Reader In The Rye

To start with, I believe it is important to give an overview of a plot. ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is a novel by Haruki Murakami, originally written in Japanese. It focuses on Sumire, a young girl who dropped out of college in order to pursue a career as a writer, and is narrated by a character who refers to himself as K. To cut a  long story short, attending a wedding reception Sumire falls in love with a woman called Miu who is 17 years older than her. Sumire’s friend K is in love with her and wonders whether he would make a right choice if he confessed such a thing to her. After some time Sumire becomes Miu’s assistant and starts travelling with her across Europe. During their time in Greece, K being in Japan receives a desperate phone call from Miu who claims that Sumire mysteriously vanished like smoke.

This novel talks about sexual desire, love between the same genders as well as people’s inability to truly get to know themselves and the people they love.

 ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is the second book written by Haruki Murakami that I’ve picked up. The first one, ‘Norwegian wood’, I liked very much specifically because of a number of characters which made a favourable impression on me even though at times I found them utterly annoying and could not understand neither their behaviour nor their actions.  

So the characters of ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ turned out to be just the same, although in my opinion more humble and easier to process and understand. On the other hand, just as confusing.

What I do not like about Murakami’s novels is the fact that he leaves them deliberately unfinished and unresolved. But, to my way of thiniking, it might as well be his way of telling his readers that all of us have a different point of  perception and in that manner an ending of our own.

All in all, three stars go to ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ since many parts seemed random and not carefully connected. Furthermore, I had a feeling that the writer did not develop this significant relationship with his characters and seemed to be quite shy and distant. In addition, they could be more elaborated.

I will definitely pick up more of Murakami’s books in the future. Maybe even next week you will have a chance to read my review of Murakami’s renowned trilogy ‘1Q84’.

M.K.