Sputnik Sweetheart - Panther S.

Publisher and industry reviews

UK Kirkus review

By now readers of Murakami know the drill: an everyday Joe gets caught up in strange and unexpected events that take him on a literal and metaphysical journey transforming his life forever. But within this consistent framework Murakami is continually surprising and inventive. Neither as surreal as The Wild Sheep Chase, nor as claustrophobic as Norwegian Wood, and more economical than The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, this perhaps combines the best qualities of Murakami's earlier work in a tightly constructed, moving and mysterious love story, imbued with a profound sense of mystery and melancholy. The bare bones of the plot are simple: school teacher K is in love with his longstanding best friend Sumire, who falls in love with the enigmatic Miu, a glamorous older woman whom she follows to a Greek island. Though Miu is fond of her young protege, she is not interested in her sexually. When Sumire disappears K goes to find her. The computer disc she leaves behind narrates some of the events leading up to her disappearance but poses more questions than it answers, her decision to force the issue with Miu and her reflections on the possible existence of a parallel universe leaving a disturbing clue as to what might have happened to her: 'All the dawns and all the twilights will rob me, piece by piece, of myself, and before long my very life will be shaved away completely - and I will end up with nothing.' K returns alone, troubled by dreams of Sumire and apparent sightings of Miu, but the mystery remains unsolved. Murakami's universe is tantalising, rooted in concrete everyday, even mundane details, and simultaneously overlaid with a sense of the profound mystery and ethereality of the universe. A quiet triumph. (Kirkus UK)