Summary

The novel opens with a blurb about the Sputnik satellites, launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. The second of these, Sputnik II, was launched with a dog named Laika inside. The satellites did not return to Earth.

In Chapter 1, the unnamed narrator, later called by the initial “K,” describes his friend Sumire and her first time falling in love. Sumire was 22 years old and an aspiring novelist. She met K while they were both attending college in Tokyo, where the novel is set. Her first love was a married Korean woman in her late 30s named Miu who once attended music school. During their first conversation, Sumire told Miu that Jack Kerouac was her favorite writer. Miu, grappling for the word “Beatnik” during this conversation, asked Miu, “Wasn't he a Sputnik?” (7), causing Sumire to refer to her in conversation with K as her...