Sputnik Sweetheart: A Novel

Murakami, the master, has created another story deep with symbolism and humanity. He has the ability to draw you into stories that take you in circles but always bring you to a point where you can come to your own conclusions. Masterful

There’s a lot going on in this book and I’m gonna open this by saying that I had a huge urge to change my rating because I looked up multiple analysis of the ending after finishing the (book because I was so confused). But, I feel it is best to stick to my initial thoughts. As always reading my reviews might lead to ruining the book for you. So if you plan on reading it, and don’t want to spoil it, don’t read this review.I want to start with as brief of a summary as I can. The narrator is a male teacher in his mid to late 20s only referred to as K. K is in love with a friend from college named Sumire. She was in college with the desire of becoming an author but dropped out before graduating. Sumire has never experienced romantic love or sexual attraction. she meets an older woman 17 years, her senior named Miu and becomes inexplicably, drawn to her, falling in love with her and sexually attracted to her. Miu is a married woman and doesn’t feel sexual attraction to anyone. Miu hires Sumire as her personal secretary (presumably because she just wants to be around Sumire). inexplicable magical, realism events take place when Miu is 14 years younger, and it traps part of her“ the other side“. The way they describe this previous event is Miu was trapped on a Ferris wheel over night at a fair because the machine operator was drunk and forgot she was on the Ferris wheel. She uses binoculars at the top of the Ferris wheel and looks into her apartment window that she can see from where she is. In the apartment she sees herself having sex with a man she loathes named Firnando. Miu wakes up in a hospital with pitch white hair and zero understanding of what happened. Miu and Sumire vacation to Greece where Sumire professes her feelings and somewhat gets rejected. Miu says she believes if Sumire met her before she was “split in two” she’d love her. Sumire goes missing that night. Miu calls K and flies him out to Greece. When K finds Sumire’s things in her room he reads through her journal and looks into a floppy disk. He learns about the inexplicable things that happened to Miu 14 years ago and is convinced Sumire is trapped on the “other side” because she wanted to meet “the other half” of Miu. Anything and everything beyond this point goes into conspiracy and different beliefs of what exactly each reader thinks happened. Not every reader agrees on whether or not K actually left Greece.The ending was about as vague as can be some people believe K committed suicide other people believe the magical half of magical-realism, and think that K went to “the other side“ note: the other side is not referring to afterlife. It is a parallel universe. Some people Believe K went back to life as normal, and simply dreamed of Sumire.I’m not fully sure what to believe but, I don’t think there was a parallel universe. I believe the change in appearance that happened in Sumire when she met Miu and the change in appearance of K after Sumire disappeared is a foreshadowing that is based in their mental states. I believe Miu also went through a change in mental state, but the reason she didn’t die or “disappear” is because she survived meaning: did not kill herself. Her hair permanently turned white, which can happen in times of extreme trauma, but she survived. Even though she survived she was never the same, which is a common occurrence when somebody gets that close to suicide. I believe after feeling rejected Sumire killed herself. I have zero idea where her body went. That’s one thing I don’t have an answer for I believe after reading all of Sumires letters in Greece she went through a light psychosis, which explains the unexplainable music playing in the middle of the night on a mountain in Greece. I believe K left Greece. I believe K broke up with his girlfriend (the mother of one of his students) to tie up his ends and I believe the reason something seemed off when he was talking to a security guard was because he was a shell of his former self. I believe the night he was called by his friend, was actually him killing himself to be with her.This is not a popular opinion. A lot of people like to go with the more magical side of magical-realism, but I like to believe magical realism is just a way that authors explain what seems to be unexplainable. In reality sometimes we must exaggerate what we see to make them more accurate to our own perception when speaking to others Some people look at this as an embellishment of the truth, but I think it’s the way of trying to get someone else in your headspace. I don’t think there’s actual magic in this case of magical-realism. I believe this was just the best way the author found to describe his plot and vision I believe his plot is based fully in reality, but adding magical elements and extraordinary elements in a way made everything more real and more relatableI think writing off everything that happened as magic or parallel, universes defeats all significance of the novel

the title is explained in the narrative and adds to up to an ongoing inside joke.told from the perspective of a young unnamed man this is mostly the story of his friend Sumire and her unrequited love for an older woman known as Miu.real friendship, great conversation at 2am, a trip to a Greek island and dreams that become real - told in a way only Murakami can do.I really enjoyed this mostly overlooked Murakami my 16th novel not including short stories. waiting enthusiastically for more.

