‘If there was anyone I hated, it was ly to be Nishino.’

Who we love can often be surprising. There’s a whole industry of storytelling about that with many common tropes enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, you get the point. The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami, beautifully translated by Allison Markin Powell, revolves around women who have fallen for the cool womanizer—Yukihiko Nishino—and how it has impacted their lives. What really works here is the way Kawakami has each chapter from a different woman’s perspective, focusing more on them than Nishino, who slowly comes into focus as we perceive him from teenage years to his death from the vantage points of those who he slept with. However, this book would be more aptly titled Ten Victims than Lovers and Nishino is such unbearable garbage manipulating his way into bedrooms and sobbing about his inability to remain monogamous as if it should make him pitiable instead of repulsive. Kawakami does well to show that even the worst of people have deep pains and scars and to remind us of empathy, though humanizing a sexual predator is an odd choice and even if you can feel for him it doesn’t mean I want to spend much time with him. Having very much loved The Nakano Thrift Shop and Strange Weather in Tokyo, this book was quite a disappointment despite having Kawakami’s signature calm and poetic prose and an exciting and effective narrative structure.

‘Kissing Nishino was wonderful. More wonderful than anything I had ever known. And kissing Nishino was also sad. It was one of the saddest moments I’ve ever known.’

I should have just listened to Luce’s review on this one, but even when the book was eye rollingly annoying I pressed on because I really do enjoy Kawakami’s storytelling. Particularly when she gets introspective, which there is plenty of in this novel. She does well to center the women in this novel instead of the abuser and shows how each of them has a rich and unique interior life despite Nishino’s insistence later on that ‘all the girls I’ve ever known, at least, they’ve all been the same’ (said in a scene bemoaning that women get upset over his infidelities as if somehow they are wrong for expecting him to, you know, not be lying constantly). The best of the chapters have Nishino more as scenery interjecting himself into their narratives, such as the chapter In the Grass that would work as a standalone coming-of-age short story about a girl dealing with the absence of her mother. While I understand what Kawakami is doing, the chapters that focus directly on sleeping with Nishino don’t work as well because he is so uninteresting and repulsive that each time you are just waiting for it to be over.

‘Nishino was cool. But his coolness was lined with warmth. That’s what was difficult to reconcile.’

Each chapter proceeds with another account on knowing Nishino, and it is quite an effective way to slowly reveal details about him while keeping him fairly enigmatic. You get very different impressions on him based on each speaker, though always conclude he is bad news. He is described as ‘savage,’ and later as ‘affable’, a person of ‘slippery, elusive perfection’ and almost always as someone who left a life worse than when he arrived. Each woman detects there is something emotionally wrong with him, saying things such as ‘It wasn’t that he tried so hard not to fall in love—rather it was perfectly natural for him not to feel love. He wasn’t capable of it.’ Yet when he sleeps with them, as with this narrator, they believe despite all that ‘now, he was in love with me.’

The biggest problem with this novel is that Yukihiko Nishino is pure toxic trash. I mean just an absolute dogshit human being. He gaslights everyone, he is emotionally manipulative and abusive, he has no regard for consent and definitely is okay with sexual assault as a way to seduce women. ‘I said, Stop, over and over,’ one woman tells us, ‘each time he quietly replied, I will not stop.’ When he is in his mid-fifties and dating an 18 year old college student, she pleads with him to wear a condom and he flat out refuses every single time and blames her for ovulating. Sure, these women do have real feelings for him, but its also important to consider how there are trillions of reasons women act polite to men or have a hard time breaking things off out of fear for their lives or other repercussions, particularly with a man who is fairly wealthy and well-connected Nishino. He is described as being very good looking and is also an expert at emotional manipulation, making him rather dangerous.

Here is his own account of how his relationships go when they know he is sleeping with several women at once and promising each they are the One:
’Once it comes out...things are a mess for a couple weeks. About a month later, the strong willed ones (and occasionally a weak-willed one) will make up her mind to leave. As for the girl who’s left behind, the situation with her remains cheerful and pleasant for an average of three months. But once the thrill of victory is gone, the girl begins to reflect calmly upon Nishin’s past behavior and, by the fourth month, the accusations begging to fly...I just cant’t trust you anymore…I still love you but it’s too painful...’
Nishino creates some sort of weird sex Hunger Games between women and then feels he is the victim when they aren’t down with him commintting constant infidelity. Just seems not a great guy. That sort of energy is fucked up and we need to do better by everyone and not normalize that sort of weaponized misogyny.

