Welcome to Litsy!

Another short and sweet, quirky book by Kawakami-san. The abundant love life of Nishino-san as told through the stories of the 10 women he meets.

To be honest I had no idea what this was about before I borrowed it at the library and I went in blind as well. I watched a BookTube video by Jen Campbell and she had read and loved this author, and I loved the cover for this book (not the one pictured).

And this is an interesting story. The story about Mr Nishino is told through the women he is in a relationship with, however loosely that relationship this.

@JanuarieTimewalker13 what an odd book, ready to discuss.

I must say, this author has impressive observational skills, and you can tell she writes poetry. I‘m not sure what to make of Nishino except that he needed psychological help but I‘m not going to say why...believe me, you‘ll find out quickly enough. Each love is a short story and he‘s the unifying factor, but there is some overlap of a couple characters. A bit surreal, definitely strange, but interesting. #Japan

@TheSpineView @EadieB #Two4Tuesday
🎃 No, I think I‘ve had 2 trick or treaters in the many years I‘ve lived here. Now with COVID, I really doubt it.
🎃 No, I have Kelly Slater in a barrel...love him...🏄🏼‍♂️🤙🏽

I would feel a tightening in my chest. I pretended not to notice, but back when I was seeing Nishino, the plentiful shadows of other women were always lurking. This was what enabled him to speak so cruelly of marriage to me.

I wasn't sure I liked this one, but then suddenly I did, all at once.

#BookReport 50/19

I finished these three books this week. Kindred was a pick, Mr Nishino a so-so and Sharp Objects a pan for me. All in all not a very memorable reading week.
However, I did finish #ReadingUSA2019!

I love Japanese novels and this one seemed perfect but somehow it wasn‘t - for me.

Nishino spends his life looking for love. Ten of his lovers tell about their relationship with him. Through their stories we get to know him. Except I didn‘t. For me the book was a bit too indistinct and detached.

A sense of warmth from the fleeting romances with Nishino to the cold seat suddenly left empty beside ten narrating women. This is the epitome of “mono no aware”.

A character described by ten of his lovers. Each perspective skewing and adjusting the reader‘s idea of who Nishino is. This book was strange, intimate, and surprising. I loved it.

I read two books by Hiromi Kawakami, and was disappointed twice by the awful translation works. This book looks cute, though. Should I just ignore my past experiences? 😆😅 #asuckerforcutebookcovers

Beyond excited to start this! Kawakami is climbing up my list of favorite Japanese writers as her books are just so human. All about the quotidian aspects of internal solitude in an extroverted world. She‘s great, please read her! Side note: I think the Murakami comps are surprisingly well founded but all the things that piss me off about Murakami (though I love him) are things that Kawakami does very well.