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كل العشاق في الليل
تعيش فويوكو وحدها، وتعمل مُحرِّرةً لغويَّةً مستقلَّة. تعجز هذه الفتاة الثلاثينيَّة عن تكوين علاقاتٍ ذات معنى، وتقتصر اتِّصالاتها الشخصيَّة المباشرة على هيجيري تقريبًا، وهي علاقة عملٍ في الأساس تحوَّلت إلى علاقةٍ شخصيَّة. عندما تنظر فويوكو إلى نفسها في المرآة، تجد أمامها امرأةً متعبةً ومن دون روح، لم تعرف كيف تعيش حياتها. يشكِّل النور مصدر راحتها الوحيد. تخرج في كلِّ سنةٍ مرَّةً في نزهة، في ليلة عيد ميلادها تحديدًا، وتمشي في شوارع طوكيو لتلتقط لمحاتٍ من الأضواء المتنوِّعة. إلى أن تلتقي برجلٍ لقاءً عابرًا، يوقظ في داخلها شيئًا جديدًا. هل ستتمكَّن من خلال هذا اللقاء من تجاوز ذكريات ماضيها المؤلم وهدم الجدران التي تحيط بها؟
296 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2011
3,681 people are currently reading
103k people want to read
About the author
Mieko Kawakami
61 books7,632 followersMieko Kawakami (川上未映子, born in August 29, 1976) is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka.
She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs).
Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.
She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs).
Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,345 reviews
February 12, 2025
‘I became unsure of how to leave the mirror, how to leave the me in the mirror behind.’
Mieko Kawakami writes stories that have an uncanny ability to nestle into my mind and make themselves at home long after I finish reading them. Her stories are like the waters of a pond in some idyllic grove, her prose the dazzling light reflecting off the surface that keeps you in a state of awe throughout the reading and more you look and longer you think, everything beneath begins to come into view revealing a great depth and ecosystem just beneath the ripples in the water. It is part of how she has quickly become a favorite author and her works are such thought-provoking companions for the mind. All the Lovers in the Night (すべて真夜中の恋人たち) is the fourth of her novels to be translated into English, excellently rendered here by Sam Brett and David Boyd, and is a quiet majesty of a slice-of-life novel that follows narrator Fuyuko Irie. She is a copy editor who’s lonely and detached existence is shaken up when, upon catching her reflection in a widow, realizes her image is ‘the dictionary definition of a miserable person,’ and struggles to find a way to change. Revolving around a dynamic and multi-functional metaphor about the science of light, examining ideas of loneliness and intimacy, and hitting upon Kawakami’s signature themes of expectations of women in society, All the Lovers in the Night succeeds by embodying the detached perspective of its narrator while still engulfing the reader in an engaging and ponderous novel.
‘The complex human eye harvests light. It perceives seven to ten million colors through a synaptic flash …to anticipate danger and recognize reward, but also—more so—for beauty.’
-Ellen Meloy, The Anthropology of Turquoise
Kawakami excels at multifaceted metaphors that permeate through the themes of her novel and light plays a significant role in the novel. On a basic level, Fuyuko develops an ongoing relationship with Mitsutsuka, and older man who aided her when her bag was stolen from the city’s Cultural Center, meeting in a cafe to mostly discuss the science of light. They discuss how what we see is light that is reflected, and have some existential musings on how light will, inevitably, be absorbed and vanish. As the novel progresses, several lives are snuffed out—including Fuyuko witnessing a pedestrian struck by a car—and we come to understand our lives like light reflecting our stories out into the world on an inexorable trajectory towards death and vanishing back into the universe. On an individual level, light and memory have a similar function as observed in scenes where Fuyuko contemplates her past, events get absorbed into our memory or, as in the case of an abrupt assault that occurs during her teenage years, is reflected back out through personality. For Fuyuko, this takes shape through isolation and trust issues.
‘There was nothing here that I could reach out and touch. Nothing that would call my name.’
Detachment is a major theme in All the Lovers and as the novel is told from her perspective, it reads in a slow, meandering way that never allows itself to get too close to anything. There are times it feels almost frustratingly avoiding any semblance of forward progress in plot, which is a rather brilliant tactic that allows us to experience the narrator both in and through the narrative style. She is mid-thirties and lacks any social life or anyone she considers a friend, all her energy and thoughts bent towards her editing work. A work that becomes her personality in a way.
Her detached way of experiencing books carries over into her life of isolation, even keeping her own emotions at arms length. ‘Sadness and happiness are all experienced by someone else before us,’ she decides, ‘we’re simply following their lead.’ As this notion of our emotions following the lead of others is an idea she adopted from Hijiri, we frequently find Fuyuko borrowing the lives of others in place of feeling she doesn’t have much of her own.
Where does inspiration comes from? Kawakami asks us if we are truly an authentic version of ourselves, or is much of what we present to ourselves and the world a reflection of those around us and what we choose to absorb from them.
The book becomes a character study in the narrator, examining ‘all the light that was there and yet impossible to see’ in her character. Initially she is almost non-existent in her own life, but once her life is shaken into movement by a few people around her we are finally able to examine her and understand her more as she flails and fails understand herself, usually due to her inability to find her own words to qualify her feelings.
Similar to the ways in which Mitsutsuka explains the number ‘three had a mysterious significance in physics, with quarks and leptons grouped, for reasons no one understands, into three-flavor sets,’ the book centers around three characters, Fuyuko, Mitsutsuka, and her boss Hijiri. Hijiri is a perfect foil character, being self-assured and highly vocal compared to the silent and docile Fuyuko and we observe Fuyuko slowly attempting to embody her peer more and more, even to the point of wearing her clothing. She even begins drinking like Hijiri does, ‘to let go of my usual self,’ though it doesn’t often agree with her and she stumbles drunk through much of the novel. The work relationship that becomes a frequent phone call friendship relationship feels much like a prototype to the friendship with the boss in Breasts and Eggs, with the more confident woman being the force to get the other out of the house and in public (the second part of Breasts and Eggs was released in 2019, this was 2011).
The third element, Mitsutsuka, is more mysterious as much of the book Fuyuko realizes she does not know much about him. His name represents this, something that likely works better in the Japanese characters but is explained when he states ‘I get Santaba all the time. Sanzoku, too,’ when she reads his name incorrectly. It is an excellent clue he might be much different than the light he reflects back to Fuyuko in their conversations.
‘Should you choose romance or work? Was it possible to have both?...What did each choice force you to give up? What did you stand to gain?’
Something Kawakami is especially gifted at is having a diversity of opinions for her characters to express, often in conflict with each other. Such as how the narrator of Heaven has the foundation of his worldview shaken when his bully finally gives their opinions, here we often see very contrary opinions on characters and how one should live their life. As is frequent in Kawakami novels, much of this is expressed through long monologues that can sometimes feel a bit stilted, but with Fuyuko as an often silent character who nods along and repeats key terms it makes sense why they would have free reign to ramble. Her former high school friend, Noriko, explains it away that she can be fully open to her because ‘you’re not one of the main characters in my life anymore…’ This is fitting as Fuyuko is barely the main character in her own life.
Much of these varied opinions focus on how one should or shouldn’t live. While we see Hijiri as confident and sex-positive, able to not get attached to lovers and have a strong sense of identity and success at work, a coworker, Kyoko, sees her as conniving, a user and shamefully promiscuous, which then unsettled Fuyuko as she has been subconsciously idolizing Hijiri. So much of the relationships between women in the novel are competitive, something Kawakami examines as internalized misogyny. Hijiri explains that the cutthroat behavior, where if another women with potential ‘shows up, she crushes her like its nothing,’ but then bend to the whims of any male employee thinking being subservient will allow them to rise up on the good graces of the men. ‘It’ve seen it so many times, I’m sick of it.’ She stands up for herself to a man at one point—’he thought he could get away with it because I’m a woman, but that was exactly why I couldn’t let it go’—only to have the woman she was defending criticize her. ‘Aren’t you scared of people hating you?’ she is asked. In a study by the Harvard Business Review, 76% of women were determined to be “too aggressive” in their communication while only 24% of men were, and multiple other studies have shown similar bias when looking at high achieving men versus women and Kawakami looks at how being strong willed is acceptable in society for men, but looked at as being difficult or unruly in women.
It also points towards the difficulty of having a place in society for women, particularly women getting on in their adult years. ‘Should you have kids or not?’ Fuyuko wonders, ‘what were the pros and cons?’ The women who are successful at work but unmarried are criticized for that, as if their whole purpose should be to bear children. Yet we see Noriko express regret for doing just that. ‘Sometimes I’m not so sure that was the best decision,’ she says, and it is revealed she has a sexless and unhappy relationship where both parties are having affairs. This is examined at length as well in Kawakami’s later book, Breasts and Eggs.
While this is a fairly melancholy book, it frequently delights with beauty. Much like in the works of Haruki Murakami (Kawakami has referenced him as an influence, and they have a friendly working relationship where she has been able to critique him), there is a classical music piece central to the story. Here it is Chopin’s Berceuse, a piano piece associated with light that is recommended by Mitsutsuka and Fuyuko listens to obsessively in a rather adorable way reminiscent of teenage crushes. The way she describes how the piece moves her, both emotionally and physically as she moves about the room, is with the best of Murakami’s musings on music. This book subverts expectations in many ways, with some surprises at the ending that don’t come across as gimmicky but rather the reality of rejection and life. While perhaps the quietest of her novels to be translated, this is a stunner that slowly seeps into you and stays in your heart and mind long after completion. I cannot wait for more to be translated.
