9/18 Murakami, "A Wild Sheep Chase" 2

I’m sitting here at home, reading “A Wild Sheep Chase” and listening to Thelonious Monk, and all of the sudden everything is starting to come into perspective. I was excited to find Murakami was a John Coltrane fan early on and that jazz inspired his writing style. I was a bit hesitant at first as to how this could be, but after listening to Monk while reading Boku’s conversation with the Sheepman, the influences were obvious. Like Monk’s piano work, Murakami tends to jump from topic to topic, seemingly writing “Sheep” as he goes. At the same time, his writing shows a certain smoothness and quirky sarcastic swagger found in jazz. Both Murakami and Monk write complex and ostensibly random passages, questioning whether or not a piece necessarily needs to make sense in order to move forward. I haven’t read the ending of “Sheep” yet, but if it bears any resemblance to “Genius of Modern Music” or “Straight, No Chaser”, some beautifully bizarre moments are bound to appear.