yeah..it's one of Haruki Murakami's books..very sad.
Sputnik Sweetheart is essentially
a three-character novel. Uncharacteristically slim for a Murakami
novel, it is the first novel in which Murakami explores lesbianism
in depth, though the principal themes are still familiar ones to
the Japanese author's faithful following: the effects of prolonged
loneliness and alienation, growing up emotionally stunted in a
densely populated and overwhelmingly conformist society, and the
conflict between following one's dreams and clamping down on them
in order to assimilate into society.
The heroine of the novel is an aspiring author named Sumire, who
falls in love with an older woman, Miu, who appears to like Sumire
for certain qualities, though she has no time for Sumire's
aspirations and ideals. The third character is the unnamed
narrator, an elementary school teacher, referred to once by Sumire
only as 'K', who is in love with Sumire, though Sumire does not
requite his feelings.
While Sumire is an emotional and spontaneous individual who often
appears to be a misfit in society, "K", the narrator, is a person
who has through sheer force of will moulded himself into another
person, one who integrates seamlessly into the wider society and
culture around him, and the transition leaves him emotionally
stunted and unable to express his feelings. When Sumire is also,
through her interaction with Miu, forcibly shaped into a person
other than she is, the transformation is neither permanent nor
successful, and Sumire disappears without ever being found or seen
again while holidaying with Miu in Greece, with tragic, haunting
consequences for Miu in particular.
The book's major themes include loneliness and people's inability
to truly know themselves or the people they love. This is
symbolized by the recurring metaphor of the Sputnik satellites
orbiting at a distance from the earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_Sweetheart
