Mieko Kawakami

Shy, lonely and introverted Fuyuko lives alone and fills her days with her job as a freelance proofreader. About to turn thirty-five, she cannot imagine ever having any emotional or successful relationship in her life as it currently stands. She is regularly haunted by encounters of the past. But Fuyuko loves the light and goes out on the night of her birthday, Christmas Eve, to count the lights. Her only friend, Hijiri, offers some light in her life, but it is a chance encounter with another man, Mr. Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher, who offers her access from another dimension to light. Pulsing, poetic, modern and shocking, The Night Belongs to Lovers is the third novel from internationally bestselling author Mieko Kawakami.

All The Lovers In The Night

Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with this new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today's most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists. Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko's past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale. All the Lovers in the Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry, but it will also remind them, as only the best books do, that sometimes the pain is worth it.

All the Lovers in the Night

Hijiri on individual identity and creative liberty.

cha ☁️

I mean, that feeling like none of this is mine, like it’s just something I picked up somewhere, sometimes I start to think that maybe even that’s something I ripped off.

Hijiri on the authenticity of individual feelings/ sentiments.

This I find particularly fascinating - Kawakami is contesting the presumption that our feelings (unlike our thoughts) are always authentically ours. But how much of our feelings towards a particular social encounter is actually taught rather then authentically felt? And how much of what we feel is thus conditioned the moment we learn the language to give it meaning?

[…]but when it comes to emotions, feelings, moods, all these things, I can never figure out where mine end and other people’s begin.

Agnieszka

“Does that mean that the longer we live, the more it feels like time speeds up?”

“I know, everyone should live their life the way they want, however that happens to be”

We get this all the time as women, right? Like, if you make plenty of money but don't have any kids, you might get called successful. But unless you have kids, no one will ever call you a great woman. You know what I mean?

yearner.

“Just a miserable woman, who couldn’t even enjoy herself on a gorgeous day like this, on her own in the city, desperately hugging a bag full to bursting with the kind of things that other people wave off or throw in the trash the first chance they get.”

“It’s like they say, trust is a two-way street. Reliance can be one-sided, though. Know what I mean? One side depends on the other. That’s not a partnership. And that’s why relationships based on reliance are pretty unstable. One little hiccup and everything could disappear.”

'Mieko Kawakami is a genius' Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times From international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes All the Lovers in the Night, an extraordinary, deeply moving and insightful story set in contemporary Tokyo.

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance proofreader in her thirties. Living alone, and unable to form meaningful relationships, she has little contact with anyone other than Hijiri, someone she works with. When she sees her reflection, she's confronted with a tired and spiritless woman who has failed to take control of her own life. Her one source of solace: light. Every Christmas Eve, Fuyuko heads out to catch a glimpse of the lights that fill the Tokyo night. But it is a chance encounter with a man named Mitsutsuka that awakens something new in her. And so her life begins to change. As Fuyuko starts to see the world in a different light, painful memories from her past begin to resurface. Fuyuko needs to be loved, to be heard, and to be seen. But living in a small world of her own making, will she find the strength to bring down the walls that surround her? All the Lovers in the Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and captivating, pulsing and poetic, modern and shocking. It's another unforgettable novel from Japan's most exciting writer. Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.

The railings on the balconies of the apartment building down the street, the glossy roof tiles of the houses, the deep green leaves of the cherry trees and the drooping telephone wires trembled in the dazzling sun.

The layers and layers of clouds, not exactly white or gray, hung in the night sky like the outline of some kind of creature, enormous and moving without a sound, a sight that made my heart race.

Once I repeated this a few times, a fresh- ness I was sure I'd never known before spread slowly through my lungs, and I was filled with an awareness of the soft places inside me, spreading outward by degrees.

I always could not find a proper correlation as to why, we, as humans, find beauty in such things; but sometimes when I look at the night sky, I simply stop wondering. Maybe these are the things in life that are not meant to be understood or deliberately explained.

