A Wild Sheep Chase: 29-Epilogue

I have to say, I wasn't very impressed with the ending. Worse, the bad ending dragged my appreciation for the rest of the story down a bit. Why exactly was the main character sent on the wild sheep chase? The Boss' secretary said something about needing to draw 'him' out of himself to make sure the sheep didn't devour him, or something to that effect. I assumed that the 'him' was The Rat, but even then it seems like a poor excuse.

After reading the book I can see that its charm is supposed to lie in its symbolisms and the little tangents Murakami writes into the plot, and not the plot in itself. Unfortunately, I am a plot kind of girl, and I like for things to be resolved, or at least cohesively tied up better than Murakami did in this book.

Well, since I wasn't expecting much from the book (I had assumed I wasn't going to like it), I went the other way and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. I'm not much for symbolism (that's why I always preferred the realists and humanists), but the character-building was interesting.

Haha..Funny, towards the ending, I got scared. I guess the Rat's ghost scared me.

It reminded me of Paulo Coelho's book.. Was it The Alchemist? Not much of a plot but a bildungsroman for the main character.

Just the same though, I'd be happier with our next selection! It would be more fun to read, I think.

I hated The Alchemist. It's the worst Paulo Coelho book that I've read.

I think A Wild Sheep Chase is a book I'd like to read again, more slowly and with greater attention to the symbolisms now that I know that the plot is next to nonexistent anyway.

I still feel like I'm missing something. What was the point of the wild sheep chase?

I am currently listening to The Alchemist on CD and I have to say I am enjoying it. I agree not much of a "then this happened, and then.." plot and it certainly takes a little thought to connect the heart to the language of the world to god and back again, but enjoyable. It may be because Jeremy Irons (I think thats his name) is reading it, so I always think Diehard with a Vengence....

Sorry.... Im quirky.

I didn't like The Alchemist for the same reason I didn't like Tuesdays With Morrie. It's supposed to be full of life lessons, but honestly? I found them both altogether too trite for my tastes. I didn't learn anything that hasn't already been discussed to death in hundreds of other movies, books, and TV shows. But to each his own!

You should read The Devil and Miss Prym, CaptainNeo. I really liked that one. I think it's the best Coelho book I've read so far.

I didn't like The Alchemist, but I liked Tuesdays With Morrie. I think I liked the latter because of the way the lessons about life, death, and living were told.

Hrmm.. I'm not sure if I'd want to re-read A Wild Sheep Chase though. For me, it's one of those stories that read once is enough.

CaptainNeo, I don't blame you! LOL! When I hear Jeremy Irons, I think Die Hard with a Vengeance too!

Honestly, when I watched the Emma Thompson movie version of Sense and Sensibility for the first time, I got weirded out. Alan Rickman was supposed to be a BAD guy.

I also listened to Tuesdays with Morrie (I swear I really do read books!) and I liked Morrie, that was pretty much it. Reminded me of someone I used to know. I agree with you that the lessons in both are somewhat trite and played out, but if the author is good that usually doesn't bother me that much. I will say that I was so anxious to find out what the treasure was in The Alchemist that I was really disappointed when it was actually Spanish Gold, I was hoping for something a little more than money, although I think part of the moral is that the journey was part of the treasure or why else would he have travelled in the first place since it was right there where he began.

I will pick up The Devil and Miss Prym and see if I should add this Coelho guy to my Readable Authors list.

I think it's wierd how listening to a voice reading a book can give you a whole different experience. I just finished Sabriel by Garth Nix read by Tim Curry... awesome! Tim Curry illustrated the story with voice better than my own head could have I think!

I agree with you Ginger, good guys should stay good and bad guys should stay bad, how is that for labeling?