Rating: 
Summary: Baaaaaaaaaaa! (Trans: SUGOI, or WONDERFUL)
Review: I think most of what can be said about this book has already been said... but let's put it plain and simple. I like sci fi, I like this book. Murakami has a tendency towards the insane... but makes it seem like reality. Somewhat. This book is perhaps one of the most delightfully messed up, insane, but reality based books I have read in ages. Trust me, you won't get it. But it's a fun read, and relatively short (plus it has Hitsuji in it! (that means sheep in Japanese)). I won't recommend purchasing it, but borrow it from the library or a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Most Whacked Out Books I Have Ever Read
Review: I enjoy Japanese authors, Kawabata, Dazai, Mishima. All very different in style, but all presenting serious work. So when I randomly picked this book up after seeing it was by a Japanese author, I really had no idea what I was getting into.I more or less read it in one sitting because it's quirkiness grabbed me. A lot of people compare Haruki Murakami to Kurt Vonnegut. But I have to tell you, after reading nearly all of Vonnegut's work (Excluding Happy Birthday Wanda June, and the two "new" books, Bagombo Snuff Box and God Bless You Dr Kavorkin), Vonnegut is a thousand times more lucid. That isn't to say I didn't like A Wild Sheep Chase, it was bizzare, humorous, and at times touching (when the protagonist visits the beach he used to hang out at, and finds that it has been filled in and there now sits pavement really affected me.)And in many ways the non clarity could be considered a strength. When you have a story as absurd as this one, trying to explain the universe in which it is operating can cause it to just fall apart. But I was also left with a feeling of, "What the hell is this guy trying to say?" Then agian, does he really *have* to say anything? Interesting characters and extremly fun. I enjoyed it and would recommend A Wild Sheep Chase.
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Summary: Brilliant Wordsmithing
Review: Murakami is probably one of the most brilliant authors alive today. What's his work like? Think an updated Vonnegut for the new millennium, think Dali painting in words. His deft combination of surrealism and postmodern apathy aptly captures the attitudes of today's youth and whisks the reader away on a nonsensical journey that leaves them craving more of Murakami's unique worldview. Thank goodness he wrote a sequel, "Dance, Dance, Dance".
Rating:
Summary: Haruki Murakami rules!
Review: Just when you think you've read everything, and there's nothing new, here comes Murakami with his delicious books (if you read 'SHEEP CHASE, you'll end up reading them all). Creating the mystery and fun of a detective story with minimalist style, master Murakami reinvents symbolism and the Japanese novel while telling a wondrous story of sheep, a quest through urban to rural Japan, and ghosts. (The ending of this book will haunt you!) Simple details--drinking a beer while raiding the refrigerator, putting on a jazz record, taking a nap--punctuate the action in Haruki Murakami's worlds. Noble and yes, melancholy details--breathe life into this remarkable and quite funny work of a modern literary genius.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much 'Wild', not enough 'Chase'
Review: When reading a review of Murakami, I stumbled across references to Chekhov, Kafka, Carver, Tom Robbins, Vonnegut. All favourites of mine. The conclusion, then, would be to simply add Murakami's name to this illustrious list. Well, not so fast, pardner. While I enjoyed the beginnings of this existential detective story (my own addendum to the above list would be Paul Auster, whom I also adore), the characters turned out to be too vague and uninteresting, and the story too breezy to sustain my interest. I found my eyes glazing over for pages at a time, because nothing interesting was happening. In the interest of fairness, I should note that many of my misgivings about the story might be the fault of the translation. I will give Murakami another chance, though, because I do see much potential for him and I to be close literary friends. Anyone who can draw comparisions like those listed above can't be all bad, can they?
Rating:
Summary: Well done, Alfred Birnbaum
Review: As with most of the other reviewers, I very much enjoy Murakami's view of Japan and love his wonderful use of the absurd. A special word though must go to the translator Alfred Birnbaum who did such a great job on this and also on Hard Boiled Wonderland (which is an even better quasi-detective yarn). Reading this book, hilarious in part, insightful and desperately sad in others, its not hard to see why Murakami is one of Japan's best selling authors.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the "Fun Reads"
Review: By calling this book a "Fun Read," I don't mean to imply that there is a scarcity of things to think about. There is plenty. Murakami simply doesn't insist that you think about them. It is pleasant to read this book at a fevered pitch, allowing the layers to rest unconsidered below the surface, validating and facilitating the fun. Murakami grants us that freedom by creating a protaganist who skims across the surface of things himself. Murakami's prose is not unaware, he just makes it very easy for you to be aware. I have heard complaints that Murakami recycles themes and characters from book to book. Well, here's one guy who's not complaining.
Rating:
Summary: Murakami is the man!
Review: Murakami is one of my all time favorite authors. I admire his lyric style, his mood painting, his searing perceptiveness as he gets right into the human soul, and his imaginative powers. His books transport you to another time and place -- this one quality perhaps more than anything else is the sign of great literature. When I read this book, I entered Murakami's landscape of magical happenings and incredible twists and turns. It says worlds about Murakami that those who bought Sheep Chase immediately went and bought all his other books too. This one was one of my very favorites -- positively mind-altering!
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Summary: For those who don't know, this is the third one
Review: For those who don't know, this is the third book of his chronology: (1) Listen to the Wind Song; (2) 1973's Pinball; (3) A Wild Sheep Chase. Of course, after that, you have Dance, Dance, Dance. A story about "I", "Mouse" and "Sheep Man" - with the grand finale in "A Wild Sheep Chase." So, if you like this one, read Murakami's first novel, Listen to the Wind Song and proceed. Finish off with Dance Dance Dance in the Dolphin Hotel of Sapporo. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Best Murakami
Review: This was the first of Murakami's translated works I read and it is the most absorbing because it is a tightly woven mind exercise. It reminded me of some of my favorite childhood books: a Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as well as Wrinkle in Time. You may find yourself joining the protagnist for his favorite drink while you read along. I am amused that Mr. Murakami has translated Raymond Carver's work into Japanese as Mr. Carver wrote of his quiet observations of mundane working class life. Mr. Murakami's ordinary "Joe" starts there but is launched into a mission of the bizarre, leaving the reader with the question: did he really go there, or were we transported into the mind of someone having a psychotic episode because life of the mundane is as good as it gets?
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