Sputnik Sweetheart

Another Murakami's book that I enjoy reading.

"Understanding is but the sun of our misunderstandings. "

Confusion leads us to understanding.

Another dip into Murakami's world, where female characters hold no desires of their own and exist only to fulfil the male protagonist (a decidedly "average looking" guy who still possesses some kind of talent with women, despite his over all mediocrity) and Murakami's sexual fantasies. Until they no longer fulfil those fantasies, at which point, they simply disappear.

شكل من أشكال الهلوسة
لم أعد أعرف من رحل للعالم الاخر ومن بقي
ومن امام المرآة ومن ذهب خلفها
و من يهلوس و من يفكر بعقلانية

ضاعت الطاسة يا جماعة

«اسپوتنیک سوییت‌هارت»
کتابی به قلمِ «هاروکی موراکامی» نویسنده‌ی نامدار، مشهور و دوست داشتنیِ ژاپنی که از دسته‌ی رمان‌های به سبکِ مجیکال رئالیسمِ اوست.

نام کتاب: «اسپوتنیک» نامِ ماهواره‌ای است که در سال ۱۹۵۷ توسط شوروی به مدار زمین پرتاب شد، آن ماهواره یک سرنشین داشت(یک سگ به نام لایکا) و آن سگ نخستین جانوری بود که پا در مدارِ کره‌ی زمین می‌گذاشت، تنهاییِ آن سگ الهام بخشِ انتخابِ نام برای موراکامی بود به همین دلیل است که در کتاب از زبانِ راوی می‌خوانیم:
«آخه چرا آدم­ها بایستی تا این حد تنها باشن؟ اصلا هدفش چیه؟ نه، واقعا؟ میلیون­ها میلیون آدم تو این دنیا چشم­شون به بقیه­س تا بلکه یکی پیدا بشه و بیاد اون­ها را از تنهایی در بیاره ولی باز آخرش همه­شون تنهان و غرق در انزوا و خودشون تو عزلت نامحسوسی حبس می­کنن. آخه چرا؟ یعنی زمین فقط به این خاطر شده زمین که به بشر تنها غذا برسونه؟»
و آن بخش دومِ نامِ کتاب یعنی «سوییت هارت» هم به این خاطر به آن اضافه شده که یکی از شخصیت‌های کتاب یکی دیگر را «اسپوتنیک سوییت هارت» خطاب می‌کند.

داستانِ کتاب در مورد زندگی و روابطِ به هم گره‌خورده‌ی ۳شخص که شامل یک مرد(راویِ داستان) و دو زن(سومیر و میو) می‌باشد، راویِ داستان به سومیر که عاشقِ نویسندگی‌ست علاقه دارد و سومیر نیز در یک جشنِ عروسی با زنی به نامِ میو آشنا می‌شود و در همان نگاه اول با اینکه آن زن سال‌ها از او بزرگتر است عاشق می‌شود. سومیر در شرکتِ میو به عنوان دستیارِ شخصیِ میو استخدام می‌شود و روزی به همراه او به مسافرت رفته و پس از اتفاقاتی که در داستان می‌خوانیم در جزیره‌ای در یونان گم می‌شود... .

این رمان به هیچوجه یک داستانِ عاشقانه‌ی معمولی نیست، اوج هنرِ موراکامی را در داستانِ «میو و چرخِ فلک» در فصلِ دوازدهم می‌خوانیم که در آن میو نصفِ شب در کابین چرخِ فلک در بالاترین نقطه گیر کرده و متصدیِ شهربازی دستگاه را خاموش کرده و رفته، میو در آن نقطه با دوربین به اتاق خانه‌ی خود نگاه می‌کند و با چشم‌های خود، خود را در حالِ انجام دادنِ یک تابو با شخصی دیگر می‌بیند. این حسی که موراکامی به خواننده در این داستان القا می‌کند برای من بی‌نظیر بود، همه‌‌ی ما قطعا تابوهایی در ذهن خودمان داریم و ممکنه آن‌ها را در رویا یا فکرمان تجزیه تحلیل کرده باشیم اما تجربه‌ی دیدنِ تقابل خودِ واقعیمان با آن تابو در عالم بیداری یک حسِ توصیف ناشدنیه، حداقل برای من.

این کتاب نیز همانندِ تمامِ کتاب‌های موراکامی، تمامِ المان‌های همیشگیِ او را در برداشت از جمله: موزیک، ورزش، زن، آشپزخانه، سکس، فقدان و از همه مهمتر گربهههههه :) گفتم از همه مهمتر گربه که من چندین فصل به خودم می‌گفتم یعنی چه! این کتاب نوشته‌ی موراک��میه پس گربه‌ کجای داستانه؟!؟ تا اینکه موراکامی گربه‌ها رو به زیباترین شکلِ ممکن وارد داستان کرد، از گربه‌ی سومیر در بچگی گرفته تا گربه‌های آدم‌خوار :)

