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Sputnik Sweetheart

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Sumire is in love with a woman seventeen years her senior. But whereas Miu is glamorous and successful, Sumire is an aspiring writer who dresses in an oversized second-hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Kerouac novel.

Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to her best friend K about the big questions in life: what is sexual desire, and should she ever tell Miu how she feels for her? Meanwhile K wonders whether he should confess his own unrequited love for Sumire.

Then, a desperate Miu calls from a small Greek island: Sumire has mysteriously vanished...

© Haruki Murakami 2001 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Coming of Age Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance

Critic reviews

Sputnik Sweetheart has touched me deeper and pushed me further than anything I've read in a long time (Julie Myerson)
How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration
A beautiful novel, as light as a feather, and yet enduringly sad... a captivating book from one of the world's most interesting authors
Murakami has been compared to everyone from Raymond Carver to Raymond Chandler - which should tell you only one thing: he's unique
Confirms Murakami as a master of his craft... Out of this world
Grabs you from its opening lines. . . . [Murakami's] never written anything more openly emotional.
Murakami is a genius.
Murakami has an unmatched gift for turning psychological metaphors into uncanny narratives. -
An agonizing, sweet story about the power and the pain of love. . . . Immensely deepened by perfect little images that leave much to be filled in by the reader's heart or eye.
[Murakami belongs] in the topmost rank of writers of international stature.
All stars
Most relevant
Coming from an incomplete Norwegian wood ( i will get there, eventually) i was hoping for the surreal dream like narrative of Murakami. it took a bit to develop but was worth it. Kafka by the shore is still number one for me, but this one was quite light (volume wise) and easy to follow.

enjoy the book. it's a good one 🙂

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The story is well written, but the story itself leads nowhere. It did help me fall asleep but that’s about it.

Least enjoyed book from Murakami’s works

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But still worth listening to on a rainy day. The Narrator does a really good job.

Not one of Murakami's best books.

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As a huge fan of Murakami I continued my journey to read all his books. All of them stuck with me, but this one was very hard to get into at first. I think I even only started to enjoy it at the end. If you’ve ever felt loneliness (ie if you’re a human being) then it will strike you in one way or another. It will hurt and you will feel the solitude of the protagonist as your own, but that is the beauty of this book. Although we’re lonely, we’re all connected to the same line that connects us to reality.

Painful but worth it

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Another masterpiece about human loneliness from Murakami. I just wish the narrator were not Adam Sims. I almost didn’t get this title because I know his voice from other books, and I find it unbearably reedy and creaky. This performance was less grating than others I’ve listened to whilst reading, but I still found it irritating.

Incredible story, creaky voice

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