4/5
‘ Whenever my emotions or whatever kick in, my world goes blank-like something's taken over me. Then I start doubting everything, like, what if my whole life was just a quote from something else, only I never realized it? That's where my brain goes.'
Mieko Kawakami writes stories that have an uncanny ability to nestle into my mind and make themselves at home long after I finish reading them. Her stories are like the waters of a pond in some idyllic grove, her prose the dazzling light reflecting off the surface that keeps you in a state of awe throughout the reading and more you look and longer you think, everything beneath begins to come into view revealing a great depth and ecosystem just beneath the ripples in the water. It is part of how she has quickly become a favorite author and her works are such thought-provoking companions for the mind. All the Lovers in the Night (すべて真夜中の恋人たち) is the fourth of her novels to be translated into English, excellently rendered here by Sam Brett and David Boyd, and is a quiet majesty of a slice-of-life novel that follows narrator Fuyuko Irie. She is a copy editor who’s lonely and detached existence is shaken up when, upon catching her reflection in a widow, realizes her image is ‘the dictionary definition of a miserable person,’ and struggles to find a way to change. Revolving around a dynamic and multi-functional metaphor about the science of light, examining ideas of loneliness and intimacy, and hitting upon Kawakami’s signature themes of expectations of women in society, All the Lovers in the Night succeeds by embodying the detached perspective of its narrator while still engulfing the reader in an engaging and ponderous novel.
‘The complex human eye harvests light. It perceives seven to ten million colors through a synaptic flash …to anticipate danger and recognize reward, but also—more so—for beauty.’
-Ellen Meloy, The Anthropology of Turquoise
Kawakami excels at multifaceted metaphors that permeate through the themes of her novel and light plays a significant role in the novel. On a basic level, Fuyuko develops an ongoing relationship with Mitsutsuka, and older man who aided her when her bag was stolen from the city’s Cultural Center, meeting in a cafe to mostly discuss the science of light. They discuss how what we see is light that is reflected, and have some existential musings on how light will, inevitably, be absorbed and vanish. As the novel progresses, several lives are snuffed out—including Fuyuko witnessing a pedestrian struck by a car—and we come to understand our lives like light reflecting our stories out into the world on an inexorable trajectory towards death and vanishing back into the universe. On an individual level, light and memory have a similar function as observed in scenes where Fuyuko contemplates her past, events get absorbed into our memory or, as in the case of an abrupt assault that occurs during her teenage years, is reflected back out through personality. For Fuyuko, this takes shape through isolation and trust issues.
‘There was nothing here that I could reach out and touch. Nothing that would call my name.’
Detachment is a major theme in All the Lovers and as the novel is told from her perspective, it reads in a slow, meandering way that never allows itself to get too close to anything. There are times it feels almost frustratingly avoiding any semblance of forward progress in plot, which is a rather brilliant tactic that allows us to experience the narrator both in and through the narrative style. She is mid-thirties and lacks any social life or anyone she considers a friend, all her energy and thoughts bent towards her editing work. A work that becomes her personality in a way.
‘The first thing they teach you as a proofreader is that you're not supposed to read the story on the page. That goes for a novel or any other kind of book. No reading allowed.’
Her detached way of experiencing books carries over into her life of isolation, even keeping her own emotions at arms length. ‘Sadness and happiness are all experienced by someone else before us,’ she decides, ‘we’re simply following their lead.’ As this notion of our emotions following the lead of others is an idea she adopted from Hijiri, we frequently find Fuyuko borrowing the lives of others in place of feeling she doesn’t have much of her own.
‘I took the pencil to the first blank page and wrote the words: “All the lovers in the night.” The phrase had appeared out of nowhere. Through the faint light of the room, I looked over the words, which came together in the strangest way. On the one hand, they felt new to me, like something I’d never heard or seen before, though I also felt like maybe I had read them somewhere, in the title of a movie or a song, which meant it had emerged from someplace inside of me. Hard to say..’
Where does inspiration comes from? Kawakami asks us if we are truly an authentic version of ourselves, or is much of what we present to ourselves and the world a reflection of those around us and what we choose to absorb from them.
The book becomes a character study in the narrator, examining ‘all the light that was there and yet impossible to see’ in her character. Initially she is almost non-existent in her own life, but once her life is shaken into movement by a few people around her we are finally able to examine her and understand her more as she flails and fails understand herself, usually due to her inability to find her own words to qualify her feelings.
‘ 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.’
Similar to the ways in which Mitsutsuka explains the number ‘three had a mysterious significance in physics, with quarks and leptons grouped, for reasons no one understands, into three-flavor sets,’ the book centers around three characters, Fuyuko, Mitsutsuka, and her boss Hijiri. Hijiri is a perfect foil character, being self-assured and highly vocal compared to the silent and docile Fuyuko and we observe Fuyuko slowly attempting to embody her peer more and more, even to the point of wearing her clothing. She even begins drinking like Hijiri does, ‘to let go of my usual self,’ though it doesn’t often agree with her and she stumbles drunk through much of the novel. The work relationship that becomes a frequent phone call friendship relationship feels much like a prototype to the friendship with the boss in Breasts and Eggs, with the more confident woman being the force to get the other out of the house and in public (the second part of Breasts and Eggs was released in 2019, this was 2011).
The third element, Mitsutsuka, is more mysterious as much of the book Fuyuko realizes she does not know much about him. His name represents this, something that likely works better in the Japanese characters but is explained when he states ‘I get Santaba all the time. Sanzoku, too,’ when she reads his name incorrectly. It is an excellent clue he might be much different than the light he reflects back to Fuyuko in their conversations.
‘Should you choose romance or work? Was it possible to have both?...What did each choice force you to give up? What did you stand to gain?’
Something Kawakami is especially gifted at is having a diversity of opinions for her characters to express, often in conflict with each other. Such as how the narrator of Heaven has the foundation of his worldview shaken when his bully finally gives their opinions, here we often see very contrary opinions on characters and how one should live their life. As is frequent in Kawakami novels, much of this is expressed through long monologues that can sometimes feel a bit stilted, but with Fuyuko as an often silent character who nods along and repeats key terms it makes sense why they would have free reign to ramble. Her former high school friend, Noriko, explains it away that she can be fully open to her because ‘you’re not one of the main characters in my life anymore…’ This is fitting as Fuyuko is barely the main character in her own life.
Much of these varied opinions focus on how one should or shouldn’t live. While we see Hijiri as confident and sex-positive, able to not get attached to lovers and have a strong sense of identity and success at work, a coworker, Kyoko, sees her as conniving, a user and shamefully promiscuous, which then unsettled Fuyuko as she has been subconsciously idolizing Hijiri. So much of the relationships between women in the novel are competitive, something Kawakami examines as internalized misogyny. Hijiri explains that the cutthroat behavior, where if another women with potential ‘shows up, she crushes her like its nothing,’ but then bend to the whims of any male employee thinking being subservient will allow them to rise up on the good graces of the men. ‘It’ve seen it so many times, I’m sick of it.’ She stands up for herself to a man at one point—’he thought he could get away with it because I’m a woman, but that was exactly why I couldn’t let it go’—only to have the woman she was defending criticize her. ‘Aren’t you scared of people hating you?’ she is asked. In a study by the Harvard Business Review, 76% of women were determined to be “too aggressive” in their communication while only 24% of men were, and multiple other studies have shown similar bias when looking at high achieving men versus women and Kawakami looks at how being strong willed is acceptable in society for men, but looked at as being difficult or unruly in women.
It also points towards the difficulty of having a place in society for women, particularly women getting on in their adult years. ‘Should you have kids or not?’ Fuyuko wonders, ‘what were the pros and cons?’ The women who are successful at work but unmarried are criticized for that, as if their whole purpose should be to bear children. Yet we see Noriko express regret for doing just that. ‘Sometimes I’m not so sure that was the best decision,’ she says, and it is revealed she has a sexless and unhappy relationship where both parties are having affairs. This is examined at length as well in Kawakami’s later book, Breasts and Eggs.
While this is a fairly melancholy book, it frequently delights with beauty. Much like in the works of Haruki Murakami (Kawakami has referenced him as an influence, and they have a friendly working relationship where she has been able to critique him), there is a classical music piece central to the story. Here it is Chopin’s Berceuse, a piano piece associated with light that is recommended by Mitsutsuka and Fuyuko listens to obsessively in a rather adorable way reminiscent of teenage crushes. The way she describes how the piece moves her, both emotionally and physically as she moves about the room, is with the best of Murakami’s musings on music. This book subverts expectations in many ways, with some surprises at the ending that don’t come across as gimmicky but rather the reality of rejection and life. While perhaps the quietest of her novels to be translated, this is a stunner that slowly seeps into you and stays in your heart and mind long after completion. I cannot wait for more to be translated.
4/5
‘ Whenever my emotions or whatever kick in, my world goes blank-like something's taken over me. Then I start doubting everything, like, what if my whole life was just a quote from something else, only I never realized it? That's where my brain goes.'
