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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
I didn't feel that I got to know Mr. Nishino THAT deeply through the accounts of his former lovers. From what I gathered, Nishino was a shitty partner and pretty questionable...and yet, I really enjoyed reading this. I loved the concept. But I think I was more interested in the women's lives in the end. It made me reflect on my loves and what it means to love someone and ask for love back.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
The ending resembled the way I felt after watching Wong Kar Wai’s happy together. Did Nishino ever felt happy? Despite being so easy to detest, I still wanted him to find happiness somehow.
I found this book captivating and really difficult to describe. I can see how it would be off putting, but I didn’t really see it as a book about Nishino, so much as a book about women reckoning with their relationships with a significant romance in their life — it just so happens that all of the women were reflecting on the same romance.
Most of the characters were unlikable in some respects and made decisions that I found difficult to understand — but who hasn’t watched a friend in love make inexplicable choices? I’ve thought about this book quite a lot since I finished it and I expect it’ll stick with me for some time.
Most of the characters were unlikable in some respects and made decisions that I found difficult to understand — but who hasn’t watched a friend in love make inexplicable choices? I’ve thought about this book quite a lot since I finished it and I expect it’ll stick with me for some time.
Kawakami creates beautiful pieces of literature, every story told and every characters shown are amazingly written and you really can get absorbed in the pages
Strictly speaking a 3.5
Despite the cliche topic of a ladies' man with a grief-stricken and conflicted background, seen through the eyes of ten of his past lovers, turns out to be a subtle character study of the protagonist with the ladies, and a nuanced exploration into the the dynamics of past romantic relationships, as well as how our identity and lives are shaped by them.
Despite the cliche topic of a ladies' man with a grief-stricken and conflicted background, seen through the eyes of ten of his past lovers, turns out to be a subtle character study of the protagonist with the ladies, and a nuanced exploration into the the dynamics of past romantic relationships, as well as how our identity and lives are shaped by them.
More like 3.5 stars.
The stories were a good read, and it was fun putting together the timeline of Nishino’s life wrt his loves. The writing was easy too. This book showed me a different side to the demure Japanese girl the media has shown me so far - I now know of a sexually liberated persona too.
The stories were a good read, and it was fun putting together the timeline of Nishino’s life wrt his loves. The writing was easy too. This book showed me a different side to the demure Japanese girl the media has shown me so far - I now know of a sexually liberated persona too.
I don't know if it's just me but I find it really hard to describe some Japanese literature. This is the third Kawakami I've read and it's just as odd as the others. The book is narrated by the ten "loves" of Nishino's life although Nishino himself seems to only have really loved his sister. He is a committed commitment phobe who seems to be in love with falling in love but then so are the women he falls in love with. Strange but I still loved it.
Really enjoyed this short story collection with the same subject: Mr Nishino.