I really like the "Wild Sheep Chase". I think Murakami definately follows the unique detective writing style. Although the book is very strange I think it it keeps the audiance, for the most part, engaged. The book also has kept me interested and wanting to find out what will happen next. Rushdie's Haroun however, although very mystical, remained much more difficult for me to remain interested in. I think the intertextuality of a Wild Sheep Chase makes the book easier for younger people like us to stay interested. The numerous musical references and infamous stories like Moby Dick bring it closer to home. At first, because of the 1960s rock bands Murakami mentioned, I did not remember the book was set in Tokyo or that the main character was Japanese. As I get farther into the book it is still at times difficult to remember where the character actually is. I like the mystic of Murakami's writing. It is very interesting how he jumps around in time and confuses you because of it. The rat's letters made the story seem to jump into a completely different story. I can definately see a sequal or even maybe a book before this book with more information on the rat and his part in the whole thing. I think parts of the book are fairly unbelievable and that makes it awesome. Obviously a sheep entering a human being is out of the realm of the ordinary. I think it is interesting that Murakmi chose sheep. At first I didnt understand the reason, except for the whole sheep are followers ... mentality. I was very curious to find out if sheep really have entered people in asian mythology or legend. I looked for a while on the internet to see if anything popped up to confirm this idea, but I had no luck. I guess Murakami made that up. He does a great job of making seemingly ridiculous things come off as perhaps being true, or maybe not? Boku meeting the sheep man really threw me off. I am not sure what he really knows about the rat or the girlfriend but he knows something i think. It is also very hard to read his dialogue, a very interesting addiation to the already bizarre story.