Nishino breaks up close roommates by sleeping with them both and letting them be mad at each other, takes women he is dating on dinner dates to meet former girlfriends and watches them coldly interact, and, to be fair, lets each of them know other women are always calling him but insists to each one they are the special one. Which is his standard trick, to make each woman feel they are The One despite all evidence to the contrary. Many admit ‘I had always assumed I would never fall for such a line,’ yet it works every time, even on the 18 year old who insists she doesn’t believe in love (that whole chapter is really creepy but does have some strong Sally Rooney vibes that makes it resonate). In a way, Kawakami is showing how manipulative men can be a wrecking ball. When each relationship inevitably breaks down, he proposes to them as a last ditch effort. When they turn him down because, at that point why wouldn’t they, he gives a teary speech about how he wanted to love them forever and more or less shames them for not being strong enough to love him despite his flaws. UGHHHH

Having the chapter where Nishino is dating the girl 40 years his junior comes as the second to last chapter, almost as a last straw for any goodwill you might possibly have for him. Then she returns to his own college years to finally give you a big key into his emotional state (one you may have guessed at earlier, in a really bizarre scene where he is breastfeeding from his older sister). I think the intent was to make you recontextualize everything you’ve read and pity him because you understand him better, but honestly, not working. Yea, I’m sad for him, but that doesn’t justify his actions or make me feel I needed to spend that much time on him (which is saying a lot because it’s a very short book). If maybe he was less abusive this would have worked better but I think it’s okay to feel empathy for bad people while still having boundaries. Nishino is someone that manipulates women into feeling bad for him and does nothing but siphon women’s emotional energy and emotional labor. Boundaries are important, especially when not having them was causing these women emotional harm from thinking they had to be his emotional support as well as sleep with him on command (he repeatedly just grabs the women and holds them down to have sex, he even chains one to his bed while he is gone) and I wish Kawakami approached that more in the book. Honestly, I feel for the guy and it’s sad he won’t seek the help he needs, but also fuck him.

Which, to be fair, is a way in which misogyny is self-defeating as well. Nishino clearly has unprocessed trauma. Everyone mentions it and it is pretty clear he knows it as well. But instead of seeking any help he continues this pattern of toxic relationships that are helping nobody and because all his bad behavior is normalized it becomes something more “oh, that Nishino yuk yuk yuk” instead of “holy shit man, get a therapist and stop relying on the emotional labor of women as unpaid therapy”. It’s a major reason we need to work towards removing the stigmas of mental health struggles and expand access to aid. This is particularly a problem in mindsets of masculinity where seeking help mental health is stigmatized as weakness. Pretty much everyone in this book is going through some stuff and nobody is dealing with it productively, which is just passing the torch of trauma from one person to the next and infecting everyone instead of handling it and ensuring it doesn’t cause anyone else harm. And that is the real tragedy of this story.

It is a real bummer that this book didn’t work because Kawakami is such a good writer and I have enjoyed her others a lot, but everyone gets one and I’m still eager to read more of her. I think this book opened up a lot of important topics on manipulation and abusive relationships, though it never quite added much productive commentary and overly relies on excusing Nishino for being unbearably toxic. The novel is from 2003 and this sort of discourse on toxic relationships wasn’t quite as nuanced and progressive then as it is today, but it still just doesn’t add much to anything beyond spending 150pgs rationalizing a sexual predator. It is nice that the women get all the depth though, and Nishino remains as shallow as he ever was. What does work, though, is that it centers the women affected by him and the multiple narration technique is really excellent. Kawakami may have a bit of a dud here but she continues to be an incredible writer.

2.5/5

‘I wondered it, even now, in whatever faraway place Nishino was, if he was being careful not to fall in love with someone. Was he chatting up all the girls—and seducing some of them—in that affable voice of his?’japan120 s Amanda84 174

The Ten Loves Of Nishino is a book in which each chapter is narrated by a different woman from a man named Nishino’s past. Having recently read and enjoyed Hiromi Kawakami's other book, The Nakano Thrift Shop, I was very intrigued to read this book.

Ten pages into it, I thought to myself that reading this felt very familiar and cozy, and I had to look up who translated it because I was certain it had to be the same translator as The Nakano Thrift Shop, and sure enough it was. I have to say, I don't always pay much attention to the translator of the non-English books I read (though I should), but I can definitely say that Allison Markin Powell is a great match for Kawakami’s writing.

