end..He's afraid he's coming into a similar end? That's why he had to remind himself that he's not a whale.

The sheep's supposed to be some mythical creature, I think? At least that's how it's described on the descriptions of the book!

Haven't continued the book yet. I'm sooo tired....

Btw, alright. Just use Celle. Hehe. Hi, Nikz! :D

That's alright. Let me know when you've finished the tenth chapter so we can move on and read the next ten. Is ten chapters a week reasonable for you? I'm also in this reading group, and they usually do a whole book a month. Do you think that's better?

Naw, sticking to 10 per week will keep us in a schedule. Hehe. I'll resume reading tomorrow. I'll read Ch. 9, 10, and 11! LOL!

Wait-- so have we moved on to the next ten? 11-20 for next week, then?

i just joined. one book a month with adequate notice (say, two to three weeks ahead) is excellent. you caught me at the beginnings of Dickens' David Copperfield, which is a lengthy tome, but I'll be ready for "Catch 22" come
about Sept. 6th. So Joe Heller's epic is our Sept. read, then? Right? the only thing i have that would make me take a month off is if you choose a book by John Grisham or Danielle Steele. I nominate something by King or Koontz for October, it being Halloween month. lol.
What book r u all discussing now, complete with whale's penises and such? i've not run across it, for sure. for sure.

Hi, andyray, and welcome! We've never done a book club before, so bear with us. Yes, we're planning on doing Catch 22 by Joseph Heller for our next book, because it's just one of those classics that you always hear about. I know most book clubs do a book a month, but we were toying with the idea of discussing while reading the book-- say, assigning the first quarter of the book to be read by a certain time, and discussing before moving on to the next quarter, or something like that. What do you think? Do you think it would be better to just do a book a month?

I love the idea of having a Halloween-appropriate read! I've read some Koontz, and I think that would be interesting. Oh, or we could do one of Anne Rice's vampire books. Or House of Leaves -- I've read so many reviews claiming it's the literary version of the movie "The Ring". Yeah, I definitely think we should do a Halloween read for October!

Oh, by the way, the book we're talking about is A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (hence the title of the thread and the group).

11-20, definitely! :D By when should we be finished? I'm still in the midst of our trip and we won't be back home til Wednesday!

Welcome, andyray! :D Like what shewhowearsred says, we're doing some discussing while we read. It might be a bit of a spoiler sometimes, but I think this would help us keep on track with the reading.

LOL! We can reserve our Steeles and Grishams for personal reading and not for group discussion. I think books best for group discussions would be ones with substance and actually require discussion?

What say you? :)

And Nikz, I'm all for a Halloween read! You think we'll be finished by Catch-22 by then?

How about we finish 11-20 by Monday next week?

Yeah, I would agree that we should keep to more substantial books in this group. John Grisham is a good read, sometimes, but he isn't exactly the type of author to inspire much discussion.

I think we should be able to finish Catch 22 in time to do a Halloween read. Let's get through A Wild Sheep Chase and Catch 22, and then we can talk about what to do for October.

On second thought, maybe we should go at a faster pace for A Wild Sheep Chase. How about we do 11-28 by Monday, Sept 3? Chapter 29 is the beginning of Part Eight, the last part, and we can do that all in one go the next week.

Maybe we should set a month maximum for each book. We could divide the book into four, read a quarter of it a week, and make a new thread for each week to discuss it in afterwards, while we're reading next week's chapters. That way we don't run across spoilers, as long as we post in the appropriate threads.

I really like the structure you guys are thinking about. I would love to join up for the Catch 22 reading.

Also, I have a couple of ideas for a halloween related book if you are into taking suggestions.

Thanks,
Nicole

Hi Nicole! Welcome to the group. My name is Nicole too, though usually I go by Nikki. We'd love to have you along for the ride when we get to Catch 22. I'll make a separate thread for Halloween suggestions!

Roger on 11-28 by Monday. I like the idea of having separate threads for each chapter and dividing by fours. That way, we restrict to one month per book!

I'm on Chapter 13. :D When do we begin discussing the next couple of chapters? Monday?

Yeah, that sounds good. I've already finished 11-28 (the story was so interesting!), but I know you're still out of town. Let me know if you need more time to finish it!