April 15, 2024
sometimes you find an author whose books you'll buy automatically.
sometimes you find an author who you just know isn't for you.
sometimes you find an author and you're in awe of how their brain works.
mieko kawakami is the latter, for me.
i love a sad girl book at the worst of times (and especially anything that my screwed up brain can compare to sally rooney, which is...just about everything). even when i know a sad girl book is not, well, good, i still eat it up like ice cream.
but this is. wow.
it started off distant and slow for me, but by the last quarter was quite the opposite. i was wrapped up in it, consumed by it. what a treat, what a gift. the writing is subtle and wonderful, the connection between memory and light is so lovely.
it's a book so good it makes me write in comma splices.
bottom line: mieko forever!!!
------------
currently-reading updates
i only ever want to read lit fic about sad girls
sometimes you find an author who you just know isn't for you.
sometimes you find an author and you're in awe of how their brain works.
mieko kawakami is the latter, for me.
i love a sad girl book at the worst of times (and especially anything that my screwed up brain can compare to sally rooney, which is...just about everything). even when i know a sad girl book is not, well, good, i still eat it up like ice cream.
but this is. wow.
it started off distant and slow for me, but by the last quarter was quite the opposite. i was wrapped up in it, consumed by it. what a treat, what a gift. the writing is subtle and wonderful, the connection between memory and light is so lovely.
it's a book so good it makes me write in comma splices.
bottom line: mieko forever!!!
------------
currently-reading updates
i only ever want to read lit fic about sad girls
August 11, 2023
i know the proofreader of this book was shitting their pants
February 17, 2022
Fuyuko’s 34, she spends her days locked away in her tiny, Tokyo apartment, poring over manuscripts to fulfil her obligations as a freelance copy-editor. Apart from the woman she works for, seemingly confident, single, career woman Hijiri, she’s basically alone. She has one precious thing that’s hers, every Christmas Eve, on her birthday, she walks through the night, surrounded by the glow from houses, shops and streetlights, finding some solace in the atmosphere and the sensations aroused by being bathed in light. Her interactions are minimal, although she’s not exactly exhibiting hikikomori-like behaviour, there’s an intensity to her increasing withdrawal from the outside world that resembles it, together with an uneasy sense that she’s rapidly deteriorating. Then by chance she meets a man Mitsutsuka, who tells her he’s a physics teacher, and they begin a tentative relationship, meeting for coffee while he explains the workings of light and colour. And she sees the possibility of something different, of some form of connection she’s never had.
Mieko Kawakami’s novel starts out at an unhurried pace, deliberately so, as the early sections replicate the mundane nature of Fuyuko’s daily existence, the banality of her routines, her biting isolation, her anxiety which she attempts to mask by drinking to oblivion, night after night in her room. Kawakami contrasts Fuyuko’s world with Hijiri’s and Noriko’s, a married mother and former schoolfriend, all women in their thirties who’ve taken different paths but all floundering, equally isolated and unfulfilled. It’s a story without a plot, an exploration of women’s lives, their inner worlds, their confusions, deftly told, quiet and hovering on the brink of devastation. Although the style’s completely different, the sensibility reminded me at times of reading Carson McCullers’s work, particularly The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, with its cast of lost, lonely, bewildered people. Kawakami’s meticulously-observed narrative gradually drew me in, until I was totally bound up in it, towards the end I was almost scared to turn the pages I was so invested in Fuyuko’s possible fate. Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Picador for an ARC
Mieko Kawakami’s novel starts out at an unhurried pace, deliberately so, as the early sections replicate the mundane nature of Fuyuko’s daily existence, the banality of her routines, her biting isolation, her anxiety which she attempts to mask by drinking to oblivion, night after night in her room. Kawakami contrasts Fuyuko’s world with Hijiri’s and Noriko’s, a married mother and former schoolfriend, all women in their thirties who’ve taken different paths but all floundering, equally isolated and unfulfilled. It’s a story without a plot, an exploration of women’s lives, their inner worlds, their confusions, deftly told, quiet and hovering on the brink of devastation. Although the style’s completely different, the sensibility reminded me at times of reading Carson McCullers’s work, particularly The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, with its cast of lost, lonely, bewildered people. Kawakami’s meticulously-observed narrative gradually drew me in, until I was totally bound up in it, towards the end I was almost scared to turn the pages I was so invested in Fuyuko’s possible fate. Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Picador for an ARC
October 12, 2024
A story about a single lady working as a proofreader and her relationships with friends and a so-called lover.
The flow of the story is a bit depressing and surprising.
Well, I enjoyed reading it. 😍
The flow of the story is a bit depressing and surprising.
Well, I enjoyed reading it. 😍
January 2, 2023
A sad, disturbing and highly impactful story: Set in Tokyo, our protagonist Fuyuko is in her mid-thirties and works from home as a proofreader, spending her days hunting for mistakes - not only in the texts she is concerned with, but also in other people's decisions and in her own life. This leads to a profound loneliness and inability to make decisions, so she decides to take up drinking in order to loosen up and shatter her hardened shell: She tries to establish a positive relationship with her fiercely independent boss Hijiri and a 58-year-old man she accidentally runs into (literally) at a culture center and then proceeds to meet regularly. The story is propelled forward by the question whether misfit Fuyuko can find a place for herself and some happiness.
In by now typical fashion for young, female, Japanese literature, Kawakami investigates the role of women in society, particularly non-conforming types who struggle with stereotyped ideas of womanhood. The character of Fuyuko even goes one step further: She is a deeply affecting character governed by fear, so instead of making decisions against the grain, she makes no decisions at all. When she proofreads, the whole trick is to not get lost in the content in order to focus on the mistakes - and that's how she leads her life. The novel revolves around her finding the courage to actively make non-conforming decisions instead of just avoiding to make any choices and thus possible mistakes. As Kawakami is not one for cliched story arcs, she once more underlines the possibility and power of female friendship and solidarity as a freeing force, but not without also showing how women, on the other hand, can also judge each other harshly for not fulfilling roles mainstream society has carved out for them.
In the minor characters, we meet women who use seemingly passive Fuyuko as a kind of confession booth, telling her about their more conservative (and thus accepted) lifestyles and what aspects make them happy and unhappy - and to talk badly about others, to (unconsciously) justify the status quo. This is also a book about casual human cruelty, and how people can overcome it by offering attention and compassion. When we meet Fuyuko, her yearly highlight is to take a night walk for her birthday through the illuminated city - and the motif of light will reign supreme throughout the whole novel.
A glowing poetic gem of a novel, and I will proceed to read everything by Kawakami I can get my hands on.
In by now typical fashion for young, female, Japanese literature, Kawakami investigates the role of women in society, particularly non-conforming types who struggle with stereotyped ideas of womanhood. The character of Fuyuko even goes one step further: She is a deeply affecting character governed by fear, so instead of making decisions against the grain, she makes no decisions at all. When she proofreads, the whole trick is to not get lost in the content in order to focus on the mistakes - and that's how she leads her life. The novel revolves around her finding the courage to actively make non-conforming decisions instead of just avoiding to make any choices and thus possible mistakes. As Kawakami is not one for cliched story arcs, she once more underlines the possibility and power of female friendship and solidarity as a freeing force, but not without also showing how women, on the other hand, can also judge each other harshly for not fulfilling roles mainstream society has carved out for them.
In the minor characters, we meet women who use seemingly passive Fuyuko as a kind of confession booth, telling her about their more conservative (and thus accepted) lifestyles and what aspects make them happy and unhappy - and to talk badly about others, to (unconsciously) justify the status quo. This is also a book about casual human cruelty, and how people can overcome it by offering attention and compassion. When we meet Fuyuko, her yearly highlight is to take a night walk for her birthday through the illuminated city - and the motif of light will reign supreme throughout the whole novel.
A glowing poetic gem of a novel, and I will proceed to read everything by Kawakami I can get my hands on.
May 28, 2022
i received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. well. there were some good parts, and then there were some boring parts.
it's insightful and sentimental, and i honestly found a lot of observations and experiences relatable. although it took me a while to warm up to the story, i also like how the main character's loneliness and misery is contrasted with the other women in the book; i see what Kawakami is doing with this.
but i can't ignore the fact that reading this was a chore for me. i can recognize that it was intentional to depict how mundane and uneventful the life of a middle-aged woman's life is, but it was so frustrating to follow a very passive narrator. and i like the stale and melancholic atmosphere, but it was honestly ruined by the thirsting over a man pushing 60. i found it unnecessary and i don't get the appeal. maybe i'm too young to understand the romantic and sexual appeal of a grandfather, idk.
maybe i'll try Kawakami's other books, maybe i won't. i'm not totally closed off to the idea of reading another one of her works, but i'm not very ecstatic about it either. maybe her books aren't just for me.
it's insightful and sentimental, and i honestly found a lot of observations and experiences relatable. although it took me a while to warm up to the story, i also like how the main character's loneliness and misery is contrasted with the other women in the book; i see what Kawakami is doing with this.
but i can't ignore the fact that reading this was a chore for me. i can recognize that it was intentional to depict how mundane and uneventful the life of a middle-aged woman's life is, but it was so frustrating to follow a very passive narrator. and i like the stale and melancholic atmosphere, but it was honestly ruined by the thirsting over a man pushing 60. i found it unnecessary and i don't get the appeal. maybe i'm too young to understand the romantic and sexual appeal of a grandfather, idk.
maybe i'll try Kawakami's other books, maybe i won't. i'm not totally closed off to the idea of reading another one of her works, but i'm not very ecstatic about it either. maybe her books aren't just for me.