در نهایت کتاب را دوست داشتم، حقیقتا برای نمره دادن بهش بین ۵ و ۴ ستاره گیر کرده‌ام چون نقدی که به رمان داشتم بر می‌گردد به داستانی که موراکامی در فصلِ پانزدهم(یک فصل مانده به آخرِ رمان) تازه شروع کرد! معتقدم موراکامی اگر یکم به این داستان شاخ و برگ اضافه می‌کرد به بهای اضافه شدن چند فصل خیلی عالی‌ می‌شد و یا اینکه این داستان را واردِ رمان نمی‌کرد چون اگر اینطور بود هم عملا لطمه‌ای به خطِ داستانیِ اصلیِ رمان وارد نمی‌شد. به خاطر این نقد می‌خواستم یک ستاره ازش کم کنم اما حقیقتا وقتی کتاب لحظاتِ قشنگی برای من ساخت و من رو باز هم در دنیای خودش غرق کرد دیدم حقش نیست به ویژه اینکه خود داستانِ فصل پانزدهم که در بالا گفتم هم تجربه‌ی بسیار زیبایی بود و حس حال آن پسربچه‌ی پرحاشیه واقعا خواندنی بود مخصوصا وقتتی موراکامی توصیفش کرد که کلیدِ انباری که دزدیده بود رو از جیبش در میاره و به راویِ رمان می‌ده، جدا وقتی چشمم رو می‌بندم صورتِ اون پسربچه میاد جلوی چشمم :))

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It would be safe to say that I do have a bit of an uneasy relationship with Murakami’s work. I read and was not blown away by it. Over the last couple of months, I have picked up several of his short story collections but never felt compelled to finish them. The main reason why I do not get on with his work is that, well, his women are on a league of their own when it comes to female characters written by male authors. I cringed many times while reading Sputnik Sweetheart: his portrayal of the romantic/sexual relationship between Sumire and Miu, the two women at the centre of the narrative, was yikes. It often went from being slightly ridiculous to straight-up ludicrous. That he chooses to tell their story through ‘K’, our male straight narrator, is also somewhat iffy. While K acknowledges that it may be unusual for him to tell Sumire’s love story, he doesn’t provide a particularly satisfying answer. I mean, I honestly think this could have been a much stronger novel if the narrative had alternated between Sumire and Miu. Anyway, we are stuck with K and his creepy male gaze. When we first meet him he is a college student who has fallen in love with Sumire, who is very much the classic Murakami female character, in that she’s Not Like Other Girls. She’s messy and in the throes of an existentialist crisis. She often confides in K about her fears and desire, and he takes on the role of listener, never revealing anything particularly substantial about himself, keeping readers and Sumire at arm's length. He often recounts Sumire's experiences from her point of view, which obviously necessitates our suspension of disbelief, given that he would really have no way of being able to provide such detailed descriptions of her experiences, let alone her inner feelings. Anyway, K gives us an impression of what kind of person Sumire is, her somewhat skewed worldview, and speaks of her writerly aspirations. Eventually, Sumire reveals to him that for the first time in her life she has fallen in love. K is disappointed to learn that he is not the person in question and that Sumire has fallen for Miu, an older businesswoman of Korean heritage. Sumire begins to act in a way that Miu approves of, changing her style etc. to earn Miu’s favor. As Sumire begins to work for Miu, her feelings intensify to the point where she is no longer able to contain her emotions. During a work trip to an island on the coast of Greece Sumire disappears. Miu contacts K and he travels there. Although Miu tells him of the events that led to Sumire’s ‘vanishing’, the two struggle to make sense of what led Sumire to just disappear. Here in classic Murakami fashion things take a surreal route, as the line between dreams and reality becomes increasingly blurry. There are feverish visions that lead to life-altering consequences, hypnotic dreams, and, of course, inexplicable disappearances. The ‘intimate’ cast of characters does result in fairly charged dynamics between Sumire, Miu, and K. K, of course, did serve a somewhat unnecessary role but by the end, I could see why someone as lonely as Sumire would find comfort in his continued presence. They have bizarre conversations about human nature, love, sex, and so forth, and some of these were fairly engaging. Overall, Murakami certainly succeeds in creating and maintaining a dreamlike atmosphere and a melancholy mood. The late 90s setting casts a nostalgic haze over the events being recounted by K. I just wish that Murakami's depiction of women and lesbians wasn’t so corny. From the way he describes women's pubic hair to his strongly held belief that women are obsessed by their breasts (particularly nipples), to his dubious comments and takes on same-sex love….well, it was not for me. I found his language turgid in these instances, either funny in a that’s-idiotic-kind-of-way or just plain gross.

There are other classic Murakami elements: characters who love talking about literature, jazz bars, and classical music. While K is more mysterious than his usual male characters he was not exactly an improvement model. He has some rapey thoughts and instincts that were definitely off-putting. Miu’s strange ‘affliction’ is also quite out there and I found Sumire’s attempts at a ‘declaration’ to be problematic indeed as it bordered on sexual assault. But if you can put up with dated and frequently icky content Sputnik Sweetheart does present readers with an immersive tale of yearning and loneliness. I appreciated the storyline’s unresolved nature and the sense of surreality that permeates it. I will probably read more by Murakami but I will do so when I am in the right state of mind to put up with his peculiar sexism.

