The Sputnik Sweetheart Summary

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The book I decided to talk about is The Sputnik Sweetheart written by Haruki Murakami. The book was published in 1999 in Japan and was translated to English in 2001. Born in Kobe on January 12, 1949, Haruki Murakami is nowadays a renowned Japanese writer. It met his first success with Hear Wind Sing. His writings are particularly marked by the importance of human feelings. The main character of this novel is named Sumire and wants to become a writer. Sumire falls in love with an older woman, Miu. Miu looks like Sumire in some ways even if this one doesn’t seem to have the time or the envy to share the aspirations and ideals of Sumire. The third character, a narrator whom we do not know the name of, is a school teacher that Sumire called twice …show more content…

That's what face the three main characters in the novel, The Sputnik Sweatheart, by Haruki Murakami. Starting of an ordinary university friendship, K. and Sumire develop a camaraderie relationship in which the young man can no longer be the simple confidant of the young writer. The latter is in love with her but has not the courage to externalize his feelings. In a parallel world, Sumire who is stuck in a routine where the creation of a novel does not succeed meets Miu, a woman whose business is very succesful and she falls madly in love, with her which will completely change her living habits. It was during a trip between the two women that K. learnt Sumire's disappearance. Thinking he will never see her again, the teacher gets a call from the Sumire via a phone booth, as she used to do before, indicating that she was back and she could resume her life and write the much vaunted book of her dreams. It is in the story of this love triangle that the author describes the impossible love, attachment and disappearance. Moreover, by showing us that K. does not confess his love to Sumire and that the latter has completely changed because of the encounter with Miu, Haruki Murakami emphasizes some of the main themes of postmodernism with depersonalization and the lack of