There is a very light and airy feel to the storytelling in this book, which I loved. Somehow without a lot of wordy descriptions, you still get a good sense of who these characters are. Additionally, even though the book is technically about Nishino, I found that the women who told their stories of him were actually more interesting than he was, and I was able to discern a lot about who they were more than I imagined I would.

Reading this book felt a Hong Sang-soo film in book form - and that is one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed the experience of reading it so much. It's a simple concept with unassuming characters and scenarios that sneak up on you as soon as possible and makes you care about the characters within it, who they are, why they think the way that they do about the world and the people around them.fiction62 s Aitor CastrilloAuthor 2 books1,027

Uno de mis recuerdos de la infancia es el de hacer unboxings familiares, aunque en los ochenta no hacíamos unboxings sino que desempaquetábamos los libros que nos llegaban periódicamente de El círculo de lectores. En casa de mis padres había (y sigue habiendo) una gran biblioteca y en la mente de mi niño interior habitaba la idea de que cuando fuera mayor leería todos esos libros. Ahora ya soy mayor por fuera, los 44 pesan un poco, y sé que no los leeré porque son muchos y sobre todo porque mis gustos literarios son diferentes a los de mi padre. Su última recomendación fue Los amores de Nishino. Me lo dejó antes del verano y cuando hace unos días el libro me miró desde mi estantería con ojitos de “léeme y devuélveme” le hice caso y me puse manos a la obra.

La novela se compone de diez capítulos narrados por diez mujeres distintas que se relacionan con Yukihiko Nishino. Algunos más interesantes y otros menos, pero todos se leen muy fácil gracias a la sencillez con la que están escritos. Mi mayor problema es que no me ha gustado la forma de comportarse de Nishino en sus relaciones por lo que todas las historias de amor, desamor, pseudoamor, poliamor… me han sonado a hamor berdadero, que ni es amor ni verdadero, pero entiendo que haya lectores (como mi santo padre) que se hayan quedado prendados de la sutil prosa de Hiromi Kawakami.

Esta mañana he devuelto el libro a la biblioteca de mi padre. Tiene 86 años y sigue disfrutando con la lectura. Tenemos gustos diferentes, pero el mismo corazón lector.57 s luce (cry baby)1,484 4,504

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Considering that Hiromi Kawakami is one of my favourite authors this was a big letdown. The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino lacked the zing that made Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop into such fun and engaging reads. Nishino, the novel's central character, is a boring creep and I could not for the life of me understand why so many women cared for him.

The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino is divided in ten chapters, each one narrated by one of Nishino's 'loves'. The chapters do not follow a linear structure, so Nishino's life is given to us in an almost fragmented way. The women Nishino loves easily blend together as they all shared the same kind of voice. I did not find them as able as the protagonists of Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop and maybe that's because much of their narrative focuses on the relationship they have with Nishino. Most of them realise that Nishino is bad news who cheats and is emotionally unavailable. Yet, usually after they claim to dis him, they will confess that they are on the verge of falling in love with him. Alas, because of 'reasons', they break up. The Nishino that emerges from these accounts is that of a pathetic and needy man who habitually lies. He has 0 charisma, here are two examples of some of his lines that make his 'loves' 'giggle': “Girls’ bottoms are always so cool, so smooth—I love them . . .” and “I love women’s breasts,”. Wow...isn't he a poet?
Nishino is troubled and 'broken' and the women he loves pity him for it, hoping that one day he will find a woman good enough to 'fix' him (ugh).

minor spoilers ahead
The thing is, Nishino is a shit. He obviously does not care to have consensual sex with his 'loves': “I said, Stop, over and over, each time he quietly replied, I will not stop.” and “Hey, let’s have sex right now,” Nishino said. And then, without waiting for my response, he took me roughly.”.
He has sister issues, boo-fucking-hoo. Give me a break. The guy is a massive creep. He jokes to one of his 'loves' that he will marry his daughter (who is a child). Was it supposed to be funny? Coming from a guy who then at the age of fifty starts a sexual relationship a woman thirty years his junior?
I also did not care for the whole 'breast milk scene' involving Nishino and his sister. Surely that would not be the only way of 'easing' her pain (this is the third book I have read this year with weird breast milk scenes and I can safely say that I care little for this trend).

