The last writings tell of Sumire's dreams revolving around failing to communicate with her late mother before she (in the dream) disappears to the other side and of Miu's pieced-together backstory. K reassures her that this writer's block is probably just the result of acclimating to changes in life, but Sumire is only able to do one more spate of writing before she disappears from a mountain cabin while vacationing with Miu on a Greek isle. However, as a result of following Miu's lead in life, she finds herself unable to write. Sumire takes up work for Miu's upscale import-export business, and is introduced into the world of fashion, wine, and reserved high society. When talking about the literature that Sumire is into at the time, Miu misremembers Kerouac as a 'Sputnik' instead of a 'Beatnik,' giving the novel its title. Instead, she falls in love with an older woman named Miu, whom she meets at a cousin's wedding. She dropped out of college to pursue writing, and is a bit of a misfit, and a bit of a manic pixie dream girl. After a solitary childhood, K's interactions with Sumire greatly expanded his horizons, and he often serves as a sounding board for her late-night phonecalls and her novels that never quite congeal. His main social interaction is with his friend Sumire, an aspiring novelist with whom he is in love.

The novel's narrator, K, lives a quiet life as a schoolteacher, a few years out of college. This summer was one of his older and shorter books, Sputnik Sweetheart, which was a sad book about unrequited love. Murakami is another author I have strictly rationed, allotting one book every summer.

Sputnik sweetheart