This is a review of the paperback Sputnick Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami2001 edition by Vintage International. There are entire chapters of Murakami ethereal writing but taken together it is hard to tell if this is one completed story. Most of the book and most of the plot is a lovely story, folding into a classic Murakami mystery. By the end it is unclear what if anything he had in mind. At least three plots collide into a confusion. The use of language is wonderful, credit to translator Phillip Gabriel, but the authorship is not that of a writer who knows where he is going.The interesting title derives from the one of the triade of central characters to remember the difference between “Sputnik” and “Beatnik”. There is great romantic love between,among the male narrator and the two women but a great deal of the dramatic tension is based on which if any of the members of this triangle will ever declare or act upon their love for either of the other.As is usual in Murakami books the narrator is a nameless male. He is employed (a grade school teacher) even if he never seems to do much except be available for his younger college friend Sumire. While she is described as a previously un-romantic and socially disassociated soul. The book begins with the announcement that love has entered her life in a single moment “A veritable tornado sweeping across the plains, flattening everything in its path tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shred, crushing them to bits. “ She has fallen in love with a person 17 years her senior, married and female. So much for the first two paragraphs.This is not a classic Murakami combination, but we will find a number of his usual conventions, tropes and assorted accoutrements. The woman with money and time to burn. European classical music, the aforesaid nameless detached narrator, the face in the crowd and late in the book, magical realism.I did not dislike this book, only because I already liked Muri kami. I was enjoying what looked to be him applying his stable of effects without reference to any through the looking glass tricks. And yet that is where we arrive. Who are these people on this side and who are they on that side and what happened if the trick is to take the road not taken, except what happens to those we leave behind? These are all worthy questions and the kinds of questions that make for great literature. Sputnik Sweetheart got confused along way.

Murakami is simply an excellent one of a kind author.

I cannot get enough of Murakami’s writing. I love his deep, unique, troubled characters and the ones in this book are no exception. There is reflection on deep loss, life after loss as nowhere else in this book, yet profoundly beautiful and comforting. It feels you are not the same person after reading this; it adds a new dimension to your life, one that you never knew it existed.

Il romanzo di Murakami è avvincente, romantico, un po' triste, quasi un viaggio nella mente e nei sentimenti di Sumire. Consiglio fortemente di leggerlo. Lascio tre stelle perché l'articolo, come si può notare in foto, è arrivato in cattive condizioni.

Sputnik sweetheart is yet again a beautiful masterpiece by Murakami. Known for his surrealistic conviction woven into a realm of magic realism, Murakami has never disappointed and this book simply proves that. Unlike his other novels, this is comparatively short and tells a story of three characters sumire, miu and K, the narrator. Sumire is in love with Miu who is 17 years older than her and to add, is a married woman. She talks about her desires with her best friend K, who is secretly in love with Sumire but he is certain, the love is unrequited and has no future. Then one day, sumire disappears. Like a smoke. Like. a. Smoke.Just vanished mysteriously.The complex stories of each character is woven beautifully into a masterpiece that highlights many important aspects of post modern literature.The special thing about Murakami is his characters. They are mostly alienated and confused. Loneliness spreads around them like a fragmented clouds. (Am I being poetic. Ok, murakami's magic on me. Not anywhere near him, though) Another best thing about this novel is the writing style. It's so gripping and so exquisite that it takes you on another world.So, someone who wants to read Murakami and is skeptical where to start from, pick up this book. It's kind of a novella and you wouldn't have to spend days and days to finish this unlike his other notable works.Read. Re-read and...you're welcome:)"No matter how cleverly we might shelter it, our delicate friendship wasn't going to last for ever. We were bound to reach a dead end. That was painfully clear."

L’un des meilleurs Murakami. Comme d’habitude, l’intrigue est mince, l’accent étant mis par ce grand raconteur-analyseur de l’esprit et du quotidien des communs (et moins communs) des mortels sur l’interaction, le dialogue, les conséquences d’évènements et situations à l’apparence banale. Savourez-le, quand vous serez dans votre véhicule, mieux encore si la conduction est assuré par quelqu’un d’autre ...