The Complicated Love Life of Yukihiko Nishino

A novel by contemporary Japanese writer Hiromi Kawakami — an author known for her subtle psychological writing and her close attention to a person’s inner world. This is an insightful reflection on love, addiction, and loneliness, revealed through the memories of women who left a mark on the life of one man.

Yukihiko Nishino is a charming person who inexplicably draws women to him, gives them strong impressions, and after breakups leaves only vivid episodes and unanswered questions. Ten women speak about him one after another — those who loved him or were there beside him. Each of them is tormented by one mystery: why was Nishino never able to truly love any of them? Does he simply not know how to love at all? Is he afraid of full closeness? Or does he consciously choose loneliness?

Step by step, their stories form a multi-faceted portrait of relationships, where, together with the heroines, the reader reconsiders love and loss, loneliness and the contradictions of modern intimacy.