If you are thinking of reading something by Kawakami, I strongly recommend you pick up Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop instead of this.5-so-so-reads disappointing-reads lgbtqia-side ...more50 s Calzean2,646 1 follower

The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino. I was not one of them.author-japan culture-japan woman-author32 s Berengaria513 107

DNF at page 52/on story 3

It could be that my aesthetic sense for fiction doesn't jive well with very Japanese writing, but I'm going to borrow my GR friend Alan's Unsatisfying Ending Alert™ and alter it to the Unsatisfying Writing & Style Alert™ for this collection of interrelated short stories.

"10 Loves" may be very typical for Japan or Japanese literature, I totally admit my ignorance on the subject, but fans of Kawakami say this one doesn't nearly come up to her usual standards.

Good thing this was a open library find, I'd be annoyed if I'd spent money on it.2023-reads asian-lit dnf ...more25 s Mariana418 1,759

Una novela compuesta por las historias de varias mujeres que han tenido una relación con Yukihiko Nishino en distintos momentos de su vida. Aunque él es el personaje central, cada historia logra retratar de maravilla a la mujer que la está narrando. ¿Qué es el amor? ¿Cuándo estás realmente enamorado de alguien? Me pareció un libro muy nostálgico, aderezado con un par de momentos extraños (hay leche, un encuentro "fantasmal" y alguien encadenado). Lo leí todo en una sola tarde porque el estilo de Hiromi Kawakami se me hizo precioso y fluido.25 s Alice807 2,960

the writing, as always with this author, but felt very fragmented and I didn't love the focus of the story. contemporary-fiction translated23 s Repellent Boy518 556

Nishino es un seductor nato y pasa su vida de mujer en mujer, a las que se acerca de forma natural, consiguiendo calar en estas de una manera sencilla y directa. Pero estas relaciones, desde un principio, están condenadas a tener un final. Parece que Nishino no consigue enamorarse de ninguna, ¿o son más bien ellas las que no se permiten enamorarse de él? ¿Ven algo raro en Nishino? A través de los distintos relatos de todas estas mujeres que pasaron por la vida de Nishino, conoceremos los secretos, deseos y anhelos de este enigmático personaje.

Hiromi va creando la vida de Nishino a raíz de todas estas mujeres que fue conociendo desde su juventud hasta su madurez, y a través de las vivencias de estas con él, el lector es capaz de encajar las piezas del puzle de su vida. Me parece un acierto total conocer a Nishino a través de los relatos de estas mujeres, mientras ellas van hablando de los días que compartieron con él, lo que les hizo sentir y lo que aún recuerdan de él, podemos ir descubriendo a ese misterioso Nishino, que empieza pareciéndonos frívolo y cínico, el típico "don juan" que va de una mujer a otra, pero que poco a poco se va revelando como un ser solitario, inseguro y traumatizado, que no entiende la sociedad que lo rodea, no entiende las normas no escritas del ser humano y que lo único que desea es que lo quieran.

Es muy interesante cuando una autora es capaz de darle voz y personalidad a personaje sin voz dentro de la novela, pero Hiromi lo consigue a las mil maravillas. También me gusta que las voces de todas estas mujeres suenen muy diferentes entre ellas: unas más liberales, otras más tradicionales; algunas jóvenes, otras muy maduras; algunas sexualmente libres, otras muy recelosas de experimentar con su sexualidad, pero en todas Nishino dejó una huella.

Hiromi es de las pocas autoras japonesas, al menos de entre las que he leído, que se permite hablar sin tapujos de otras sexualidades y si en otras de sus novelas nos encontramos pesonajes gays que empiezan a comprender su sexualidad, en este caso aparecen varias mujeres homosexuales y bisexuales. Algo nada fácil de ver en la literatura asiática, sobre todo porque no se trata como un problema o un drama en ningún momento, se trata como lo que es, algo natural.

