The Ten Loves Of Mr. Nishino

THE TEN LOVES OF MR. NISHINO

by Hiromi Kawakami

 

Award: PEN/Translation Winner 2020

 

Date Read: September 18, 2022

 

The Ten Loves Of Mr. Nishino follows the travails of Nishino as he moves from woman to woman, searching for something that is lacking within himself. Having tragically lost his sister and niece, he seems to attempt to replace the emptiness he feels or to consume much of his time so he doesn’t need to think about his loss.

 

So Nishino is fated to bounce around like a ping pong ball, from woman to woman, terrified of actually falling in love. He proposes to multiple women but it seems like settling down is his worst fear. The only reprieve he has is that women fall in love with him and then end things on their own because they know they can never truly “have” him.

 

Kawakami, through the hesitant Nishino, uses vignettes of the women who have passed through his life at various stages and only through them are we able to know Nishino. Therefore, we know their perspective on his sexual prowess, his unknowability, his selfishness, his mystery. The women he tends to choose as lovers are independent, strong, capable of providing for themselves and are in control of their own sexuality. No shrinking or demure violets here.

 

Overall, a very satisfying read and an interesting insight into the progressing feminism in Japanese culture.

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