"Why does the night have to be so beautiful?" “Because at night, only half the world remains.” 

I'm touching you, I said quietly. If this means I can't get any closer, I'm fine with that, because I'm touching you. 

Marsheila Harvy

I remembered that night, how I counted the lights, walking through coldness so profound that I could almost hear it, through that dry air slickened with so many special things. Before long, the hottest part of summer would be here, which would then give way to fall, followed by winter. And then that night would come again. As I took in the night, I looked over and saw that Mitsutsuka's shirt was glowing white, from his shoulders down his back.

I count the lights. All the lighte of the night. The red light at the intersection, trembling as if wet, even though it isn't raining. Streetlight after streetlight. Taillights trailing off into the distance. The soft glow from the windows. Phones in the hands of people just arriving home, and people just about to go somewhere.

Marta

"That's right. As long as you're living on this planet, you have to be serious about something, but it's better to be serious about a limited number of things."

𝒦

‘Dead inside’ is a little too dramatic. I just feel hard and numb, like some part of me is losing all feeling. I can’t stand being alone. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I know it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

“Memory’s funny, isn’t it? We remember some things out of nowhere, but so much of what happens, we never think about again.”

“I mean, there are way too many things you’ll never remember. Sometimes a memory jumps out at you, even though almost everything is lost forever. But what if all the things that we can’t remember are actually the most important ones?”

“I’ve never given much thought to love… But what ultimately lasts is something that can’t simply change or disappear at any moment.. It’s trust.”

moonstone

“Why does the night have to be so beautiful?” 

As I wallk through the night, I remember what Mitsutsuka said to me. 

"Because at night, only half the world remains." 

nadyra

“… what if my whole life was just a quote from something else, only I never realize it? That's where my brain goes."

“I mean, that feeling like none of this is mine, like it's just something I picked up somewhere, sometimes I start to think that maybe even that's something I ripped off.”

"I don't know, I guess sometimes I feel happy or sad or worried... or maybe I get really into something on TV, or really like the flavor of some giant shrimp, whatever. But sometimes I have to wonder if those thoughts or feelings might be coming from the things I read for work. When I start to feel emotional about something, I can't tell if I'm actually feeling that way. What if it's just something somebody wrote in a book? Or maybe a line or a performance from some movie... Either way, I get this feeling like I'm quoting somebody else's work."

ashtray

"A buzz can feel so good, though-if you don't overdo it. It loosens you up, makes everything a little softer. I don't really get drunk or anything, but life without alcohol would be kind of unbearable for me."

Sheena Mitsuishi

Then a question suddenly came to me. What had I been doing up until now?

Had I ever chosen anything? Had I made some kind of choice that led me here? Thinking it over, I stared at the cell phone in my hands. The job that I was doing, the place where I was living, the fact that I was all alone and had no one to talk to! Could these have been the result of some decision that I'd made?

Iheard a crow crying somewhere in the distance and turned to the window. It occurred to me that maybe I was where I was hadn't chosen anything.

The book that ended my reading slump. One thing Mieko does particularly well is translating conversations between characters into text naturally, without any awkwardness; you can easily imagine these words being spoken by real people. The plot was engaging and pleasantly unexpected, and I loved the themes she explored in this book. I recommend this one!

this is the third time i've read this book. in fact, it's a book that i find myself returning to ever so often.

the title can be a tad bit misleading. certainly, this is a book about love—but not the kind of love one would usually expect. it’s not about falling in love with a stranger who shows you fascinating things in a new light. rather, it’s learning to love your life and where your decisions (and indecisions) have taken you.

i glean something new between these pages every time i pick up kawakami’s work. such a nuanced way of tackling social issues that fall squarely on women’s shoulders in modern society. i won’t be surprised to find myself reaching for this again soon.

kuuri

this is the third time i've read this book. in fact, it's a book that i find myself returning to ever so often.

the title can be a tad bit misleading. certainly, this is a book about love—but not the kind of love one would usually expect. it’s not about falling in love with a stranger who shows you fascinating things in a new light. rather, it’s learning to love your life and where your decisions (and indecisions) have taken you.

i glean something new between these pages every time i pick up kawakami’s work. such a nuanced way of tackling social issues that fall squarely on women’s shoulders in modern society. i won’t be surprised to find myself reaching for this again soon.