Después de la lectura de "El señor Nakano y las mujeres" que si bien me gustó, no terminó de matarme, tenía muchas ganas de que mi siguiente encuentro con Hiromi Kawakami fuera bueno y que alegría haberme encontrado con esta maravilla de novela. Con los años, Hiromi se ha ido convirtiendo en una de mis autoras japonesas indispensables, tiene todos esos elementos que yo valoro en la literatura asiática. Historias de personajes donde los sentimientos y sensaciones de estos es el tema central de la novela, gran carga simbólica en cada pequeño detalle, lo cotidiano del día a día como eje que mueve la historia o una contemplación melancólica de todo lo que rodea a estos personajes, son cosas que nunca faltan en su obra. Por ahora "Los amores de Nishino" y "Algo que brilla como el mar" son mis dos grandes favoritos de la autora.2000-2009 asia japon ...more21 s Gabril820 188

Nishino Yukihiko è un ragazzo strano. Affascinante, gentile, irresistibile. Attira le ragazze, le donne, e ne è allo stesso modo attirato. Ha molte relazioni, spesso contemporanee, di registro e intensità diverse. Ma chi è veramente? Quale segreto nasconde? Da quale lutto è stato inesorabilmente segnato? E poi: è davvero capace di innamorarsi di tutte, oppure non sa amare nessuna?

Attraverso gli sguardi di dieci donne che lo hanno incontrato, amato e lasciato, vediamo delinearsi la figura di un uomo che persegue l’impossibile sogno di una relazione vera, compiuta e duratura, tale da poter colmare il vuoto di una perdita misteriosa e per certi versi indecifrabile.

Le donne che lo ricordano sono diverse, per temperamento e per età, e rivivono situazioni di un passato più o meno lontano. Fin dal primo racconto sappiamo che Nishino è morto, a poco più di cinquant’anni, e il suo fantasma aleggia ancora intorno a chi sa esprimere di lui una memoria tanto dolce e malinconica; nel secondo episodio il racconto di una compagna di scuola quattordicenne ci mostra del ragazzo un aspetto perturbante, dischiudendo le porte al suo più intimo segreto.

Attraverso quei dieci sguardi riusciamo a focalizzare la bellezza e la tristezza e a percepire il lungo controcanto dell’infelicità di chi non sa capire, di chi -forse- non ha saputo trovare il suo posto “in questo mondo che non ha tregua”.

Sobrio e misurato, avvolgente anche se mantiene accorte distanze...insomma, decisamente giapponese.20 s Mairi144 16

I enjoyed the style of this book a lot! Biographical, in a way - one man's entire life is told from the point of view of other people he meets. We never really hear his perspective, his point of view, but we do come to understand his motives, family and story through the words of others. We learn about his childhood, his teenage and adolescent years, his work, his family, his friends, the places he lives and even his death and what comes after. Its a great idea.

Whilst I enjoyed this read, I have to say I'd put it on par with Record of a Night Too Brief In short... Not as good as The Nakano Thrift Shop and Strange Weather in Tokyo.

If I had to draw attention to just one, little thing that lost it the final star off this rating, it would be our hero Mr. Nishino himself. I, a few of his ten 'loves', found Mr. Nishino unlovable. But then, maybe that is the point? If you only hear of a person through the eyes of others, its hard to come to your own conclusion. I can't help but wonder if Kawakami wrote Mr. Nishino in this way on purpose.joy-of-ordinary-life18 s Ana678 99

Decididamente, tenho de passar a dar mais atenção ao nome dos tradutores, antes de me decidir a ler um livro de um autor japonês. Não quero ser injusta, e que fique desde já claro, que tenho uma grande admiração pelo trabalho de tradução, não só pela dificuldade que representa, como pela responsabilidade que acarreta, pois a tradução é muitas vezes a única forma de os escritores chegarem a uma grande parte dos seus leitores e a imagem boa ou má que deles fazemos, depende em grande parte de quem os traduziu.

Posto isto, esta tradução fez-me lembrar, no mau sentido, a de muitos livros de Haruki Murakami que li (e depois fui confirmar serem da mesma pessoa). Se calhar é picuinhice minha, mas todos contêm um grande número de frases-feitas e expressões que me soam despropositadas, sobretudo por, na maior parte dos casos, nem fazerem parte de diálogos, onde poderiam passar melhor: “aguentar-me no balanço”, “completamente à nora”, “não são a minha praia”, ou, a fazer-me lembrar um certo “canito” num livro de Murakami, “Após um almoço tardio, deu-me a lazeira”. Sem comentários :(

Este livro é composto por dez capítulos, cada um contado por uma mulher que amou ou foi amada (ou ‘talvez tenha sido amada’ seja mais correto) por Nishino, desde a sua adolescência, e ao longo de toda a sua vida, até à morte. A história começa pelo fim, com “Parfait”, talvez aquela de que mais gostei.

