BOOK OF THE WEEK - SPUTNIK SWEETHEART

'SPUTNIK SWEETHEART - HARUKI MURAKAMI - Award Winning Japanese Contemporary Writer

″ Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness? " - Sputnik Sweetheart

Twenty two year old, Sumire is madly in love for the first time with an older woman, Miu, a married wine importer who lost the capacity for love when she went through a traumatic experience as a student. Surprised that she might, after all, be a lesbian, 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 about her?"

K, a primary school teacher, is used to answering questions, but what he most wants to say to Sumire is "I love you." But he knows Sumire only considers him as a close friend, nothing more. To get his mind off Sumire, 'K' consoles himself by having an affair with the mother of one of his pupils. At the same time, Sumire sets aside her passion in writing to work as Miu's personal assistant, and the two head off to Europe on a business trip. Sumire mysteriously disappears, and Miu summons K to help search for her.

Sputnik Sweetheart is the first novel in which Murakami explores lesbianism in depth.In this novel the characters all live in their own world and each is lost in this space like the satellite of the title, Sputnik. The novel explores unrequited love-triangle, sexuality and the fragility of friendships and acquaintances. This wonderful simply written book is another masterpiece by Haruki Murakami, who critically acclaimed for his previous international best sellers The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997) and Norwegian Wood (2003). In this book, Murakami again displays the minimalist craftsmanship that has made him a critic's darling both in Asia and the West. Perhaps better than any contemporary writer, he captures and lays bare the raw human emotion of longing. Definitely must read for you who like to dwell beneath the surface of human emotion.

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Product Details :

Category : Fiction

Languange : English

240 pages, Paper Back

IDR 100.000<180.000

Available at Aksara Bookstore. Pacific Place Jakarta, 4th Floor. www.aksara.com