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it.

As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale. All the Lovers in the Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry, but it will also remind them, as only the best books do, that sometimes the pain is worth it.

Antonia Folch

Sexual assault / rape / alcohol addiction / sexual content / borderline mental illness.

Fuyuko Irie’s world feels draped in shades of gray, devoid of vibrancy until Mitsutsuka enters the scene. His presence awakens something deep within her—a cascade of emotions she can’t quite define. But does she ever truly experience joy? Does she even think it necessary? Her persistent self-suppression and isolation are hauntingly familiar, stirring an unsettling sense of recognition in the reader.

The novel, however, takes an unexpected and deeply disturbing turn with the rape scene. I hadn’t checked the content warnings, and its abruptness left me feeling sick. Adding to the discomfort were Fuyuko’s fantasies about Mitsutsuka—her sexual daydreams about a man she barely knows felt invasive and inappropriate, lacking any sense of mutual connection or consent. Her fixation on physical appearance, particularly weight, was unsettling, as was her pre-existing alcohol addiction, which made her character harder to sympathize with. At times, Fuyuko’s thoughts and actions were frustratingly off-putting.

Yet despite these flaws, I am once again in awe of Kawakami’s writing. Her prose evokes an aching longing, an urgency that pulls you into every sentence. She has a way of making you feel more than you thought you could, leaving your soul raw and your thoughts unmoored.

Have you ever loved so intensely it tore you apart, leaving you speechless as your feelings escaped your grasp? That’s the sensation of reading 

. But who is the lover? Who are we meant to love in a way that brings peace to our hearts? Have you ever experienced a love so profound, so devastating, it feels like an endless abyss? That’s the beauty Kawakami captures. I am utterly mesmerized.

🏹

Content Warnings

Sexual assault / rape / alcohol addiction / sexual content / borderline mental illness.

Fuyuko Irie’s world feels draped in shades of gray, devoid of vibrancy until Mitsutsuka enters the scene. His presence awakens something deep within her—a cascade of emotions she can’t quite define. But does she ever truly experience joy? Does she even think it necessary? Her persistent self-suppression and isolation are hauntingly familiar, stirring an unsettling sense of recognition in the reader.

The novel, however, takes an unexpected and deeply disturbing turn with the rape scene. I hadn’t checked the content warnings, and its abruptness left me feeling sick. Adding to the discomfort were Fuyuko’s fantasies about Mitsutsuka—her sexual daydreams about a man she barely knows felt invasive and inappropriate, lacking any sense of mutual connection or consent. Her fixation on physical appearance, particularly weight, was unsettling, as was her pre-existing alcohol addiction, which made her character harder to sympathize with. At times, Fuyuko’s thoughts and actions were frustratingly off-putting.

Yet despite these flaws, I am once again in awe of Kawakami’s writing. Her prose evokes an aching longing, an urgency that pulls you into every sentence. She has a way of making you feel more than you thought you could, leaving your soul raw and your thoughts unmoored.

Have you ever loved so intensely it tore you apart, leaving you speechless as your feelings escaped your grasp? That’s the sensation of reading All the Lovers in the Night. But who is the lover? Who are we meant to love in a way that brings peace to our hearts? Have you ever experienced a love so profound, so devastating, it feels like an endless abyss? That’s the beauty Kawakami captures. I am utterly mesmerized.

something clenched, between a breath and balled fist, but also a blurred line between acceptance and defeat, a symptom of heartbreak from life. may there always be companion in women’s world

solitones

books to read on the train to make you look like a sad hot girl intellectual

baku

Nothing really big happens in the story however, it was still intriguing to follow Fuyuko’s mundane life. 

