The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

This novel is a first-person account of a young Japanese woman's adventures in travel and romance. It tells the story of Lala, painting a lush picture of her journeys to countries like Taiwan, Germany, Thailand, and the United States, and vividly depicting her experiences with the multifaceted people and cultures she encounters along the way. The heart of the story, however, tells of Lala's doomed affair with the narcissistic and self-indulgent Rolf - a romance that almost destroys her. But it is Lala's relentless curiosity about the world outside her native borders that ultimately leads her out of the darkness and into the arms of her one true love, an American pen pal she initially knows only as Robert.