”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?.”

Straight to the favourites shelf for me!

A novella sized story that deftly has you feel all the nicks and cuts of deep friendship and the torment of unrequited love.

As quirky as the story is, the underlying theme of loneliness is hard to ignore, as it pervades most of the pages.

Sumire is a chain smoking, Kerouac reading college dropout, who is best friends with our narrator who is simply named K. Sumire is an aspiring writer who rings K in the dead of night or wee small hours, while K is slowly withering away in the corporate world. She’s the ying to his yang. K is more than a little bit in love with Sumire and hopes their friendship may one day go to the next level, until Sumire meets someone else. At a wedding of all places. And this someone is a woman. Seventeen years her senior. Which begs the question, “what’s it all about?”, as K asks himself often. Sumire vanishes from a Greek island with her love interest Miu (who has a bunch of her own issues that aren’t resolved).

Their three lives become entangled and intertwined, and you never quite know where you’ll end up. Which is a bit like life really.

And this story has one of the best doppelgänger scenes in it that I’ve ever read. It blew my mind.

In his imitable way Murakami has the ability to make you feel the perspective of each of the characters. And leaves the ending more than a bit open ended, so that you can decide for yourself how it really ends. Or did it?

For such a tiny novel, this sure packs a punch. Buddy read with the wonderful, talented Mr.Neale-ski. We talked about this book so much and still have questions. So many "what ifs".

”We each have a special something we can only get at a special time of our life. Like a small flame. A careful, fortunate few cherish that flame, nurture it, hold it as a torch to light their way. But once that flame goes out, it’s gone forever.”

Love, love, loved.

When I first read this (in 2007) I felt bad about rating such a wonderfully written book with just Two Stars!

With my second reading (in 2008), I began to see the light with a 7 out of 12, Three Star rating - my one sentence review: 'Second and more enlightened reading of this almost poetic masterpiece about a loneliness, self-identity and relationships, I think?'

BY my third reading I could simply put out there, that this is a poetic masterpiece about loneliness, self-identity and relationships, I'm sure! It's also all kinds of cool that the relationship that this book centres around is a same sex coupling and that, that itself is not an issue. All hail the King! 10 out of 12. Five Star read.

And yes, I know that's a Norwegian Wood GIF, what's your point? :)
2016 read; 2008 read; 2007 read

A near perfect exploration of lonliness.

Lost in the immense metropolis of Tokyo, three people desperately seek each other trying to break the eternal circular journey of loneliness; a trip similar to that of the Russian satellite Sputnik, where the dog Laika revolved around the Earth and directed her astonished gaze towards infinite space. The narrator, a young primary school teacher, is in love with Sumire, whom he met at the university. But Sumire has only one obsession: to be a novelist. She is also considered a rebel, she dresses like a boy, smokes like a carter and rejects any moral convention. One day, Sumire meets Miu at a wedding, a middle-aged married woman as beautiful as enigmatic, and falls passionately in love with her. Miu hires Sumire as secretary and together they embark on a business trip through Europe that will have an enigmatic end.

Murakami's usual delicacy is very present in this story, leading us to meet the characters through their most everyday and seemingly insignificant actions. Any small detail (the way to grab a cup of coffee or remove the hair from the face) is a good excuse to discover a new aspect of the personality or the past of the actors. Another must-see element of the author's prose is melancholy and this book was not going to be less. The deep feeling of loneliness radiates toward us, in one way or another, from each of the characters. The Greek island on which part of the plot develops, acts practically as a character that interacts and bewitches. Murakami has definitely captured all the emotions that accompany a person as he or she grows up, in society, and in the search for the place where you belong. As always he adds a pinch of broken family.

It's a mysterious journey between the edge of reality and dreams. Tangible reality and parallel realities are mixed to bring us closer to the deepest fears and motivations of the protagonists. In the case of this book, that fictional world superimposed on the stage acquires a very sinister tint. Especially in relation to the story of Miu: a dark event in her unresolved past will tragically mark the rest of her life. The magic in Murakami's texts is not only in individual characters, but their relationships to each other.

There have been times when I have felt quite disconnected and sometimes impaled by the narrative style, especially in the dialogues, but still it was worth it and I feel like to continue exploring the author's work. The end, in just one page, has been a breath of fresh air. Finishing this book (or Murakami in general, perhaps) is like coming out of a packed local bus after spending couple of hours at Bijoy Shoroni Signal. I usually do not like books that philosophize a lot, most of the time I find that they are pretentious or that they exaggerate their characters a lot, making them analyze every little detail of their life in search of "the truth" or "the true meaning". But this is a book, which, rather than giving you the answers, only leaves you with the questions and it is up to you to see beyond what is written or simply pass it by.

The way of telling the facts and linking the characters is interesting and keeps the reader motivated from beginning to end. The inclusion of mystery and ambiguity in a realistically configured world also seems to me as a strength. That is what allows to give a literary thickness to Murakami's stories. Sputnik Sweetheart is a novel that excites, intrigues and makes one think. Absolutely recommended. I've read both the Bengali and English translated version. Loved them both. Kousik Zaman vai did fabulous job.