Não desgostei, mas também não gostei por aí além. Senti que cheguei ao fim sem ter ficado a saber grande coisa acerca do Senhor Nishino. Mas sobretudo, terminei com a sensação de ter ficado a saber ainda menos acerca da forma como Hiromi Kawakami escreve, ou se teria gostado mais deste livro se soubesse japonês. Por isso lhe dou o benefício da dúvida, com 2 estrelas e meia (ok), arredondadas para cima (gostei).bxing z-asia-east-southeast17 s Caro the Helmet Lady793 395

I d Strange Weather in Tokyo so much but this was so underwhelming and I'll be honest with you - kind of boring. Maybe because most of the female voices in this book sounded completely identical and only a couple of them sparked my interest with their stories. And "mr loverman" Nishino seemed to me more "mr creepyman" or "mr nobody believable". Well, he definitely didn't seem to be a full bloodied character and didn't really make me believe that there was any fuss about him. Or maybe I have a sensitiveness of a brick, it quite might be the case too.
Beautiful writing, great translation but that's it. Pity.2021-reads dicks-and-whatnots japanese ...more17 s Tonkica675 135

3.5

Iako je meni svaki dan ljubavni nisam od ljubi?a, ali sam zato od kvalitetnih ljubavnih pri?a. Onih pri?a kod kojih ne znaš sredinu i kraj, pro?itavši prvu re?enicu prvog poglavlja. „Deset ljubavi...“ definitivno nije jedan od klasi?nih ljubavnih romana, teško mi je ?ak re?i ni da govori o romanti?noj ljubavi kako sam navikla, iako poznavaju?i Japance i njihovu suzdržanost, nije me to previše iznenadilo.

Više o utiscima pro?itajte klikom na link: https://knjige-u-svom-filmu.webador.c...moja-polica-pro?itano17 s KT6

Perfect anti-Murakami book, where the women get all the depth and perception and the dude is basically an abstract concept.17 s Lavinia748 932

Pe Hiromi Kawakami am mai citit-o (poate c? ?i voi, iar dac? nu, ar fi bine s? remedia?i) cu Vreme ciudat? la Tokyo ?i mi-a pl?cut foarte mult. Hiromi e una dintre str?lucitele scriitoare japoneze de azi cu vîrst? incert?, dac? e s? te ui?i doar la poze (pun japonezele astea ceva în orez care le face s? arate mereu tinere sau de cel mult 35 de ani) care mi-au f?cut în ultimii ani literatura japonez? contemporan? apropiat? ?i necesar?.

Nu ?in s? v? conving de nimic, avem aici 10 povestiri legate între ele de firul ro?u care este Yukihiko Nishino, un b?rbat pe care-l iubesc diverse femei la diverse vîrste, ?i despre care povestesc pe rînd, a?a c? rezult? o interesant? poveste de via??, care e (ura!) totu?i mai mult despre ele decît despre el.2021 fiction short-stories15 s Zak407 27

I d Kawakami's "Strange Weather in Tokyo" aka "The Briefcase", but this latest offering has some shortcomings. The main one being that it is split into a POV of 10 women. This excessive number means that one is not really able to dive deeply into each character; which then leads to the bigger problem of the reader being unable to figure out why all these women, of all stripes and ages, sort of obsess over an extremely unable, wishy-washy kind of guy with hardly any positive attributes as far as I could discern. Not a very satisfying experience.fiction15 s Simona356 793

Rating: 5+/5



Cele zece iubiri ale lui Nishino a fost una dintre acele c?r?i pe care le a?teptam într-una din zilele ploioase pe care le-am petrecut la munte. Începusem lectura cu câteva zile înainte s? plec în c?l?torie, dar nu reu?isem s? fiu intrat? în atmosfera c?r?ii a?a cum ar fi trebuit. Tot ce a fost necesar mai apoi, a fost o zi ploioas? cu aer curat, ?i o por?ie de gri? cu lapte al?turi. ?i multe gânduri care s? zboare libere în lumea creat? de Hiromi Kawakami...




La o prim? vedere nu ?tiam dac? aveam s? lecturez ceva care s? îmi r?mân? în minte. Am descoperit, înc? o dat?, cât de mult conteaz? lucrurile prin care treci în via?a de zi cu zi atunci când alegi o carte. În acest sens, am tr?it mult mai aproape de personaje, ?i am sim?it totul mai intens.