June 7, 2022
Dear Fuyuko,
I know you don't know me but I feel like I've known you for a long time, like we've met before.
I know why you picked up the pencil and wrote on that blank sheet of paper, words that you didn't even know existed 'All the lovers in the night'. I know words are there within reach but so hard to place at times. After all, most of the times the words we have and the world we live are too much to bear or too few/small to make space for the little world within us.
When in Tokyo, by the bar at night, if I stumble upon you drinking sake, may I join you? It will feel awkward at first, a stranger to you. You will be an inch close to me but I'll be miles away from you, a stranger who just dropped by to have a drink with you. A drink together doesn't do any harm, does it? And who knows, we can stroll through the streets at the night, talking on random topic brought forth by the warmth of sake?
To be honest, I speak too much, unlike you and sometimes I wonder what that has gotten me so far in life, doing too much, feeling too much or saying too much, at place where I should have kept quiet, I find myself all over the place, trying so hard to gather all of my pieces. Like the scattering of lights, maybe I am this pocket of photon drifting through the ether, and now I'm reflecting off of you.
I know you'd rather listen than talk as you have few words to offer, the words don't find their way out the way they're supposed to, a sip of sake always helps. I know you carry a bottle of sake to help you through the social anxiety. I hope we can talk without intoxication someday, where we feel comfortable and safe enough to bare our heart out. I know what you've been through, what keeps you up at night, what pushes you further into your shell. But I also know how much you want to get out. I hope, this tiny pocket of light will help guide your way out.
I won't say you deserve the world, the world is full of shit anyway, but I would say this, you deserve your tiny little world full of lights that love being reflected off of you or get absorbed within you. If we meet again, as I drift through this ether, and if our tiny pocket of light coalesce, would you watch the firework with me?
Yours,
Familiar stranger
I know you don't know me but I feel like I've known you for a long time, like we've met before.
I know why you picked up the pencil and wrote on that blank sheet of paper, words that you didn't even know existed 'All the lovers in the night'. I know words are there within reach but so hard to place at times. After all, most of the times the words we have and the world we live are too much to bear or too few/small to make space for the little world within us.
When in Tokyo, by the bar at night, if I stumble upon you drinking sake, may I join you? It will feel awkward at first, a stranger to you. You will be an inch close to me but I'll be miles away from you, a stranger who just dropped by to have a drink with you. A drink together doesn't do any harm, does it? And who knows, we can stroll through the streets at the night, talking on random topic brought forth by the warmth of sake?
To be honest, I speak too much, unlike you and sometimes I wonder what that has gotten me so far in life, doing too much, feeling too much or saying too much, at place where I should have kept quiet, I find myself all over the place, trying so hard to gather all of my pieces. Like the scattering of lights, maybe I am this pocket of photon drifting through the ether, and now I'm reflecting off of you.
I know you'd rather listen than talk as you have few words to offer, the words don't find their way out the way they're supposed to, a sip of sake always helps. I know you carry a bottle of sake to help you through the social anxiety. I hope we can talk without intoxication someday, where we feel comfortable and safe enough to bare our heart out. I know what you've been through, what keeps you up at night, what pushes you further into your shell. But I also know how much you want to get out. I hope, this tiny pocket of light will help guide your way out.
I won't say you deserve the world, the world is full of shit anyway, but I would say this, you deserve your tiny little world full of lights that love being reflected off of you or get absorbed within you. If we meet again, as I drift through this ether, and if our tiny pocket of light coalesce, would you watch the firework with me?
Yours,
Familiar stranger
October 23, 2024
“The light at night is special because the overwhelming light of day has left us, and the remaining half draws on everything it has to keep the world around us bright.”
This story was quietly devastating and honestly hard to read at times (not because of the difficulty of the writing style, but the literal and emotional difficulties the main character faces). What makes Mieko Kawakami special is the way she handles these heartbreaking topics with such hope and light. Like nightfall, this story is quiet with a gentle darkness… but, like nightfall, it is also beautiful and poetic.
“Now that the light was gone, I closed my eyes softly, knowing it would only be a short time until light came back in the morning.”
This story was quietly devastating and honestly hard to read at times (not because of the difficulty of the writing style, but the literal and emotional difficulties the main character faces). What makes Mieko Kawakami special is the way she handles these heartbreaking topics with such hope and light. Like nightfall, this story is quiet with a gentle darkness… but, like nightfall, it is also beautiful and poetic.
“Now that the light was gone, I closed my eyes softly, knowing it would only be a short time until light came back in the morning.”
July 9, 2023
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Previously to reading All the Lovers in the Night, I’d read Breasts and Eggs, Heaven, and Ms. Ice Sandwich, by Mieko Kawakami. While I was not ‘fond’ of Breasts and Eggs, I did find her other books to be compelling. As the premise for All the Lovers in the Night did bring to mind Breasts and Eggs, I was worried that I would have a similarly ‘negative’ reading experience. Thankfully, I found All the Lovers in the Night to be insightful and moving. Even more so than Kawakami’s other works, All the Lovers in the Night adheres to a slice-of-life narrative. Yet, in spite of this, the story is by no means light-hearted or superficial. Kawakami approaches difficult topics with this deceptively simple storytelling. She renders the loneliness and anxiety of her central character with clarity and even empathy.
Thirty-something Fuyuko Irie leads a solitary life working from home as a freelance copy editor. Her inward nature led her former colleagues to single her out, and she was made to feel increasingly uncomfortable at her workplace. Working from home Fuyuko is able to avoid interacting with others, and seems content with her quiet existence. Fuyuko receives much of her work from Hijiri, an editor who is the same age as her but is very extroverted and possesses a forceful personality. Hijiri, for reasons unknown to Fuyuko, regularly keeps in touch with her and seems to consider her a friend. Perhaps their differences cause Fuyuko to begin questioning her lifestyle. Compared to her glamorous friend, Fuyuko sees herself, to borrow Jane Eyre’s words, as “obscure, plain and little”. But venturing outside the comfort of her home has become difficult for Fuyuko. To work up the courage she begins drinking alcohol, even if her body doesn’t respond well to it. She eventually begins going to a cafe with an older man. While the two speak of nothing much, they seem happy to exchange tentative words with one another.
I can see that this is not the type of novel that will appeal to those readers who are keen on plot-driven stories. However, if you are looking for an affecting character study, look no further. Through Fuyuko’s story, the author addresses how Japanese society sees and treats women who are deemed no longer ‘young’. Marriage, motherhood, and a career seem to be the requirements for many Japanese women. Those like Fuyuko are considered outside of the norm and because of this, they find themselves alienated from others. Fuyuko’s self-esteem is badly affected by this to the point where she feels that she has to go outside her comfort zone, even if the only way to do so is through inebriation. At a certain point, I was worried that Kawakami would make Hijiri into the classic fake/mean female character who is portrayed as aggressive, promiscuous, and a woman-hater to boot. Thankfully that was not the case. While Hijiri is not necessarily a likeable person Kawakami doesn’t paint her as a one-dimensional bitch and her relationship with Fuyuko isn’t sidetracked in favour of the romantic subplot. And yes, on the ‘romance’...I will say that this man wasn’t as nuanced as Fuyuko. I found him slightly boring and generic. I did like that the relationship between the two forms has a very slow build-up to it and the ending will certainly subvert many readers' expectations.
Anyway, overall I rather enjoyed this. I liked the melancholic mood permeating Fuyuko’s story, the descriptions of Tokyo, the mumblecore dialogues, the way Kawakami articulates Fuyuko’s discomfort, anxiety, etc. Now and again there were even moments of humour and absurdity that alleviated Fuyuko’s more depressing experiences. I also appreciated the novel’s open-ended nature, which added an extra layer of realism to Fuyuko’s story. While some of Fuyuko’s actions aren’t given a ‘why’ or closely inspected, as we read on we begin to understand more fully her various state of mind and how these affect her behaviour.
While the dialogues did have a realistic rhythm, the secondary characters (who usually did most of the talking given that our main character isn't a talker) did tend to go on very long and weirdly specific monologues that seemed at times incredibly random or oddly revealing. This is something I noticed in other works by Kawakami. Secondary characters go on endless rants or whatnot while our main character gives little to no input. It seems a bit unusual that Fuyuko would come across so many people who are willing to go on these very long monologues that reveal personal stuff. Even so, I did find the majority of the dialogues to be effective.
