A review by jentang
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

3.75

k should really just listen to pink triangle by weezer instead of strangely interjecting himself into nearly every instance in which sumire and miu are brought up together. additionally, i'm realizing that the most magical (read: fatuous) element to murakami's writing is the way he believes WLW relationships work. bizarre pubic hair descriptions and straight man having rape-y thoughts about his lesbian best friend aside (if you're brave enough to still read this book), i was quite pleased that it actually had somewhat of a quick progression and a generally solid plot. i enjoyed the stories contained within the story, as well as how open for personal interpretation the ending was. of course, these four elements as pictured in direct contrast could make for a frustrating / unsatisfying read on the whole, and i would be lying if i said there were zero completely irrelevant digressions from the plot throughout. continuing onwards, i did really enjoy sumire's character even though a strong case could be made for how she is just as insufferably written as murakami's other female characters in literature (i suspect it was because i strongly connected with her relationship to writing) so

her disappearance

did make reading after that point a bit flatter. a personal distaste for all of the characters could definitely sour the entire read despite the concrete plot presence i mentioned, but otherwise, this will probably be a decent, quick read for most. (also, from my initial written thoughts: i really just want to see sumire's dad's nose)