Stilul autoarei mi-a pl?cut la nebunie, ?i deja m? pot considera o fan? (abia a?tept s? îi iau toate c?r?ile la rând). Mul?i scriitori japonezi au acel talent înn?scut de a a?terne cuvintele pe hârtie într-o manier? aparte. Folosind cuvinte u?or de în?eles, Kawakami a creat 10 povestiri fascinante despre iubirile unui personaj.

Toate povestirile se învârt în jurul lui Nishino, un personaj extrem de ciudat, care pare s? nu reu?easc? s? î?i g?seasc? dragostea adev?rat?. Cele zece femei care apar în diverse etape ale vie?ii lui mi s-au p?rut captivante. Nu cred c? am mai fost demult atras? de ni?te personaje în acest mod, totul datorându-se probabil simplit??ii si intensit??ii cu care aceste femei iubesc, sau încearc? sa iubeasc? ?i s? în?eleag?.



Pe Nishino l-am cunoscut încet, timid, iar apoi, din ce în ce mai mult, prin ochii celor zece femei. Acestea î?i povestesc cu o simplitate aparte anumite tr?iri ?i momente din via??, atunci când destinul lor se împlete?te cu cel al lui Nishino.

Oh, Nishino! Acest pesonaj mi s-a p?rut demn de mil?. Nu l-am putut în?elege absolut deloc, cu toate ca am încercat la fel de mult ca ?i iubitele lui. Un om atât de singur, ciudat, rece ?i trecut prin greut??i. Un om care parc? nu î?i g?se?te sufletul pereche chiar dac? încearc? ?i î?i dore?te. Un om care parc? nu î?i g?se?te locul în lumea aceasta minunat?.

Cu toate c? este un om de neîn?eles, el pare în acela?i timp perfect. Atât de perfect încât este detestabil. Probabil de aceea are un destin nefericit, pe care nu are cum s? i-l schimbe absolut nimeni. M-a enervat la culme personajul, dar l-am comp?timit pentru ghinionul care pare s? îl lase mereu singur ?i trist. Melancolia din jurul lui a dus ?i la pierderea iubitelor sale, care nu au mai avut puterea s? se lupte pentru ceva atât de necunoscut lor.

O carte plin? de metafore în stil japonez, cu o înc?rc?tur? melancolic? dar extrem de vicioas? pentru cititor, Cele zece iubiri ale lui Nishino a reu?it s? intre în topul c?r?ilor mele preferate, reamintindu-mi înca o dat? de iubirile trec?toare, ?i de momentele simple pe care mul?i dintre noi nu le percepem a?a cum ar trebui. La fel ca ?i iubirea, ?i oamenii din via?a noastr? pot fi efemeri, îns? Nishino va r?mâne mereu în mintea celor zece femei care l-au iubit sau au încercat s? îl în?eleag?.



Citate:

"Oare pe vremea aceea cum p?ruse Nishino-san în ochii ei? Când urcase acum pe sc?ri, trupul ei r?spândise un parfum dulce, tipic vârstei sale. Dup? atîta vreme, mi s-a f?cut dor s? aud vocea lui Nishino. Minami m-a scos din s?rite, dar altfel decît la ?apte ani, de data asta pentru c? m-a f?cut s? retr?iesc tot ce sim?isem." (p.12)

"- Tu stai pe-aici, prin zon?? m-a întrebat el dup? o vreme.
Avea o alt? voce acum. Nu cea de mai înainte, ci una în schimbare, fireasc? pentru un elev într-a opta, nehot?rît?, o voce în care se amestecau copilul ?i adultul.
- Da, foarte aproape, i-am r?spuns ?i Nishino s-a a?ezat pe iarb?.
Firele, cred c? de mohor verde, s-au îndoit ?i s-au frînt sub greutatea lui. St?tea pe locul în care îngropasem piept?nul de lemn.
Tremuram. În întunericul de sub Nishino z?cea piept?nul de lemn care începuse s? putrezeasc?. Nu tremuram de team?, dar nici de bucurie. Era un tremurat în care se amestecau tot soiul de tr?iri.
Libelulele str?b?teau aerul. Cînd te uitai atent, parc? se înmul?eau. Cînd te uitai înc? o dat?, parc? se-mpu?inau. Apoi, pe nesim?ite, se înmul?eau din nou.
- M? duc, a spus Nishino dintr-odat? ?i s-a ridicat.
Pe pantalonii de la uniform? i se lipiser? cîteva semin?e de buruieni.
- La revedere, i-am spus ?ezînd pe piatr?.
- La revedere, a zis ?i el.
A plecat cu semin?ele ag??ate de pantaloni." (p.32)