All the Lovers in the Night is a work of subtle beauty and I look forward to revisiting it again in the future.
re-read: the narrative possess a quality of impermanence that is truly rare in literature. i love the attention that the author gives to Fuyuko's various environments and the incredibly tactile descriptions. the way the author writes about light reminded me of Yūko Tsushima. i loved re-reading this and i really appreciated how the author prioritises female relationships in this narrative. the relationships and interactions between the various women within this narrative are by no means positive or easy but they speak of the kind of images and norms that their families, communities, and society have inculcated into them. additionally, the author shows how women can perpetuate misogynistic views and attitudes (casting judgement on how other women dress, their sex lives, their marital status) as well how all-consuming and toxic female friendships can be. Fuyuko's unwillingness to conform to widely accepted ideals of womanhood and her (partly) self-imposed isolation brought to mind Charlotte Brontë's Lucy Snowe. additionally, the way kawakami navigates her loneliness and creativity reminded me of Lily King's Writers & Lovers.
despite the issues addressed within the narrative—sexual assault, alcoholism, misogyny, alienation—Fuyuko's voice has this lulling rhythm that made it easy for me to become immersed by what i was reading. while in my original review i criticised the novel for its 'monologues' this second time around i actually found these far more credible as it was easy to see why people would open up to Fuyuko. sad and wistful, All the Lovers in the Night ultimately struck me as luminous character analysis that captures with bittersweet accuracy the realities of leading a lonely existence, missed connections, and the long-lasting repercussions of traumatic experiences.
“All the lovers in the night .” The phrase had appeared out of nowhere. Through the faint light of the room, I looked over the words, which came together in the strangest way. On the one hand, they felt new to me, like something I’d never heard or seen before, though I also felt like maybe I had read them somewhere, in the title of a movie or a song;
Previously to reading All the Lovers in the Night, I’d read Breasts and Eggs, Heaven, and Ms. Ice Sandwich, by Mieko Kawakami. While I was not ‘fond’ of Breasts and Eggs, I did find her other books to be compelling. As the premise for All the Lovers in the Night did bring to mind Breasts and Eggs, I was worried that I would have a similarly ‘negative’ reading experience. Thankfully, I found All the Lovers in the Night to be insightful and moving. Even more so than Kawakami’s other works, All the Lovers in the Night adheres to a slice-of-life narrative. Yet, in spite of this, the story is by no means light-hearted or superficial. Kawakami approaches difficult topics with this deceptively simple storytelling. She renders the loneliness and anxiety of her central character with clarity and even empathy.
“I couldn’t think of a single thing about me that would be worth sharing. My name is Fuyuko Irie, a freelance proofreader, thirty-four years old. I’ll be turning thirty-five in the winter. I live alone. I’ve been living in the same apartment forever. I was born in Nagano. Out in the country. One of the valleys. I like to go out on a walk once a year on my birthday, Christmas Eve, in the middle of the night.”
Thirty-something Fuyuko Irie leads a solitary life working from home as a freelance copy editor. Her inward nature led her former colleagues to single her out, and she was made to feel increasingly uncomfortable at her workplace. Working from home Fuyuko is able to avoid interacting with others, and seems content with her quiet existence. Fuyuko receives much of her work from Hijiri, an editor who is the same age as her but is very extroverted and possesses a forceful personality. Hijiri, for reasons unknown to Fuyuko, regularly keeps in touch with her and seems to consider her a friend. Perhaps their differences cause Fuyuko to begin questioning her lifestyle. Compared to her glamorous friend, Fuyuko sees herself, to borrow Jane Eyre’s words, as “obscure, plain and little”. But venturing outside the comfort of her home has become difficult for Fuyuko. To work up the courage she begins drinking alcohol, even if her body doesn’t respond well to it. She eventually begins going to a cafe with an older man. While the two speak of nothing much, they seem happy to exchange tentative words with one another.
I can see that this is not the type of novel that will appeal to those readers who are keen on plot-driven stories. However, if you are looking for an affecting character study, look no further. Through Fuyuko’s story, the author addresses how Japanese society sees and treats women who are deemed no longer ‘young’. Marriage, motherhood, and a career seem to be the requirements for many Japanese women. Those like Fuyuko are considered outside of the norm and because of this, they find themselves alienated from others. Fuyuko’s self-esteem is badly affected by this to the point where she feels that she has to go outside her comfort zone, even if the only way to do so is through inebriation. At a certain point, I was worried that Kawakami would make Hijiri into the classic fake/mean female character who is portrayed as aggressive, promiscuous, and a woman-hater to boot. Thankfully that was not the case. While Hijiri is not necessarily a likeable person Kawakami doesn’t paint her as a one-dimensional bitch and her relationship with Fuyuko isn’t sidetracked in favour of the romantic subplot. And yes, on the ‘romance’...I will say that this man wasn’t as nuanced as Fuyuko. I found him slightly boring and generic. I did like that the relationship between the two forms has a very slow build-up to it and the ending will certainly subvert many readers' expectations.
Anyway, overall I rather enjoyed this. I liked the melancholic mood permeating Fuyuko’s story, the descriptions of Tokyo, the mumblecore dialogues, the way Kawakami articulates Fuyuko’s discomfort, anxiety, etc. Now and again there were even moments of humour and absurdity that alleviated Fuyuko’s more depressing experiences. I also appreciated the novel’s open-ended nature, which added an extra layer of realism to Fuyuko’s story. While some of Fuyuko’s actions aren’t given a ‘why’ or closely inspected, as we read on we begin to understand more fully her various state of mind and how these affect her behaviour.
“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.”
While the dialogues did have a realistic rhythm, the secondary characters (who usually did most of the talking given that our main character isn't a talker) did tend to go on very long and weirdly specific monologues that seemed at times incredibly random or oddly revealing. This is something I noticed in other works by Kawakami. Secondary characters go on endless rants or whatnot while our main character gives little to no input. It seems a bit unusual that Fuyuko would come across so many people who are willing to go on these very long monologues that reveal personal stuff. Even so, I did find the majority of the dialogues to be effective.
“If I thought about things long enough, I would always lose track of my own feelings, which left me with no choice but to proceed as usual, without taking any action.”
All the Lovers in the Night is a work of subtle beauty and I look forward to revisiting it again in the future.
re-read: the narrative possess a quality of impermanence that is truly rare in literature. i love the attention that the author gives to Fuyuko's various environments and the incredibly tactile descriptions. the way the author writes about light reminded me of Yūko Tsushima. i loved re-reading this and i really appreciated how the author prioritises female relationships in this narrative. the relationships and interactions between the various women within this narrative are by no means positive or easy but they speak of the kind of images and norms that their families, communities, and society have inculcated into them. additionally, the author shows how women can perpetuate misogynistic views and attitudes (casting judgement on how other women dress, their sex lives, their marital status) as well how all-consuming and toxic female friendships can be. Fuyuko's unwillingness to conform to widely accepted ideals of womanhood and her (partly) self-imposed isolation brought to mind Charlotte Brontë's Lucy Snowe. additionally, the way kawakami navigates her loneliness and creativity reminded me of Lily King's Writers & Lovers.
despite the issues addressed within the narrative—sexual assault, alcoholism, misogyny, alienation—Fuyuko's voice has this lulling rhythm that made it easy for me to become immersed by what i was reading. while in my original review i criticised the novel for its 'monologues' this second time around i actually found these far more credible as it was easy to see why people would open up to Fuyuko. sad and wistful, All the Lovers in the Night ultimately struck me as luminous character analysis that captures with bittersweet accuracy the realities of leading a lonely existence, missed connections, and the long-lasting repercussions of traumatic experiences.
March 8, 2023
Kawakami is at the top of her game with this one, すべて真夜中の恋人たち in the original Japanese and translated into English by Sam Bett and David Boyd. At first this seems to be a quiet novel, a story that follows a socially isolated professional woman in her mid-30s. Then almost mid-way through, Kawakami drops a chapter told in flashback, unadorned in sensationalism but devastating in its impact. The present day sections click into focus and we understand how important this book is as a work of contemporary Japanese feminist literature. The tone throughout is one of moderation, laudable in its evenness, although a departure from predictable narrative beats and an assumed heteronormativity would have been welcome.
June 9, 2023
if you're looking for a perfect sad girl book, this is the one
June 10, 2022
Oh boy. Large parts of this book our main character behaves inexplicably, the book ranging from boring to vaguely interesting, but it really never got off the ground for me--felt like juvenilia that maybe shouldn't've been published. And there's this quirk in her writing that, once I noticed, irritated me to no end. I have over a dozen examples of it, but here's a glimpse:
"You can be more generous."
"Generous?"
"...even if you feel that way about somebody, whether or not you can really connect is a whole different thing."
"Connect?"
"...it's not to take things seriously across the board."
"Across the board?"
"I've never really understood my own emotions."
"Your own emotions?"
"I get this feeling like I'm quoting somebody else's work."
"Quoting?"
"Maybe your personality's the problem here."
"Problem?"
"Maybe not a problem. More like a point."
"A point?"
"She's got a real appetite for men."
"Appetite?"
Oh my god. I have a lot more than that, too. Was she an alien from space? There's a point in the book where she talks about being hit in the head really hard once. Maybe that explains her personality issues? Throughout the book she's less than a blank canvas and a lot less interesting than that.
Some of her behavior can be explained I think as trauma response to the...event revealed about halfway into the book, but her personality seemed similar before that: just blithely wandering around. She may have a combo of traumas working here, the head trauma and the trauma response to that event. Weirdly bad book.
"You can be more generous."
"Generous?"
"...even if you feel that way about somebody, whether or not you can really connect is a whole different thing."
"Connect?"
"...it's not to take things seriously across the board."
"Across the board?"
"I've never really understood my own emotions."
"Your own emotions?"
"I get this feeling like I'm quoting somebody else's work."
"Quoting?"
"Maybe your personality's the problem here."
"Problem?"
"Maybe not a problem. More like a point."
