A Wild Sheep Chase was such a different read from what I'm using to reading in the horror genre. In the novel, I had a hard time being able to relate with some of the characters because it seemed as if something was missing. There's this feeling of detachment and disconnectedness throughout the novel, and I believe the namelessness greatly contributes to it. Names are so important in how to judge a person and determine their personality and how to describe them. To sum it up, names equal emotional attachment. Since the story is all written in the first person, I felt like I was living in his world. It was pretty miserable. The entire time the main character seemed to wonder if there was more to life. J-Horror is an expression of hopelessness.

I really liked the section of the book where there's a conversation about "mass production." The main character talks about our society today, its development, and how we name everything. He thinks it's a waste of time to give things names, if everything is mass produced, what makes anything special enough to have a name then? There's also this idea expressed on how communication between individuals is waning, which is a common theme in many stories and films around the world.

I liked the humorous writing style, or at least it was humorous to me at times. I think it was done on purpose. A Wild Sheep Chase is almost a detective/mystery novel, and the author Murakami is kind of making fun of the stereotypical "cool guy, macho detective." The book is basically a mystery without any solution. Life simply continues to go on.