A Wild Sheep Chase

The SOOLG (significant others of literary geeks) book club is kicking off soon, on January 11! Our first book is A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami. I really enjoyed this book, but I am completely at a loss as to what it meant and how to discuss it. I am hoping that other people will have some insight.

Since I foolishly volunteered to come up with the discussion questions, I have been scouring the tubes for some help. A few are out there, but not enough. If you’ve read the book, I could really use your help on this! Please, please, help me out by adding to this list in the comments. (Did I mentioned that I didn’t understand this book?)

1. The sheep invades several people. What does the sheep represent?
2. Why are no proper names (other than “Kipper”?) used?
3. What’s up with the whale penis stuff?
4. Who exactly is the Sheep Man? What’s he doing there? Why do his words run together when he speaks?
5. What do the girlfriends’ ears represent? How are their various powers relevant to the story?
6. Women in the story are mainly sexual partners of the narrator (e.g., “the girl who would sleep with anyone”, the ex-wife, the girlfriend). Are they even important to the story?
7. What is the meaning of the office that the narrator watches from his room at the Dolphin Hotel?