History Literature / AWildSheepChase

* PutOnABus: The narrator's girlfriend leaves shortly after they arrive at the house. This becomes a BusCrash in ''Dance Dance Dance'', where we find out she was killed in the time between.

* SequelFirst: This is a sequel to ''Hear the Wind Sing'' and ''Pinball, 1973'', [[NoExportForYou neither of which have been released outside of Japan]] and possibly [[OldShame never will]].

''A Wild Sheep Chase'' (Japanese: 羊をめぐる冒険, ''Hitsuji o Meguru Bōken'') is a 1982 novel and an early work by HarukiMurakami. It follows a narrator who, shortly after his wife divorces him, is contacted by a mysterious figure who asks him to search for a sheep with a star on its back. So begins a strange and oddly humorous journey.

* NoNameGiven: No one in the book is ever referred to by name. This leads to two subtropes:

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When the Sheep is done with you, and you've fulfilled your potential, it'll abandon your body and leave you an empty shell. Said pretty much word for word by the Sheep Professor.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome:
** The narrator's girlfriend exposing her ears to him for the first time causes an entire restaurant to fall silent as the narrator stares at her in awe and recalls far-off sounds and scents.
** The secretary's description of the sheep definitely comes off as this. Due to various circumstances, sheep are meticulously documented in Japan, and the secretary takes care to play the star sheep's mere existence as a practically otherworldly anomaly.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: When the Sheep if done with you, and you've fulfilled your potential, it'll abandon your body and leave you an empty shell. Said pretty much word for word by the Sheep Professor.

* EmptyShell: Once the sheep leaves you, you become this.

* LineOfSightName: Junitaki, which a census-taker made up based on the ''twelve cascades'' in the nearby river.

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler: Turns out the Rat was this.]]

* SharpDressedMan: The secretary's smart clothing is brought up in the narration every time he appears, although the narrator considers him overdressed and would assume him to be homosexual if not for his sterile demeanor.

** The secretary's description of the sheep definitely comes off as this. Due to various circumstances, sheep are meticulously documented in Japan, and the secretary takes care to play the star sheep's existence as a practically otherworldly anomaly.

* CloudCuckooLander: The Sheep Man

* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: The sheep, as it turns out, posses people and uses them as a vessel, them leaves their body once they're no longer useful.]]

* NoNameGiven: No one in the book are ever referred to by name. This leads to two subtropes:

** In the sequel, ''Dance, Dance, Dance'', we find out that his girlfriend's name is [[spoiler:Kiki]], although whether or not this was her real name is left ambiguous.

* PostHumousCharacter: [[spoiler: Turns out the Rat was this.]]

''A Wild Sheep Chase'' (Japanese: 羊をめぐる冒険, ''Hitsuji o Meguru Bōken'') is a 1982 novel and an early work by HarukiMurakami. It follows a narrator who, shortly after his wife divorces him, is contacted by a mysterious figure who asks him to search for a sheep with a star on its back. So begins a strange, and oddly humorous journey.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: The narrator's girlfriend exposing her ears to him for the first time causes an entire restaurant to fall silent as the narrator stares at her in awe and recalls far-off sounds and scents.

* TitleDrop: Given towards the end, by the secretary.

* HikikoMori: The Sheep Professor.

''A Wild Sheep Chase'' (羊をめぐる冒険, ''Hitsuji o Meguru Bōken'') is a 1982 novel and an early work by HarukiMurakami. It follows a narrator who, shortly after his wife divorces him, is contacted by a mysterious figure who asks him to search for a sheep with a star on its back. So begins a strange, and oddly humorous journey.