It was nice to see her slowly understanding her emotions and actually making choices for herself.

Not gonna lie, I was a bit uncomfortable with the age gap between her and Mitsutsuka but the way their relationship progressed was quite wholesome. It was just sad to see Fuyuko getting heartbroken as she was slowly opening up to others…

Meiko Kawakami’s depiction of womanhood is really interesting and that strikes me a lot. I can’t wait to read more book from her.

jinny

Nothing really big happens in the story however, it was still intriguing to follow Fuyuko’s mundane life. 

It was nice to see her slowly understanding her emotions and actually making choices for herself.

Not gonna lie, I was a bit uncomfortable with the age gap between her and Mitsutsuka but the way their relationship progressed was quite wholesome. It was just sad to see Fuyuko getting heartbroken as she was slowly opening up to others…

Meiko Kawakami’s depiction of womanhood is really interesting and that strikes me a lot. I can’t wait to read more book from her.

sani

“Why does the night have to be so beautiful? Because at night, only half the world remains.”

i am willing to read even Kawakami's grocery lists now because why does every work of her rip me apart, thrashes me in pieces and makes me want to end it all? 

All the Lovers in the Night was cold and distant in the beginning but i got really attached by the midpoint. the book talked about depression, anxiety, loneliness without describing it clinically and i really really liked it. 

also, how foolish of me to assume that she'd give us a happy ending because i was actually really interested in Mitsutsuka and Fuyuko's relationship but i do understand because it would have been hard to work out considering their age gap. in my mind, they're together though! 

a book for the sad girlies.

Lettuce Wrapped Cabbage Cat

Reading this feels really comforting as an insomniac. Is it bad that I romanticize a love where two people who have a hard time sleeping try to keep each other company so the other doesn't feel lonely? Maybe I've had a similar experience once. I'll probably never forget that person who stayed up with me all night until dawn when he noticed I had a hard time sleeping. 

There are times where I'd walk through the open air at night past 10 PM after we've exhausted all the hours in a cafe we've stayed all day. I'd take my gray backpack and tread it lightly on my shoulders despite its overbearing weight. I'd walk through the night with music blasting from both sides of my ears as if there wasn't a wary amount of danger looming around the whole area. There'd be no people and I'd walk like I had just won the lottery and had shoved people away from town. I'd waltz through the black-cladded roads layered with asphalt like I owned that side of Downtown. In some ways, my lone walks in the night reminded me a lot of Fuyuko. It was peaceful despite the possible danger. Just my music, my thoughts, and my leftover coffee I brought that ended up becoming bland from the melted ice as I let it stall all day before finishing it altogether. With the music straying away from the awkward silence from outside, I'd stare at the moon and think about the light it emits. I get a sort of jitter when I look up and see a full moon. Astrology has misconstrued my thoughts about the waning phases of the moon that everytime a full moon is plastered around the sky, I get a little nervous for no reason. If the light is in an unusual color, however, like a yellow that's too vibrant or if the light it emits is unlike most days, I get excited despite its full shape staring right at me. Sometimes I could feel the moon talking to me through its shapes, through the colors of the light it illuminates, its position in the sky; it's an odd yet lightheaded feeling, but it brings an immense amount of comfort within me as if it could read my every thought, as if it knew what loneliness meant when I stopped in my tracks and stared at it through the dimly lit streets from the uneven sidewalks right outside the plaza. In some ways, I could feel the moon empathizing with me, as if in a way, could share with me its loneliness. I start wondering in a strange way if it could properly talk, what would it say to me as I stare into it with nothingness?

Reading this feels really comforting as an insomniac. Is it bad that I romanticize a love where two people who have a hard time sleeping try to keep each other company so the other doesn't feel lonely? Maybe I've had a similar experience once. I'll probably never forget that person who stayed up with me all night until dawn when he noticed I had a hard time sleeping. 

