All The Lovers In The Night: Mieko Kawakami Paperback – 12 May 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.

Excellent prompt delivery wonderful author I have read three of her translated novels her work is a must read

I liked the writing style and was quickly involved in Fuyuko's life, but overall the ending was disappointing and the whole story felt pointless. I have read a few similar Japanese novels where very little happens and sometimes I enjoy them, but perhaps I wasn't in the mood for this one.

Having enjoyed Mieko Kawakami's previous two novels, I was excited to land an advance copy of her latest work translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd,This one takes a different approach to Heaven, but it does cover similar themes, with a withdrawn protagonist doing their best to make it through the day without suffering too much.All the Lovers in the Night marks a return to the adult concerns of Breasts and Eggs, albeit with a very different protagonist. Fuyuko is a woman who hides herself away, keeping in minimal contact with the outside world. She works from home, there’s no mention of family, and there’s no sign of any real friends as such, a fact she’s well aware of: A chance encounter with Mitsutsuka, a high-school teacher in his fifties, that changes this, gradually raising what little hope she has of a good lifeKawakami focuses just as much on Fuyuko’s drab life, showing how she lives from day to day, what she does and, more importantly, what she doesn’t do when she’s alone. Unsurprisingly, there’s a traumatic event at the root of her issues, one she must confront if she’s to move on, and Kawakami again shows herself capable here of shocking her readers.All the Lovers in the Night is well-written, engaging and absorbing without ever becoming too saccharine. It’s confronting in places as Fuyuko starts to fall apart, but it can be beautiful at times, too, particularly when she stops to examine the world around her:

Bought for a friend who likes this author. She enjoyed it!

Well that the whole collection read. As of July 2022. This one the most garbled of all. An extraordinary writer. Didn't really 'dig' this one

Kawakami takes an ordinary life and examines it mercilessly, and in the process reveals the bare truth and beauty of the modern world. The translation coveys a real sense of otherness and conveys the everyday beauty and horrors that face Fuyoko, a single woman living in Tokyo whose past invades her present. There's a lot of very exposed, very haunting storytelling that is challenging but very rewarding to read.

superbly translated and another incredible book. got my emotions and showed a real glimpse into the weird falsehoods of relationships

This book hooked me in emotionally. It’s about loneliness but happier, as the main character pulls herself out of her head and out of her self-created isolation. Though I usually like a good plot driven novel, this one is not that. I kept going because the content is relatable and the mood writing is just that good. The writing so precisely captures exactly the right feelings.

Yo no lo he leido , sin embargo mi sobrina esta encantada 🤷🏻‍♀️

This book is not one I would have chosen for myself. It was a book club choice and I decided to try it, wanted to like it, but I just could not see how the character was developing at such a late age — the story covers age 34 to 37– with significant events but immature responses. I don’t want to give spoilers but I found myself wondering at her lack of self-awareness although I think the story is supposed to be about her breakthrough in expressing herself finally. But the reader doesn’t get to know her new understanding , if that’s what happens. Some of the storytelling is beautifully told in terms of romantic longing, but it’s more about refusing to tolerate more pain and loss than it is about how to move on and what her most important friendships meant to shaping the new woman at the end.

Beau livre, j'ai adoré Heaven, hate de decouvrir celui-là

An interesting piece. Would definitely recommend