Posts
By Haruki Murakami
This is the first book I have read by the much talked about author. Maybe I should have started with other famous works of his like ‘Kafka on the shore’, because I am quite disappointed. Yes, true my blogs are only about the good books, but in spite of my disappointment I found the reason to include this book in my blog.
For one, it’s the most fast paced book and secondly, it’s un-put-down-able till the end! I opened the book and read it till the end without literally not putting down the book even once. I missed going out to buy birthday present for a special someone, I missed going out shopping to cook something fantastic on the birthday and I even missed lunch!
You’d expect a book which tracks loneliness in people to be boring. While it compares the lives of people to sputnik satellites, travelling alone in the darkness, the book is never boring. All 3 characters are fascinating: 2 of them realistic and one character surreal - two straight and one lesbian - one suffering from delusions, another stuck in the real world and Sumire suffering from malaise - which is as always, unexplained. The reason why I felt Sumire is not surreal is only because I suffered a malaise too when I was just about her age. Unfortunately it is bad enough to be true.
It’s a must read considering the style of writing is quite different, the journey takes you to Japan and then to Greece and then to an ‘inception-isque’ world of dreams.
It’s disappointing because it could have been longer, the dreams aspect could have been deeper and there could have been more explanation. It feels like you just ate cotton candy when you are through with this book – ‘I ate a handful, but nothing happened’!
This is the first book I have read by the much talked about author. Maybe I should have started with other famous works of his like ‘Kafka on the shore’, because I am quite disappointed. Yes, true my blogs are only about the good books, but in spite of my disappointment I found the reason to include this book in my blog.
For one, it’s the most fast paced book and secondly, it’s un-put-down-able till the end! I opened the book and read it till the end without literally not putting down the book even once. I missed going out to buy birthday present for a special someone, I missed going out shopping to cook something fantastic on the birthday and I even missed lunch!
You’d expect a book which tracks loneliness in people to be boring. While it compares the lives of people to sputnik satellites, travelling alone in the darkness, the book is never boring. All 3 characters are fascinating: 2 of them realistic and one character surreal - two straight and one lesbian - one suffering from delusions, another stuck in the real world and Sumire suffering from malaise - which is as always, unexplained. The reason why I felt Sumire is not surreal is only because I suffered a malaise too when I was just about her age. Unfortunately it is bad enough to be true.
It’s a must read considering the style of writing is quite different, the journey takes you to Japan and then to Greece and then to an ‘inception-isque’ world of dreams.
It’s disappointing because it could have been longer, the dreams aspect could have been deeper and there could have been more explanation. It feels like you just ate cotton candy when you are through with this book – ‘I ate a handful, but nothing happened’!
To read more log on to http://www.murakami.ch/about_hm/bookreviews/bookreview_sputnik_sweetheart.html