"A point?"
"She's got a real appetite for men."
"Appetite?"
Oh my god. I have a lot more than that, too. Was she an alien from space? There's a point in the book where she talks about being hit in the head really hard once. Maybe that explains her personality issues? Throughout the book she's less than a blank canvas and a lot less interesting than that.
Some of her behavior can be explained I think as trauma response to the...event revealed about halfway into the book, but her personality seemed similar before that: just blithely wandering around. She may have a combo of traumas working here, the head trauma and the trauma response to that event. Weirdly bad book.
June 16, 2023
A bit willfully opaque, perhaps, and elusive til the end, but some of the beats in this slim novel of a woman In the midst of a sea change are lovely
May 5, 2022
I liked it!
My local friend gave me a physical ‘advance reading copy’ weeks ago —she didn’t like it. I did. (Thank you L-C… my favorite local book-drug-dealer: keep them coming — and lunch is on me) 🙂🍜💕
Protagonist, Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid 30s.
From the start, there were interesting descriptions about Fuyuko—
painting a clear experience of loneliness and the type of person she was.
Fuyuko didn’t form relationships easy. She had little contact with anyone except her editor, Hijiri —and even that relationship only came about because Hijiri generated it and pushed it. The type of friend that everybody has had at least once in their life…or maybe have been one..
You’d think as a reader, I might have given more thought to the working-world of proof reading and editing…the type of people who are drawn to it…the inner workings of their minds…the many long grueling hours they spend looking for and correcting mistakes….but actually, I hadn’t. This little book opened my awareness.
My appreciation has grown for the grammatical gatekeepers —THE HOURS of reading and re-reading stories ….(these wonderful invisible people), who work under intense deadline pressures — to ensure that each sentence is easy to read, factually correct, spellings correct, and that the concepts are presented in a logical, sequential manner — aiming for ‘perfection’. WOW….
HATS OFF TO PROOFREADERS!!
And…..then we have the storytelling from award-winning Japanese author, Mieko Kawakami…..
I LOVE HER WRITING!!! ….she works for me…..
I loved the endearing character, that Fuyuko, is.
I felt her precious heart, her pains, her disappointments, her strength enveloped in sadness….the fire of courage that got under her…
She loves the light and goes out at night - alone - on the night of her birthday, Christmas Eve. I could see the night, those lights, smell the night air—a night that was a start (symbolically and literally the beginning of a turn of events in Fuyuko’s life).
Hijiri, (a kick-ass weasel of a character)….encourages Fuyuko to wear makeup, dress a little more snazzy — (people tried to get me to do these things throughout my life too), ….occasionally I played with the flair-of-beauty….(ha, only to fall back into my shmateh rags of comfort most days)..
but….anyway,….
it’s Mr. Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher, who awakened a different type of sparky-flair in Fuyuko…..
Developing relationships grow—ranges of emotions do too—
Oh….but the ending ….?/!….
The entire journey….warmed and chilled by bones …..and
I’m a little sad to say goodbye to Fuyuko.
My local friend gave me a physical ‘advance reading copy’ weeks ago —she didn’t like it. I did. (Thank you L-C… my favorite local book-drug-dealer: keep them coming — and lunch is on me) 🙂🍜💕
Protagonist, Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid 30s.
From the start, there were interesting descriptions about Fuyuko—
painting a clear experience of loneliness and the type of person she was.
Fuyuko didn’t form relationships easy. She had little contact with anyone except her editor, Hijiri —and even that relationship only came about because Hijiri generated it and pushed it. The type of friend that everybody has had at least once in their life…or maybe have been one..
You’d think as a reader, I might have given more thought to the working-world of proof reading and editing…the type of people who are drawn to it…the inner workings of their minds…the many long grueling hours they spend looking for and correcting mistakes….but actually, I hadn’t. This little book opened my awareness.
My appreciation has grown for the grammatical gatekeepers —THE HOURS of reading and re-reading stories ….(these wonderful invisible people), who work under intense deadline pressures — to ensure that each sentence is easy to read, factually correct, spellings correct, and that the concepts are presented in a logical, sequential manner — aiming for ‘perfection’. WOW….
HATS OFF TO PROOFREADERS!!
And…..then we have the storytelling from award-winning Japanese author, Mieko Kawakami…..
I LOVE HER WRITING!!! ….she works for me…..
I loved the endearing character, that Fuyuko, is.
I felt her precious heart, her pains, her disappointments, her strength enveloped in sadness….the fire of courage that got under her…
She loves the light and goes out at night - alone - on the night of her birthday, Christmas Eve. I could see the night, those lights, smell the night air—a night that was a start (symbolically and literally the beginning of a turn of events in Fuyuko’s life).
Hijiri, (a kick-ass weasel of a character)….encourages Fuyuko to wear makeup, dress a little more snazzy — (people tried to get me to do these things throughout my life too), ….occasionally I played with the flair-of-beauty….(ha, only to fall back into my shmateh rags of comfort most days)..
but….anyway,….
it’s Mr. Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher, who awakened a different type of sparky-flair in Fuyuko…..
Developing relationships grow—ranges of emotions do too—
Oh….but the ending ….?/!….
The entire journey….warmed and chilled by bones …..and
I’m a little sad to say goodbye to Fuyuko.
May 21, 2023
No plot, just vibes, but unfortunately not in a good way
January 20, 2025
This was devastating and calming at the same time. It makes sense for a novel about a proofreader who doesn’t read books, about a woman whose life is captured by loneliness. However, in that loneliness, Kuyuko learns to connect, and it is beautiful to see her discover the feeling of longing—that the emotions that come from an action are meaningful because you don’t always know the reaction.
July 27, 2022
I was crying at least once when reading this novel so rather than 4 stars I have to give it 5 stars. 😢 😢 😢
Not a very long book at 221 pages. Just the right size if you ask me.
Fuyuko Irie is a proofreader who is 34 years old who works from home and meets an older man, Mitsutsuka, that she has coffee with on a regular basis who tells her that he teaches high school physics. Hijiri is a woman that assigns Irie proofreading jobs, and they ofttimes have long friendly discussions. Ofttimes, note I say, not always. And Fuyuko Irie develops a drinking problem during the course of the novel.
I have a question to those who read the book... Was that dinner between Fuyuko Irie and Mitsutsuka at the fancy-schmanzy restaurant near the end of the book real, or was that a dream or fantasy that she had? I am inclined to think it was real, but I am not sure. If someone could enlighten me on that, it would be appreciated.
Note:
• This book was published in Japan in 2011, and was translated to English in 2022 by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Reviews
• a collection of reviews... https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all...
• https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.co...
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
Not a very long book at 221 pages. Just the right size if you ask me.
Fuyuko Irie is a proofreader who is 34 years old who works from home and meets an older man, Mitsutsuka, that she has coffee with on a regular basis who tells her that he teaches high school physics. Hijiri is a woman that assigns Irie proofreading jobs, and they ofttimes have long friendly discussions. Ofttimes, note I say, not always. And Fuyuko Irie develops a drinking problem during the course of the novel.
I have a question to those who read the book... Was that dinner between Fuyuko Irie and Mitsutsuka at the fancy-schmanzy restaurant near the end of the book real, or was that a dream or fantasy that she had? I am inclined to think it was real, but I am not sure. If someone could enlighten me on that, it would be appreciated.
Note:
• This book was published in Japan in 2011, and was translated to English in 2022 by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Reviews
• a collection of reviews... https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all...
• https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.co...
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
June 3, 2022
I’m not sure what to think of this slim novel. I really enjoyed ‘Breasts and Eggs’ and ‘Heaven’ but this maybe just wasn’t for me. I liked the subtlety of the story and I felt the loneliness of Fuyuko, I understood her trauma, but I did not get her swooning over Mitsutsuka and the dialogue was clunky and sometimes plain boring.
2,5 stars for now.
2,5 stars for now.
September 23, 2024
Ta książka dotknęła jakiś kawałek mojej duszy, o którym nie miałam wcześniej pojęcia.
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„Wszyscy zakochani nocą” to książka, którą poznałam kilka lat temu i która pozostała w moich myślach aż do dziś. Historia z pozoru prosta - o korektorce, które całe swoje życie poświęca pracy - stała się dla mnie czymś, co poruszyło moją wrażliwość i mój sposób patrzenia na świat. Jest to opowieść o zawieszeniu, trwaniu w chwili, która wydaje się dla nas najlepsza, tylko dlatego że jest dobrze znana. To zawieszenie i zatracenie bohaterki podkreśla oszczędny, ale jak zawsze trafny styl pisania autorki, dodający powieści nieco nostalgii, ale i tęsknoty. Uchwycone studium psychologiczne bohaterki na tle nowej relacji jaką zawiązuje wraz z kolejnymi rozdziałami, staje się historią samą w sobie, prowadząc czytelnika przez niepewność, smutek i najczystsze pragnienie miłości. Wyjątkowa książka, w której uchwycone zostało poczucie pustki oraz wielkiej melancholii.
