This first half of the book gave me equal satisfaction as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel of what could have been, what might have been, where worlds overlap, & love can never quite be divorced from lust. In the world of K, Sumire, and Miu, sex is often mistaken for love. Sputnik Sweetheart is strangely haunting but oh so hard to describe; is it a tale of unreciprocated love, unrealized ambition, and desire, of always wanting more? Even with it being filled with unreciprocated love rather than love, it is also one of the most romantic books ever written. Yes, at it’s heart, Sputnik Sweetheart is a romance novel. Wait, Sputnik Sweetheart is a detective novel. Perhaps it's neither; perhaps I'm entirely wrong. Hmmm ... do any of us really know what a Murakami novel is about? Srdjan advised me not to overthink Murakami. Perhaps he's right ... or maybe he's not. In particular Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is not the best place to discover Murakami. It’s the most difficult of all his books, and that is both it’s biggest blessing and worst curse. Many readers start with Norwegian Wood as it is the least strange (yet so very warm and lovely) and by far his biggest selling book. As Anne said, Nikki, there is nowhere better to start a Murakami adventure than with Sputnik Sweetheart. As the night wore on I read of K, the typical Murakami protagonist, and his friend Sumira who he met at university. They shared a bond as they were both outsiders who read voraciously. Sumira was named after a character in a Mozart song, a beautiful song with what Samira felt were ugly lyrics. This irked her. Why would her mother name her after a character in an ugly story? Sumira meets Miu, a successful business woman, at a wedding and falls in love with her. Miu recognises something she likes in Sumira and asks her to come work with her. Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences.If ever love has transformed a person it does Sumire. She becomes Miu’s assistant, exchanging a life of compulsive all night writing and chain smoking for a regular nine-to-five job. She buys nice clothes and changes her hairstyle, begins to appreciate wine and learn Italian, and soon moves into a bigger apartment. Together, Miu and Sumire set off on a business trip to Europe, leaving K. behind to console himself in a series of meaningless affairs. But when a distraught Miu calls K. out of the blue from a small Greek island to say that Sumire has disappeared without a trace, he drops everything and travels halfway around the world to help find her. Overall Sputnik Sweetheart feels somewhat incomplete. While the team has made a commendable effort in capturing the book’s mood, it comes at the expense of the depth and the heart that makes Murakami’s work so beloved. I changed my mind (previously I rated it 4/5 🌟). I cannot rate this book any lower. Because at many levels, I can relate so much with this book. Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing. Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'.

How many Sumires have I known in my life? No less than four I would say. None of them vanished like smoke, and yet they are far away somehow.

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In a similar way to the novel, the play leaves it up to the audience to interpret events. Did Sumire break through into another dimension or reality? Has she returned and resumed her life? Was it all a dream, a fantasy by K? A final enigmatic phone call leaves the audience contemplating the nature of reality. Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse 'Peter Cat' which was a jazz bar in the evening in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife.

Adaptor Bryony Lavery has filleted the story down to its essential elements, in a brisk 80-minute telling that reflects the book’s peripatetic nature. The plot is a love story-cum-mystery, centering on a young teacher, K (Naruto Komatsu), and his friendship with aspiring novelist Sumire (Millicent Wong), who travels from Japan to Europe in pursuit of an older woman, Miu (Natsumi Kuroda), only to subsequently disappear.The narrator, a 25-year old teacher, K is in love with a 22-year old lesbian writer, Sumire. However, Sumire is in love with her boss, a 39-year old married businesswoman, Miu. Miu and Sumire, working as the former's personal secretaty, went on vacation in Greece as a side trip from a business trip in Italy. Sumire told Miu her feelings. Because of her past, Miu could not reciprocate Sumire's love. The latter disappeared "like a smoke." Miu and Sumire set off on a business trip to Europe, leaving K. behind to console himself in a series of meaningless affairs. But when a distraught Miu calls K. out of the blue from a small Greek island to say that Sumire has disappeared without a trace, he drops everything and travels halfway around the world to help find her.