Mantles' Lover

Author: (Japan)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-10-01
Features: Just like the globally acclaimed Lost Paradise, The Mantere Love intricately and vividly portrays unconventional love lives in contemporary urban society. The protagonist, Shoko, is youthful, beautiful, and shrewd, but in the realm of emotions, she prefers to be a "Mantere" lover rather than marry and live a life dependent on a man. A "Mantere" is a French term meaning lover, referring to a woman with her own financial security and independent consciousness. Manabe, who has been in a long-term affair with Shoko, is a successful middle-aged man with a wife and children. The pleasures of extramarital affairs gradually lead Manabe to become increasingly captivated by Shoko, ultimately developing an obsession he cannot break free from. However, when he decides to abandon his family and prepare to marry Shoko, she rejects him. This love story between a young woman and a middle-aged man, which ends without resolution, vividly reflects the intense clash between the trendy life concepts of contemporary urban society and traditional family ethics. The novel features a dramatic plot and skillfully portrays a typical professional woman in urban society.