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„Wszyscy zakochani nocą” to książka, którą poznałam kilka lat temu i która pozostała w moich myślach aż do dziś. Historia z pozoru prosta - o korektorce, które całe swoje życie poświęca pracy - stała się dla mnie czymś, co poruszyło moją wrażliwość i mój sposób patrzenia na świat. Jest to opowieść o zawieszeniu, trwaniu w chwili, która wydaje się dla nas najlepsza, tylko dlatego że jest dobrze znana. To zawieszenie i zatracenie bohaterki podkreśla oszczędny, ale jak zawsze trafny styl pisania autorki, dodający powieści nieco nostalgii, ale i tęsknoty. Uchwycone studium psychologiczne bohaterki na tle nowej relacji jaką zawiązuje wraz z kolejnymi rozdziałami, staje się historią samą w sobie, prowadząc czytelnika przez niepewność, smutek i najczystsze pragnienie miłości. Wyjątkowa książka, w której uchwycone zostało poczucie pustki oraz wielkiej melancholii.
April 3, 2022
We’ve all met someone in the workplace like Fuyuko Irie – a mid-30s proofreader whose entire life revolves around work and who seems like a duck out of water when thrust into a social setting. She’s the person who shies from the spotlight and who lets others shine while retreating into the background.
Fukyuko is the perfect foil for an editor like Hijiri Ishikawa who appreciates her work ethic and who is more than happy to befriend a woman who demands so little for herself and is always a wiling ear for Hijiri’s vibrant and outspoken ego. She supports Fukyuko in going freelance, befriending her and providing her with a steady flow of work.
All might have gone on like that had Fuyuko not met a considerably older man named Mitsutsuka, a high school physics teacher. Slowly but surely, they bond over philosophical discussions about light and music. Fuyuko eagerly awaits these friendly and non-physical twice a week interactions – until she recognizes that she’s falling in love with him.
The beauty of this book is the very nuanced look into an asocial, seemingly flatlined personality that actually harbors amazing intricacies and is nowhere as simple as it seems. Far from an awkward and deadened woman, Fukyuko teems with life. The book is a masterwork of dissecting perception and reality: none of these three main characters act or are precisely as you might imagine. And the ultimate question that is raised is: do we give ourselves the agency to shape our own lives or do we let our lives shape us?
This is a subtle work that gains power as the story unfolds and provides readers with affirmation that life (or its stories) never transpires the way we expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thank Europa Editions for giving me the privilege of becoming an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
Fukyuko is the perfect foil for an editor like Hijiri Ishikawa who appreciates her work ethic and who is more than happy to befriend a woman who demands so little for herself and is always a wiling ear for Hijiri’s vibrant and outspoken ego. She supports Fukyuko in going freelance, befriending her and providing her with a steady flow of work.
All might have gone on like that had Fuyuko not met a considerably older man named Mitsutsuka, a high school physics teacher. Slowly but surely, they bond over philosophical discussions about light and music. Fuyuko eagerly awaits these friendly and non-physical twice a week interactions – until she recognizes that she’s falling in love with him.
The beauty of this book is the very nuanced look into an asocial, seemingly flatlined personality that actually harbors amazing intricacies and is nowhere as simple as it seems. Far from an awkward and deadened woman, Fukyuko teems with life. The book is a masterwork of dissecting perception and reality: none of these three main characters act or are precisely as you might imagine. And the ultimate question that is raised is: do we give ourselves the agency to shape our own lives or do we let our lives shape us?
This is a subtle work that gains power as the story unfolds and provides readers with affirmation that life (or its stories) never transpires the way we expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thank Europa Editions for giving me the privilege of becoming an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
August 6, 2022
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 relate to one another. kawakami is definitely an author i’m going to be following to see what she does next.
Shelved as 'dnfs'
May 22, 2022DNF at 36%/100 pages
I'm sorry, but I just could not keep reading this. I love quiet novels that aren't about much in particular but that still manage to be moving, but even I have my limits. All the Lovers in the Night was, to me, less "quiet" and more "lifeless." I was just bored to tears, and the more that I tried to find something interesting in this novel, the more boring it somehow became. It's a short book, and I kept telling myself to just push through, but I don't have the patience to finish a book for the sake of finishing it anymore. Not sure if I wanna try anything else by Mieko Kawakami, but for now, I don't think I'll be reaching for any of her novels.
I'm sorry, but I just could not keep reading this. I love quiet novels that aren't about much in particular but that still manage to be moving, but even I have my limits. All the Lovers in the Night was, to me, less "quiet" and more "lifeless." I was just bored to tears, and the more that I tried to find something interesting in this novel, the more boring it somehow became. It's a short book, and I kept telling myself to just push through, but I don't have the patience to finish a book for the sake of finishing it anymore. Not sure if I wanna try anything else by Mieko Kawakami, but for now, I don't think I'll be reaching for any of her novels.
August 4, 2024
4 stars | ★★★★
੭ ۫͟ ͟ ☕️ ִ✧
this novel felt so melancholic. once again, mieko kawakami was able to write about the struggles of an incredibly real protagonist—one who has been going through life as an almost passive participant. you witness her regrets, past traumas, and depressive episodes, all portrayed with such intimacy that my heart couldn’t help but break for her struggles and swell with joy at her moments of happiness.
ꗃ All the Lovers in the Night was very quiet in its delivery. i did feel like certain parts lagged here and there, but it was overall such a poignant read that i'm incredibly glad to have experienced 🫶🏻
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.
੭ ۫͟ ͟ ☕️ ִ✧
this novel felt so melancholic. once again, mieko kawakami was able to write about the struggles of an incredibly real protagonist—one who has been going through life as an almost passive participant. you witness her regrets, past traumas, and depressive episodes, all portrayed with such intimacy that my heart couldn’t help but break for her struggles and swell with joy at her moments of happiness.
ꗃ All the Lovers in the Night was very quiet in its delivery. i did feel like certain parts lagged here and there, but it was overall such a poignant read that i'm incredibly glad to have experienced 🫶🏻
January 6, 2022
Steadying the spine of the notebook with my palm, I took the pencil to the first blank page and wrote the words: “All the lovers in the night.” The phrase had appeared out of nowhere. Through the faint light of the room, I looked over the words, which came together in the strangest way. On the one hand, they felt new to me, like something I’d never heard or seen before, though I also felt like maybe I had read them somewhere, in the title of a movie or a song, which meant it had emerged from someplace inside of me. Hard to say.
All the Lovers in the Night is the first novel I’ve read by Mieko Kawakami — so, unlike other reviewers, I don’t have any opinions about how this compares to her other work — but I will say that this totally broke my heart. Tense and atmospheric, trapping the reader in the POV of an awkward and lonely soul — who is frequently lectured by other women on how a woman ought to live — I found this novel both emotionally affecting and fascinatingly revelatory of the modern Japanese woman’s experience. Four solid stars for the writing — plot and setting and mood — with the slightest quibbles about the lack of depth in secondary characters. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
If somebody asked me to do a job, and I didn’t want to do it, what was the right way to turn them down? If I thought about things long enough, I would always lose track of my own feelings, which left me with no choice but to proceed as usual, without taking any action. Maybe the girls were right about me having no place else to go, about there being nothing fun about my life. That was when I got a call from Kyoko.
Fuyuko Irie — a mousy young woman from Nagano who went to college in Tokyo before stumbling into a nondescript office job in the city — found herself, in her mid-thirties, bored and lonely; ostracised at work and without friends or family to spend her time off with. When a former manager, Kyoko, asks her if she’d be interested in doing some freelance proofreading, Fuyuko reckons it would at least fill her lonely off-hours. And when the editor that she works with, Hijiri, then asks if she would like to make the freelancing a full-time job, Fuyuko decides that at least she won’t need to be actively ignored in the office anymore. But while Fuyuko does find her new work rewarding (and I did really like Kawakami’s descriptions of how Fuyuko’s work was done: who knew that a proofreader would draw a floorplan of a novel’s setting to check for incongruencies?), by turning her back on her office and her commute, Fuyuko was further sealing herself off from human contact.
Not like I need to tell you this, but proofreading is a lonely business, full of lonely people.
Fuyuko eventually forms an unlikely friendship with the glamorous and popular Hijiri — there’s a definitie power imbalance in their relationship and it can be painful to watch Fuyuko try to interject one word responses into Hijiri’s discourses on life and love — and Fuyuko takes up drinking to try and force herself to go out and experience the world. When she meets an older man who is kind to her — a fellow loveable loser with his receding hairline and faded polo shirts — Fuyuko has stirrings of feelings that are increasingly excruciating to read about. Revelations will eventually be made about the childhood experiences that made Fuyuko the way she is; Fuyuko will have meetings with other women (a powerful businesswoman, a stay-at-home Mom) who will have one-sided conversations about the opportunities and pitfalls of modern life; and nothing in the plot plays out predictably. Most of all, I ached for Fuyuko and her inability to connect with others.
I’m all alone, I thought. I’d been on my own for ages, and I was convinced that there was no way I could be any more alone, but now I’d finally realized how alone I truly was. Despite the crowds of people, and all the different places, and a limitless supply of sounds and colors packed together, there was nothing here that I could reach out and touch. Nothing that would call my name. There never had been, and there never would be. And that would never change, no matter where I went in the world. Surrounded by the grayness of the city, ever grayer in the misty rain, I was unable to move.
I’ve read a lot of Haruki Murakami and particularly enjoy the incidental details he adds about everyday life in Japan, so while I noted those same interesting details in this novel, I was really trying to be conscious about not exoticising the setting: this is a real place where people’s lives play out, and as a background for Kawakami to explore her characters’ reality, I found this equally interesting as a work of Japanese feminist fiction and as a story of the common human struggle for connection and meaning. I’m looking forward to reading more from Kawakami in the future.
