Starting in the Past

Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase starts off with disorientation.

We're dropped into the middle of events - but these events take place eight years before the events of the story proper. So, it's kind of like a prologue, but it isn't really announced as such. Because it doesn't give this clue it's easy to start into the story thinking that it's going to be about a guy who knew this potentially homeless, mysterious girl who would frequent coffee shops and whom he can only remember as "there was this girl who'd sleep with anyone" - though he goes on to note that she had standards. In the short short scene that she herself describes them it's pretty clear that she has them, but whatever they are remains with her.

After jumping ahead 8 years, it's revealed that the main character is recently divorced, though he meets a new woman by sheer chance. An ear model. Who's also a call girl and a part time proofreader. The scene where she reveals her ears in a full French restaurant reads like a terse description of something out of an anime. Yet, though the main character seems to not have an eye for detail, his similes and metaphors are, for the most part fantastic. Some of them, though, seem to get lost in translation.

Actually, I find myself reminded very much of 1Q84. We've got a 30-something, lost-in-life male protagonist, a mysterious female protagonist (?), and we see her tell him that he's only half living and that his lfie is not as boring as he believes it to be. Similarly we had Tengo and Aomame in Murakami's latest, though the role of the Goddess figure (to relate it all back to the Hero's Journey) in that one was played by Fuka-Eri.

Still, the wild sheep chase is just now about to start in earnest - so let's see where it leads!