Name: Marta's review of All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami
Item: All The Lovers In The Night
Rating: 4
Author: Marta

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

Marsheila Harvy

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. 

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.

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?

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

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 B

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

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.

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!

lili🎐

loneliness hides everywhere, even in the light

'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.

I think this one might be on me, for picking up two books by Mieko Kawakami so close to each other. Or maybe this highlighted issues that I would have not picked up on otherwise.

I do not necessarily mind authors exploring the same topics over and over again - some things do haunt us, it is unavoidable. However, I appreciate if they could find different angles to explore them, and for me I do not think Kawakami quite manages it. "All the Lovers in the Night" covers a lot of similar topics (and experiences, it seems) to "Breast and Eggs" which ended up taking away a lot of my investment in the book. It just felt like a repeat of a book I had just read.

I think this one might be on me, for picking up two books by Mieko Kawakami so close to each other. Or maybe this highlighted issues that I would have not picked up on otherwise.

I do not necessarily mind authors exploring the same topics over and over again - some things do haunt us, it is unavoidable. However, I appreciate if they could find different angles to explore them, and for me I do not think Kawakami quite manages it. "All the Lovers in the Night" covers a lot of similar topics (and experiences, it seems) to "Breast and Eggs" which ended up taking away a lot of my investment in the book. It just felt like a repeat of a book I had just read.

mitsukasa is the biggest red flag ever omg fawk that fictional man fr 😭

i rarely read shorter books but this was sooo so so beautiful and i love how the author described things and the conversations fuyuko had were just really meaningful to me as well and i feel like everything is not far from how people view life and i just loved how deep it was at times 

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami