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Sunday, August 4, 2024

925. Sputnik Sweetheart

Sputnik Sweetheart
Haruki Murakami
1999
Around 230 pages



















Murakami once again presents us with something original and strange. And we really needed a good chaser after the latest Houellebecq atrocity on the List. 

I'll admit it, I love a good love triangle. K is in love with Sumire, who is in love with a woman seventeen years older than her. Sumire mentions in a letter to K that she and Miu were going to vacation on a Greek island. K then gets a call from Miu, telling him Sumire has vanished.

Murakami's prose is haunting and enchanting, and you never quite know when things are going to take a turn for the otherworldly. He bridges fantasy and reality very well, so I never feel like I am stuck in some trippy nightmare that is ultimately rendered pointless by the ending. Instead, it's like being in an ethereal dreamworld.

I always love Murakami's protagonists, maybe because they always seem to be lonely introverts searching for something. And when you put such realistic characters in a surreal setting, the writing really sparkles. Highly recommended.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Project Orange and Weatherday named songs after this novel.

UP NEXT: The Talk of the Town by Ardal O'Hanlon

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