Sputnik Sweetheart

Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel that encapsulates many ideas and concepts at once. The story (for the sake of this review, this is referring to the version translated by Philip Gabriel) is a patchwork mixture of mystery, drama, romance, and even part confession. Told through the narration of the main character (only ever referred to as K) and the occasional document or journal entry, the story largely revolves around K and his relationship with Sumire, his best friend.
The story of Sputnik Sweetheart begins with K's rambling introduction of Sumire's character. He details everything about her, from her family and education, to their friendship and his infatuation. Through this tirade, he also inadvertently introduces himself. They are both huge fans of novels, with Sumire spending her time as an insufferably unsuccessful writer and K drifting to whatever opportunity he's presented (at the time, this was a job teaching elementary school) and seemingly following no other motive or passion. The main conflict of the book is introduced with the third and final main character, Miu. Miu serves as the end point to the story's love triangle; K loves Sumire, Sumire has never felt love before Miu, and Miu doesn't seem to desire anyone at all, despite being near 40 years old and married. The rest of the novel follows K's perspective of Sumire and Miu's relationship, coming to a head with a disappearance and a surreal mystery based around the three character's pain, desires, and shortcomings.
Of this book's strengths, there are many. Despite having a relatively uneventful story for the majority of the novel, Murakami keeps the reader enthralled through incredibly compelling dialogue and character development. This book remains very accessible while also offering a bountiful amount of literary elements and character choices to analyze and enjoy. The surrealist nature of the second half also lends itself to allowing the reader to really pick apart every little detail to forge their own understanding of the events presented. This is also not to say that the book requires a ridiculous amount of analysis, as Sputnik Sweetheart is still very enjoyable when taken at a face value.
In an unfortunate ironic twist, Sputnik Sweetheart's biggest weakness also comes from the characters and their interactions. Murakami is somewhat known for having misogynistic themes within his writing and this novel is no exception. K has a tendency to treat women more like sexual opportunities than full people and many of the women in this book respond as he expects, falling for a man that offers them next to nothing and sees himself as intellectually above him. The sexual imagery depicted in Sputnik Sweetheart is also a bit unnecessarily grotesque, with K describing in full detail having to ‘suppress his urges' around Sumire, something framed as the feelings of a tortured romantic but actually just being a gross lack of respect for the woman he claims to love. While it is unclear if this is a reflection of Murakami himself or just the result of having a very flawed character being the sole narrator and viewpoint of the story, it casts an upsetting shadow over an otherwise really great story.
Overall, Sputnik Sweetheart is a very compelling look into the experience of human desire and unrequited love. It offers much to the reader in terms of analysis, both good and bad. Its a great read for someone looking for a more surrealist and psychological take on the romance genre and if one is willing to confront its occasional harsh flaws with a critical mindset.

Not mesmerising enough, for Murakami's standard.
Why do I keep going back to Murakami? Even after reading a disaster that was After dark?
For his characters.
This one too, has great chracters, but somehow the story wasnt convincing enough for me.
As always, he ends the story just where it should have begun in the first place.
Will take a break from Murakami for a while :)

A slow burner this one. It doesn't really get into Murakami quirkiness until the second half, when we get to the Greek Island, but then it's there in just the right amount. And the cats, of course. I'm still mulling this one over. May bump it up to four stars after some reflection.

I think I might have enjoyed this better if I read it before The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Like one reviewer has pointed out, I feel like this is a second rate version of that work even though this has been published later. They do have similar themes and plot devices like missing people, the separation of reality and dreams, even the setting of Greece! The narrative also felt a somewhat disjointed at times, especially when switching points of view from K to Sumire. Although this doesn't take away from the poignancy of the emotional themes explored in the novel, the writing did feel a little clunky in some parts.

On a positive note, the story did end up in hopeful and (more) concrete way than the rest of the Murakami books I've read so far (and there were a lot less sex scenes which quite bothered me while reading Norwegian Wood).

As with any book he writes, Murakami never fails to capture the feelings of alienation and loneliness that has been the trademark of his writing. My particular favorite is the following

“So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us—that's snatched right out of our hands—even if we are left completely changed, with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to the end of our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness...

will be a real treat!

My first Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart kept my attention the whole way through. This particular novel is outside my usual genre, and I'm glad I broadened my horizons by giving it a shot. His descriptions are fantastic without going too overboard as some writers tend to do. I will certainly be reading his other work as well. So long as it's just as good, I'm sure I'll be pleased!

Murakami always leaves a melancholic aftertaste unfailingly. This book is no exception in this case. I love how he spins his story and can sound anything perfectly believable.