Sputnik Sweetheart

"This woman loved Sumire but couldn't feel any sexual desire for her. Sumire loved this woman and desired her. I loved Sumire and felt sexual desire for her. Sumire liked me, but didn't love me, and didn't feel any sexual desire for me. I felt sexual desire for a woman who will remain anonymous. But I didn't love her." There, in a nutshell, is the soap-opera that drives the plot of Sputnik Sweetheart, but to assume therefrom that the novel is merely a soap-opera would be a grave mistake. Rather it is a metaphysical novel about the loss (and discovery) of the self, the loss of youth, creativity, and a pocketful of other things. Having recently read two collections of Murakami's short stories, I am increasingly convinced that he might as well leave the short form alone. Novels are his forte, and one looks forward to the long one he is rumored to be at work on now.