I read and was utterly charmed by The Nakano Thrift Shop last year, so I was eager to read something else by this author. Unfortunately, Ten Loves of Nishino was disappointing in comparison. The idea is interesting enough, depict a man through the lenses of ten of the women he has dated. The relationships occur throughout his life, from the time he was a teenager until his death. The relationships were of different types: more or less sexual, older women, younger women, love, friendship. Nishino is self-centered and rather boring, and the women's voices are so similar as to blur into one (although translation may have effected this as well). Although I appreciated the concept, I felt that it was not executed as well as it might have been. ( )

I picked up this book at the bookstore during #witmonth and read it for #januaryinjapan, so I think it's fair to say that about half of my reading these days is determined from bookstagram. Plus, I couldn't resist this cheery cover.

I was utterly charmed by this collection of stories, each told from the perspective of a different woman who knew Nishino, and to some extent fell for his charms. I enjoyed how different the women were, and how different the relationships they had with him. A later story in the collection makes some interesting parallels between Nishino and a cat named Maow. Like a cat, Nishino was happy to wander into their lives demanding petting and fish, but also like a cat, you never know when he is getting pets and fish elsewhere.

I enjoyed this collection even more than I expected, and will almost certainly read more Kawakami in the future. ( )

Nishino is an enigma. Presented here at different points in his life are ten perspectives on him. Each is from the point of view of a woman who loved or was loved by him, though “love” appears to be an essentially contested concept throughout. At times Nishino claims that he doesn’t know if he is capable of love. At times one of his female companions attempts to throttle her love only to find the controls subsequently shattered. Sometimes (often) love is expressed sexually. But not always. And despite the definite article in the English title, it is evident that Nishino’s love-making has not been restricted to ten women over the course of his life. So why these women? Why their particular stories?

Possibly, these ten perspectives are meant to generate a rounded view of Nishino. But to me, he remained inscrutable. We learn a few important tidbits about his personal history. He had a much older sister who after a troubled marriage, an infant death, and the breakdown of the marriage, commits suicide. It is very likely that in one way or another Nishino’s “loves” are a response to or reflection or refraction of that seminal incident in his life. But since we know so little otherwise about him — he dresses well, is polite, works hard in an office job, is a generous lover — it is difficult to come to any satisfactory conclusion. He is also duplicitous, frequently two-timing his sexual partners, unwilling or unable to commit himself, consistently opaque to himself, and ever haunted by the sister he feels he failed somehow.

If the novel does not present a comprehensive view of Nishino, perhaps its goal is instead to canvas aspects of womanhood. The women at the centre of each of the ten chapters are very different in some respects, though they might be said to share a common fascination with and flexible relationship to “love”. Yes, “love” as a concept, since they are typically always questioning either whether they are in love or whether they should decide to be in love or even what love is. It’s as though their interaction with Nishino triggers these reflections. Perhaps then this is a study of ten different ways of love being in the world, in which the persistence of the character of Nishino is merely incidental.

One thing is clear. Kawakami does not make claims to comprehensiveness. There is a lightness (despite sometimes dark subject matter) to her writing that belies ponderous statements. Or perhaps there is a flickering to lives themselves that makes firm conclusions inappropriate.

Gently recommended. ( )

‘Did he ever find a place for himself in this relentless world?’

I'm torn with this; I so wanted to enjoy it, but felt frustrated pretty much all of the way through. It opens as a ghost story, but any sense of that is dropped, as each chapter (in many ways each being its own short story) deals with various women who have loved or been loved by the eponymous Yukihiko Nishino. Whilst he remains a constant, we only see him through the eyes of the women, and so I never really got much of a grasp of his character (and from what I did, he was pretty unremarkable, even unlikeable). And because the books dots about back and forward in time, and shifts perspective between a succession of women (although occasionally one will appear in another 'story') we never really learn much about the female characters in any real depth. There was too much 'I didn't want to fall in love with him but I did (swoon)', and not enough real insight.

The intent is worthy, to give a number of perspectives on love, relationships and the people involved, but the narrative voice of each different female character is so unvaried that it was difficult to distinguish between them. It as only with the last 2 or 3 chapters that I felt any variance, and although these last few stories sort of tied things up, it was a little too little too late, for me.

Kawakami is a great writer but this just didn't quite hit the mark, and whether that was the translation (which felt a little disjointed at times) or just the lack of depth - and hence, lack of empathy - I just didn't feel that this was Kawakami's strongest work. After some pondering, I'm going with 3 stars - OK, but not great. ( )

As many readers of my blog will know, I have a deep love and affection for Japanese fiction. It seems to be on the whole both calmer and stranger than fiction originally written in English and deal with people’s quirks more lovingly. The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino is filled with that calmness, yet is rich in detail and atmosphere. It packs a punch for its 195 pages.

The plot of The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino is simple – Mr Nishino’s lovers (all women) talk about their love affair with him. The stories are not told in chronological order, but move from adulthood to high school and to his older age. The reader only hears from Mr Nishino through the stories his lovers tell, never directly. We also never hear about from his mother or sisters directly, it’s up to his lovers to reveal what they know about his family and past. This sounds like it all could get too complex to hold together in the reader’s head but it really doesn’t. The story is told in such a natural, conversational way that you can’t help but soak up the detail of a main character who is always on the sidelines of the narrative.

Each woman is unique, with her own voice as she tells the story of her time with Mr Nishino in first person. Slightly strangely, all of the women remember Nishino fondly and nobody bears a grudge against him (even the women who wanted to marry him). Some fall for Nishino hard and fast, others hold a piece of themselves back as the wonder where the relationship will go. Sometimes it goes nowhere. Sometimes it feels like giddy, summer love and others like the real thing. But the candle that burns brightly burns out. Nishino loves these women, but something is stopping him from giving them everything. As the women tell their stories of parfaits, cats and boardrooms, Nishino’s past is gradually revealed. As this happened, my opinion of him changed from a Lothario who can’t help but fall hard to a man who is searching for something elusive that he can’t quite describe…

You could read each chapter of The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino almost as a stand along short story focusing on Mr Nishino, but as the book progresses there are clever links to previous girlfriends and events. It’s very cleverly done with the overall tone of the book hopeful with a tinge of melancholy. Allison Markin Powell has given Hiromi Kawakami’s work a unique voice that carries through in both of Kawakami’s books I’ve read (The Nakano Thrift Shop is just as delightful). It’s a beautiful story, light yet nourishing for the soul. I eagerly await more English translations!

Thank you to Allen & Unwin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

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