The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino

The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami traces the life of a man through the women who loved him — ten stories, each from the perspective of a different woman who knew Nishino at a different point in his life, building a portrait of a man who was charming, elusive, and finally unknowable. Kawakami’s formal invention here is characteristic: she approaches her subject from the outside in, through memory and angle and partial view, creating a cumulative picture that is simultaneously intimate and mysterious. The result is a meditation on love, memory, and the gap between how we experience someone and who they actually are. Published by Portobello Books with Kawakami’s characteristic prose precision, this is essential for readers who have discovered her through Strange Weather in Tokyo and want to explore her work further.