April 4, 2022
[Thank you to the publisher for approving me to read an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley.]
In the vein of Luster and Convenience Store Woman, Kawakami's latest novel to be translated into English (and done flawlessly by Sam Bett and David Boyd) examines a woman on the margins.
Fuyuko Irie is a 34 year old, antisocial freelance editor who spends all her time at home working on projects, fact-checking and searching for errors in manuscripts. The only pleasure she finds is her annual birthday walk, on Christmas Eve, when she goes out alone at night to look at the lights.
One day she sees her reflection while running an errand and discovers she's a bit unhappy with her life. Her attempts to make changes in her life lead her into conversations and new environments that cause her to question whose life plan she's following: her own or the one laid out for her by other people?
Kawakami is great at writing about the outsiders of society. In Heaven, which I recently read and loved, she captured that feeling of teenagers who don't fit in to almost a painful degree. Fuyuko, similarly, is one who lives on the outskirts of society and seems to have very little agency. But when she realizes her life is passing her by, she attempts to make something happen for herself.
I loved the atmosphere Kawakami created in this novel. The interiority of the character was richly drawn, and though she's not always the most likeable character or someone you'd want to be friends with, you can't help but sympathize with her. It truly makes you wonder how much of her life is the way it is because of her own choices or because of things done to her and decided for her.
Readers who like meandering, slice of life novels about depressed women in their 30s will love this. I enjoyed the journey though the ending didn't satisfy me as much. Nonetheless, Kawakami is a writer to watch and I'll continue to read whatever gets translated into English. Her nuanced look at life, particularly for those who don't fit in, is a refreshing perspective to read from in modern literature.
In the vein of Luster and Convenience Store Woman, Kawakami's latest novel to be translated into English (and done flawlessly by Sam Bett and David Boyd) examines a woman on the margins.
Fuyuko Irie is a 34 year old, antisocial freelance editor who spends all her time at home working on projects, fact-checking and searching for errors in manuscripts. The only pleasure she finds is her annual birthday walk, on Christmas Eve, when she goes out alone at night to look at the lights.
One day she sees her reflection while running an errand and discovers she's a bit unhappy with her life. Her attempts to make changes in her life lead her into conversations and new environments that cause her to question whose life plan she's following: her own or the one laid out for her by other people?
Kawakami is great at writing about the outsiders of society. In Heaven, which I recently read and loved, she captured that feeling of teenagers who don't fit in to almost a painful degree. Fuyuko, similarly, is one who lives on the outskirts of society and seems to have very little agency. But when she realizes her life is passing her by, she attempts to make something happen for herself.
I loved the atmosphere Kawakami created in this novel. The interiority of the character was richly drawn, and though she's not always the most likeable character or someone you'd want to be friends with, you can't help but sympathize with her. It truly makes you wonder how much of her life is the way it is because of her own choices or because of things done to her and decided for her.
Readers who like meandering, slice of life novels about depressed women in their 30s will love this. I enjoyed the journey though the ending didn't satisfy me as much. Nonetheless, Kawakami is a writer to watch and I'll continue to read whatever gets translated into English. Her nuanced look at life, particularly for those who don't fit in, is a refreshing perspective to read from in modern literature.
March 13, 2023
Maybe 4.5. A lyrical, powerful novel about loneliness and individualism.
June 25, 2024
yall ive got nothing to add i just really loved this lmfao
November 23, 2024
Un libro sobre la soledad y la vida cotidiana japonesa. La protagonista trabaja como correctora de estilo y parece que vive su vida como tal, nunca viviendo la historia, sino que la transita en diagonal.
Tenía mucho tiempo queriendo encontrar un libro de esos que parecen avanzar lento, pero en los que en realidad hay muchas cosas sucediendo.
Uno de los libros que empecé a leer porque quiero tener más lecturas Japonesas/asiáticas.
Tenía mucho tiempo queriendo encontrar un libro de esos que parecen avanzar lento, pero en los que en realidad hay muchas cosas sucediendo.
Uno de los libros que empecé a leer porque quiero tener más lecturas Japonesas/asiáticas.
January 3, 2023
“Sono sola, ho pensato.
Ero sempre stata sola, da tanti anni, e non pensavo che fosse possibile esserlo ancora di più. Mi sentivo tremendamente sola, sola al mondo. Lì, circondata da una marea di gente, con tutti quei posti dove andare, quella miriade di suoni e colori, e io che non avevo niente e nessuno verso cui tendere la mano. Nessuno che fosse disposto a fermarsi e rivolgermi la parola. Né nel passato e né nel futuro, né ora né mai, in qualunque posto andassi.”
4.5 stelle.
Mi rendo conto che per me sia di gran lunga più semplice parlare dei libri che non mi sono piaciuti, rispetto a quelli che ho amato.
Premessa: in questo spazio si venera il culto di KAWAKAMI MIEKO, io unica e sola fondatrice della 川上教.
Aspettavo l'arrivo in Italia di questo romanzo come si aspetta Natale quando hai 5 anni e, per fortuna, dopo lo sfacelo che è stato dicembre in quanto a letture, almeno l'anno nuovo è partito decisamente col piede giusto grazie alla voce più incisiva della letteratura giapponese contemporanea. Nessuno riesce come Kawakami a delineare dei personaggi così caleidoscopici e complessi, tanto fragili quanto resilienti, perfettamente e assolutamente REALI, in cui è praticamente impossibile non immedesimarsi.
Le atmosfere dei suoi romanzi sono così ben descritte, i contesti tanto efficacemente delineati che vi sembrerà di passare un anno a Tokyo, dall'insopportabile calura estiva al gelo dell'inverno.
Ma, più di tutto, quest'autrice riesce ad avere un RISPETTO per il dolore e i traumi dei suoi personaggi che non ha eguali. Mi sono sentita capita, ascoltata, vicina a Fuyuko e ai suoi fantasmi tanto da provare lo stesso disagio, la stessa solitudine, la stessa sofferenza attraverso le sue parole così misurate, giuste e dolorose.
Così si dovrebbe scrivere di depressione, di abusi, di dissociazione, di problemi relazionali. Nulla è lasciato al caso, niente è fuori posto.
Una cosa è certa: dopo averlo finito, continuerete a pensare a questo libro per tanto, tantissimo tempo, immaginandovene un "dopo" e sperando in un po' di serenità per una donna che, sono sicura, è un po' in tutti noi.
Non prende 5 stelle piene (ma è come se lo fossero) per via di alcuni dialoghi (ne troverete tanti, tutti scritti magistralmente) da cui forse avrei tagliato qualche riga e che potrebbero annoiare alcuni lettori.
Ero sempre stata sola, da tanti anni, e non pensavo che fosse possibile esserlo ancora di più. Mi sentivo tremendamente sola, sola al mondo. Lì, circondata da una marea di gente, con tutti quei posti dove andare, quella miriade di suoni e colori, e io che non avevo niente e nessuno verso cui tendere la mano. Nessuno che fosse disposto a fermarsi e rivolgermi la parola. Né nel passato e né nel futuro, né ora né mai, in qualunque posto andassi.”
4.5 stelle.
Mi rendo conto che per me sia di gran lunga più semplice parlare dei libri che non mi sono piaciuti, rispetto a quelli che ho amato.
Premessa: in questo spazio si venera il culto di KAWAKAMI MIEKO, io unica e sola fondatrice della 川上教.
Aspettavo l'arrivo in Italia di questo romanzo come si aspetta Natale quando hai 5 anni e, per fortuna, dopo lo sfacelo che è stato dicembre in quanto a letture, almeno l'anno nuovo è partito decisamente col piede giusto grazie alla voce più incisiva della letteratura giapponese contemporanea. Nessuno riesce come Kawakami a delineare dei personaggi così caleidoscopici e complessi, tanto fragili quanto resilienti, perfettamente e assolutamente REALI, in cui è praticamente impossibile non immedesimarsi.
Le atmosfere dei suoi romanzi sono così ben descritte, i contesti tanto efficacemente delineati che vi sembrerà di passare un anno a Tokyo, dall'insopportabile calura estiva al gelo dell'inverno.
Ma, più di tutto, quest'autrice riesce ad avere un RISPETTO per il dolore e i traumi dei suoi personaggi che non ha eguali. Mi sono sentita capita, ascoltata, vicina a Fuyuko e ai suoi fantasmi tanto da provare lo stesso disagio, la stessa solitudine, la stessa sofferenza attraverso le sue parole così misurate, giuste e dolorose.
Così si dovrebbe scrivere di depressione, di abusi, di dissociazione, di problemi relazionali. Nulla è lasciato al caso, niente è fuori posto.
Una cosa è certa: dopo averlo finito, continuerete a pensare a questo libro per tanto, tantissimo tempo, immaginandovene un "dopo" e sperando in un po' di serenità per una donna che, sono sicura, è un po' in tutti noi.
Non prende 5 stelle piene (ma è come se lo fossero) per via di alcuni dialoghi (ne troverete tanti, tutti scritti magistralmente) da cui forse avrei tagliato qualche riga e che potrebbero annoiare alcuni lettori.
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