Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel by Haruki Murakami. It's my second Murakami novel after A Wild Sheep Chase. Sputnik Sweetheart is par for the Murakami course, striking a balance between generic semi-romantic novel and magical realist adventure. It was shorter and easier to ingest than several of Murakami's novels, especially his more recent ones, but it lacked some of the wonder that A Wild Sheep Chase engendered and that was special about Murakami. In short, it seems like similar fare, just shorter and somewhat less memorable, although still worth reading.
The story is set in 1990s Japan, and concerns two mid 20s students, a boy called K and a girl named Sumire. K loves Sumire, while Sumire is too wrapt up in becoming a great novelist to reciprocate. That is until Sumire meets the mysterious and middle-aged Miu, a sophisticated woman who owns a business importing wine. Sumire falls for Miu instantly and only becomes more infatuated after Miu employs Sumire as an assistant and typist and invites her on a trip to Europe. However, the European excursion takes a sordid turn, which requires K's intervention.
The novel is almost identical to A Wild Sheep Chase in many respects, which is what I've read is to be expected from most Murakami novels. Both involve a humdrum nobody male protagonist, a mysterious woman possessed of an unexplainable attractive power, and supernatural events of magical realism. Both novels feature a mostly uninteresting first half, followed by a magical realist turn, and a denouement the sees the protagonists adapting to their radically altered worlds and lives post-crisis. So far, Murakami is 2/2 on this format. I don't anticipate serious departures from this formula in a third novel.
The novel does have some appealing features. Firstly, it's fairly short at only slightly above 200 pages. That makes it an excellent weekend or evening reading choice. Secondly, the novel focuses more on female characters than A Wild Sheep Chase does. While it doesn't have a female protagonist, Sumire is almost a co-protagonist due to how much time she spends in dialogue with the real protagonist, and in how most of the action in the book is centered around her. So Murakami gets points there for more female engagement.
What the book lacked that made it a lackluster Murakami book was the abrupt leap into the supernatural that was so arresting in A Wild Sheep Chase. Sputnik Sweetheart hints at the supernatural event for several chapters before coming right out with it, whereas A Wild Sheep Chase threw you into it with no forewarning. Also, the nature of the supernatural event in Sputnik Sweetheart is more conventional than in A Wild Sheep Chase, which features such a strange twist midway through that it leaves one scratching one's head. It was quite enchanting, whereas this was a more obvious turn.
Ultimately, the book was entertaining and good, but it left a little to be desired. A Wild Sheep Chase was the better Murakami novel between the two. Having read this one, my next Murakami novel will likely be Norwegian Wood, his breakthrough novel and one that many of his fans have recommended. I hope it features more of the characteristics I liked about my first Murakami novel.