The Ten Loves of Nishino

I read Hiromi Kawakami’s Strange Weather in Tokyo many moons ago, and that was quite a curious read. Even though it didn’t contain as many elements of magical realism as Haruki Murakami’s novels (I love Murakami’s works, despite not being the biggest fan of the genre), Strange Weather in Tokyo ventured into the realm of fantastical, and it was a lovely story, bittersweet in some ways. So I was very keen to read The Ten Loves of Nishino, the latest of Kawakami’s novels to be translated into English.

As the title alludes to, this story is about ten relationships of Yukihiko Nishino, the novel’s titular character, although not all of them are romantic entanglements. Told from the perspective of ten women whose lives crossed paths with Nishino’s, its chapters give us a glimpse into Nishino’s life – starting from his teen years and leading up to his late fifties. If the accounts of these women are taken separately, Nishino’s image they reveal is of a charming womanizer – a type of man women would be fond of, even after he leaves them. But when taken all together, we begin to see Nishino as a complex human being as any, even though the root cause of his flightiness is nothing out of the ordinary.

While Nishino is the central character in this novel, I was more taken by his women. From the get-go, most of them realize he is not a man likely to settle down, although that doesn’t stop them from getting involved with him. For some of these women, the relationship starts as merely a sexual one. And even when they sometimes fall in love with him in the process, we don’t see them being broken about him leaving. In fact, on several occasions, it is the women who do the leaving. This made me wonder if The Ten Loves of Nishino is inspired by the modern dating landscape in Japan, which I assume is growing casual judging by the decline in their marriage rates, and despite being unable to find any deeper meaning in this novel, it gets three stars for its fascinating prose!

Note: Many thanks to Europa Editions for sending me a review copy of The Ten Loves of Nishino.