Just Finished "Sputnik Sweetheart"

...and can't say I was too impressed by it. A lot of the themes in this I'd already read in other novels: The idea of a Miu being only "half" of her whole (like Nakata in  Kafka On The Shore), the narrator looking at the moon and taking comfort knowing that the one he loves is looking at the same moon (like Aomane and Tengo in 1Q84), etc.

In my opinion the story seemed so loose. The narrator doesn't even seem to react with much feeling when the love of his life disappears, never to be seen again. A sub-plot with his student getting picked up for shoplifting...why was so much detail put into that arc?

And that ENDING... I mean, I can make my own assumptions of what it means, but really when it ended I was like "Huh???" Argh, Murakami, sometimes you too frustratingly vague.

Edit: Just finished "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End Of The World", and that was much, much better...In fact, it was pretty great!
Say, only have to finish "Wind/Pinball" and I've read all of Murakami's novels! Never thought i'd accomplish THAT one!