Mieko Kawakami

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

jo ｡✩

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.

'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.

All The Lovers In The Night

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."

Khayyira

‘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.

rere ^_^

Then again, I guess there are things like that everywhere. 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?

But the pain was already so far away. It was a pain that existed in memory, growing weaker by the day, a pain I was forgetting and would soon lose entirely.

I was so scared of being hurt that I’d done nothing. I was so scared of failing, of being hurt, that I chose nothing. I did nothing.

I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what I wanted.

“I guess because you’re not one of the main characters in my life anymore . . .”

If you just read somebody’s tweets, you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about them.

What if my whole life was just a quote from something else, only I never realized it?

I’m sure this sounds like a pretty asinine thing to say, but what’s it mean to like somebody anyway?

“I’ve been doing this and only this for so long now, I don’t even know what it feels like to do something else.”

But what if all the things that we can’t remember are actually the most important ones?

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?

I'm only halfway through the novel because of classes so I might add more to this but I've had a similar experience once. I'll probably forever remember the person who stayed up with me all night until dawn when he noticed I had a hard time sleeping. He said to me once, "you really don't sleep, no? I saw you tweet at 4 AM." After noticing, he stayed up with me all night until dawn the next day to keep me company. He had a routine where he'd do his skin care around 10 PM, and had classes early the next day. He joked about his skin care not being useful, and we both laughed it off like it was no big deal. He acted like it was the easiest thing to do – to fight off that drowsiness one feels before falling asleep, but that's a human need one can hardly control. I knew everything he did was out of consideration. We no longer talk, and that is for the best, but I'll always remember his kind gesture among the little things he did. 

People say to compromise is to love. But to me, love is more about consideration. To think how this specific action would feel for the other is a sign of inclusivity and an act of caring — 

an act of love is to become inclusive of the other

. To consider not only yourself but another person in everything you do, despite being holistically free and independent beings, is and, will always be the highest form of love to me.

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?

I'm only halfway through the novel because of classes so I might add more to this but I've had a similar experience once. I'll probably forever remember the person who stayed up with me all night until dawn when he noticed I had a hard time sleeping. He said to me once, "you really don't sleep, no? I saw you tweet at 4 AM." After noticing, he stayed up with me all night until dawn the next day to keep me company. He had a routine where he'd do his skin care around 10 PM, and had classes early the next day. He joked about his skin care not being useful, and we both laughed it off like it was no big deal. He acted like it was the easiest thing to do – to fight off that drowsiness one feels before falling asleep, but that's a human need one can hardly control. I knew everything he did was out of consideration. We no longer talk, and that is for the best, but I'll always remember his kind gesture among the little things he did. 

People say to compromise is to love. But to me, love is more about consideration. To think how this specific action would feel for the other is a sign of inclusivity and an act of caring — an act of love is to become inclusive of the other. To consider not only yourself but another person in everything you do, despite being holistically free and independent beings, is and, will always be the highest form of love to me.

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.

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 need 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 need 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.

A very delicate and delightful experience of Fuyuko’s path of getting in touch of her emotions, and in turn, finding her happiness. The details written in this book are so beautiful and detailed, making it seem like we were caught in the same atmosphere as what Fuyuko went through. Love how the lights are associated as some sort of emotion for Fuyuko. Overall, a very good and pleasing book.

Yves

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 

lily lily 

“Had I ever chosen anything? Had I made some kind of choice that led me here?”

being an adult faced with all the possibilities life has to offer, all the hurt and pain included, sometime leads us to a state of paralysis in which we are so afraid to make any decision until we realize that the reason we feel like nothing ever happens to us is because we don’t take the risk. i connected and sympathized with certain aspects of the the main character and enjoyed her growth throughout the book. it may feel like nothing big happened, but hey, she made 

decisions! not all of them turned out the way she (or we) thought it would. but what’s life if not a series of wacky misadventures?

“Had I ever chosen anything? Had I made some kind of choice that led me here?”

being an adult faced with all the possibilities life has to offer, all the hurt and pain included, sometime leads us to a state of paralysis in which we are so afraid to make any decision until we realize that the reason we feel like nothing ever happens to us is because we don’t take the risk. i connected and sympathized with certain aspects of the the main character and enjoyed her growth throughout the book. it may feel like nothing big happened, but hey, she made some decisions! not all of them turned out the way she (or we) thought it would. but what’s life if not a series of wacky misadventures?

alyssa helena

Mieko Kawakami captures perfectly the emotion of lonely, the great ordeal of wanting to be known and coping with being let down when you've paid all the prices, the sad girl winter vibe, the unspoken experience of having nothing much to say simply because you... have nothing to say. 

I love this book with my entire heart and will make it my whole personality for at least 5 years

Ziggy

this truly was all the lovers in the night

This is not my first Kawakami, but it certainly left an impression on me. I had a hard time getting to it because I was in a reading slump when I started reading. But eventually things picked up midway. I love this particular sense of loneliness in Kawakami’s novels and this book is no different. But for me, the loneliness felt heavier in All the Lovers in the Night. It was haunting and unsettling, but not in a horror story type of way. My one complaint is I was invested in Fuyuko and Hijiri’s relationship more than Fuyuko and Mitsutsuka’s, so I was left a bit disappointed when that’s not the relationship this book explores more. Fuyuko tried to mimick Hijiri in a way, and I believe Hijiri enjoyed the attention. I feel this dynamic is much more enticing. I wouldn’t say this is a heavy read, but I also wouldn’t say it’s light? Probably because of that haunting lonely feeling it inflicted on me. Overall, love the prose and the book feels very dreamy.

Sashi

Kate

Best book I've read so far. I cried in the last chapters. It's so good. This book means so much to me. 🥹😭

nasya

I love quiet novels that aren't about much in particular. A story about a socially isolated professional woman in her thirties. Then, almost halfway through, Kawakami drops a chapter told in flashback, embellished not with its sensationalism but its devastating impact. 

A slow but beautiful character study of a woman simply trying to live in the shadow of her trauma. similarly to breasts and eggs, this book also places a focus on womanhood - how women navigate the world and how they interact. Kawakami is definitely an author that I will be watching to see what she does next.

indri

the book explained really well what it’s like to be an adult... 

although i must admit the ending feels a litte bit anticlimactic for me but that’s just because i’m a sucker for closures… but of course, this is probably much more realistic than whatever i was hoping for. at the end of the day, there are a lot of things in real life that we just have to move from without them ever being resolved and that’s ok

anyway, a 4/5!

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.

lili🎐

loneliness hides everywhere, even in the light

All the Lovers in the Night

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