There are times where I'd walk through the open air at night past 10 PM after we've exhausted all the hours in a cafe we've stayed all day. I'd take my gray backpack and tread it lightly on my shoulders despite its overbearing weight. I'd walk through the night with music blasting from both sides of my ears as if there wasn't a wary amount of danger looming around the whole area. There'd be no people and I'd walk like I had just won the lottery and had shoved people away from town. I'd waltz through the black-cladded roads layered with asphalt like I owned that side of Downtown. In some ways, my lone walks in the night reminded me a lot of Fuyuko. It was peaceful despite the possible danger. Just my music, my thoughts, and my leftover coffee I brought that ended up becoming bland from the melted ice as I let it stall all day before finishing it altogether. With the music straying away from the awkward silence from outside, I'd stare at the moon and think about the light it emits. I get a sort of jitter when I look up and see a full moon. Astrology has misconstrued my thoughts about the waning phases of the moon that everytime a full moon is plastered around the sky, I get a little nervous for no reason. If the light is in an unusual color, however, like a yellow that's too vibrant or if the light it emits is unlike most days, I get excited despite its full shape staring right at me. Sometimes I could feel the moon talking to me through its shapes, through the colors of the light it illuminates, its position in the sky; it's an odd yet lightheaded feeling, but it brings an immense amount of comfort within me as if it could read my every thought, as if it knew what loneliness meant when I stopped in my tracks and stared at it through the dimly lit streets from the uneven sidewalks right outside the plaza. In some ways, I could feel the moon empathizing with me, as if in a way, could share with me its loneliness. I start wondering in a strange way if it could properly talk, what would it say to me as I stare into it with nothingness?

didn’t blow me away (maybe it’s a personal bias against japanese literature for being too rambly sometimes) but this was a nice short read - recommend if you just want smth short to read about how lonely people can be (relatable)

Ianna Chia

Sometimes, I read books in a language foreign to their original writing and I don't know if I should thank the translator or the author. But that is a silly thing to think as I can easily thank them both. 

I love the flow of this book, the way the words and sentences are arranged... it all seems to bend so seamlessly. It has some pretty meaningful passages that stuck with me.

Love and the awkardness of it, Love and the excitement of it, Love and the dread of it, Love and the sadness of it... Love. 

There is a lot and so little to say about this. But at the end of it, I see it as book about relationships and the absence of it. The relationship we have with work, with friends, with acquaintances, with (potential) lovers... 

I don't know where I'm going with this and, to be honest, I don't think this book knows it too. But that is fine because I get it.

Sometimes, I read books in a language foreign to their original writing and I don't know if I should thank the translator or the author. But that is a silly thing to think as I can easily thank them both. 

I love the flow of this book, the way the words and sentences are arranged... it all seems to bend so seamlessly. It has some pretty meaningful passages that stuck with me.

Love and the awkardness of it, Love and the excitement of it, Love and the dread of it, Love and the sadness of it... Love. 

There is a lot and so little to say about this. But at the end of it, I see it as book about relationships and the absence of it. The relationship we have with work, with friends, with acquaintances, with (potential) lovers... 

I don't know where I'm going with this and, to be honest, I don't think this book knows it too. But that is fine because I get it.

Lindy

It was good... but everything I liked about it was done better in Breasts and Eggs by the same author, so.

Selin Igten

amari

trezaa

it really captures loneliness and living a mundane life in a poetic yet simple way

even the shiniest light can have its darkest moment. this is beautifully written oh my god fuyuko deserved real happiness 

ayoni

𓆨

my least favorite book by the author but it's still good

Isabella 

i dont think there really is a plot to it; it was more on just following through a woman's life. i really liked reading this book, but i felt no connection whatsoever to it. i wish the main character was fleshed out more. idk if it's because of the translation or the writing itself.

Zahra

i can't put my finger on specifically why, but there's something ridiculously underwhelming and mildly annoying about this book that prevents me from enjoying it. it just doesn't seem put together 

All The Lovers In The Night

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