"În jurul lui plutea un aer straniu. Ceva ce nu vedeai la nimeni altcineva din clas?. Oricît ai fi încercat s? p?trunzi în aerul acela, nu îi d?deai de cap?t, a?a mi se p?rea. Cu cît r?zb?teai, cu-atît te duceai mai adînc. Dar, oricît de profund ai fi scrutat, tot nu puteai ajunge la Nishino, ascuns dincolo de v?lul acela de aer. ?i, cu toate astea, aerul ?la era moale, cald ?i pl?cut. Pe ne?tiute te trezeai cu iluzia c? aerul ?la era Nishino însu?i." (p.33-34)

"În momentul ?la m-a îndr?git.
Atunci mi-am dat seama. Cu claritate.
- Ce fir-ar? l-am întrebat, dar nu mi-a r?spuns.
Nu îmi putea m?rturisi. Pîn? atunci nu iubise cu adev?rat nici o femeie. Fricosul de el. Ei, da, Yukihiko era un fricos.
De?i se purta cu femeile cu atîta elegan??. Desi era atît de brutal. Cu toate astea, îi era mereu team?.
De ce anume?
Poate c? temerea se lega de cuvîntul «vecie». Poate ©a de mirosul slab pe care îl eman? oamenii în respira?ia lor cald?. Poate ca de aromele jilave pe care le r?spîndesc cerul, apele curg?toare si p?mîntul.
Îi era fric? de lucrurile astea ?i de femeile în leg?tur? cu ele ?i nu iubise pe nimeni niciodat?. Nu c? s-ar fi str?duit anume sa nu se îndr?gosteasc?, ci pur ?i simplu, în chip firesc, nu avusese asemenea sentimente. Nu le tr?ise.
Acum îns? m? îndr?gise pe mine." (p.57)

"Treptat începeau s?-i fac? tot felul de repro?uri. «Nu m? iube?ti destul», sau «mereu e?ti cu gîndurile în alt? parte», sau «e?ti rece», genul ?sta de cuvinte le ie?eau inevitabil pe gur?. P?rerea mea e c? undeva, în adîncul sufletului, îl detestau pe Nishino pentru c? era prea perfect. O perfec?iune neted?, pe care n-aveai de unde s-o apuci.
- Tu nu po?i s? iube?ti l?sîndu-?i deoparte st?pînirea de sine? l-am întrebat cîndva.
- Dar, Sayuri-san, tu ai iubit a?a vreodat?? mi-a întors el întrebarea cu glas sc?zut.
M-a trecut un fior.[...]" (p.147)
asia cultural editura-polirom ...more23 s Kate1,294 2,220

4.25/5stars

This was very good! Not as fantastic as I had been hoping, but still really enjoyable and thought provoking. The narrative style is also SO interesting as it’s a non-linear story telling the life of Nashino, but through each woman and girl who has fallen in love with him over his life. japanese-lit read-in-202015 s Jody305 89

I’m not even sure how to rate this book. Did I it? Mostly. Sometimes a lot, sometimes not so much. But, I’m increasingly obsessed with Hiromi Kawakami’s unique voice. “The Ten Loves of Nishino” is the second book I’ve read by Kawakami. The first was “Strange Weather in Tokyo” (4.5 stars). Both are written with few words, but they never felt lacking or disjointed. They’re both short, quick reads but pack a pretty powerful punch.

This book is basically 10 short stories tied together by the enigmatic womanizer Yukihiko Nishino. Each story is told from the POV of the women who loved him. We only learn about him through their stories and interactions with him.

Nishino is charming, manipulative, smarmy, smooth, and hugely inappropriate to say the least. But, that doesn’t stop him from having many (!) relationships. Women love Nishino. Reading about him through these women was riveting. The final story gives us the most understanding of why he is the way he is and it’s fair to say he’s pretty damaged. I didn’t sympathize with him, but I sure couldn’t stop reading about him.fiction12 s Fructitza ?227 43

Mi-a plãcut ideea cãr?ii, de a reconstitui via?a amoroas? a unui bãrbat prin perspectiva femeilor cu care s-a iubit. Sau a vrut sã se iubeascã. Inegale capitole ?i pe alocuri fragmente ?ocante, dar a?a e ?i via?a noastrã, nu?
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