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Segala Kekasih Tengah Malam
Fuyuko Irie seorang introver penyendiri. Setelah lulus SMA dia pindah ke Tokyo untuk berkuliah lalu bekerja.
Di tempat kerja itulah ketidakcakapannya dalam bergaul—sekadar bertukar sapa dengan orang lain pun dia kesulitan—mulai terasa membuatnya terkucil seolah benar-benar seorang diri di dunia. Akan tetapi ia lantas bertemu dua orang yang membuka kemungkinan persahabatan dan cinta meski tidak mudah.
Segala Kekasih Tengah Malam adalah kisah perempuan modern yang berusaha jujur dan menjadi diri sendiri.
Di tempat kerja itulah ketidakcakapannya dalam bergaul—sekadar bertukar sapa dengan orang lain pun dia kesulitan—mulai terasa membuatnya terkucil seolah benar-benar seorang diri di dunia. Akan tetapi ia lantas bertemu dua orang yang membuka kemungkinan persahabatan dan cinta meski tidak mudah.
Segala Kekasih Tengah Malam adalah kisah perempuan modern yang berusaha jujur dan menjadi diri sendiri.
265 pages, Unknown Binding
First published October 13, 2011
About the author
Mieko Kawakami
68 books10k 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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April 30, 2022
‘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.'
May 27, 2022
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
June 20, 2023
i know the proofreader of this book was shitting their pants
June 6, 2023
Wanna grab everyone I love and hold them tight and look at night lights together
March 14, 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.
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
December 18, 2021
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 30, 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
June 23, 2022
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. 😍
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.
May 21, 2023
No plot, just vibes, but unfortunately not in a good way
June 9, 2023
if you're looking for a perfect sad girl book, this is the one
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.”
March 4, 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.
December 17, 2021
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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.
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.
June 2, 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.
June 20, 2022
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
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/...
August 20, 2023
I'm really not sure if I liked this book. The main character was, of course, infuriating and the dialogues were mind-numbing. I don't know if something was lost in translation, or Kawakami is just terrible at writing dialogue, or maybe people in Japan talk this way, but in the majority of the conversation, the main character just repeats the last word of what her interlocutor says with a question mark, and then her interlocutor continues with their monologue. I understand that Fuyuko was supposed to be shy, reserved and not much a talker, but there was a better way to convey this than have her repeat a word every single time. It just made her come across as if not in possession of all her faculties.
Don't get me wrong, there was SOME charm in this understated novel about a woman who made herself so small, she practically disappears. Throughout the book she develops an alcohol addiction out of nowhere, and for reasons that remain unclear. She also has some symbolic conversations about the physics of light (where of course she doesn't contribute all that much).
She is a proof-reader who was taught to never read the book she is proof-reading, to detach herself as much as possible to do the job well. She took that advice and applied it to her own life. That's that the only metaphor in this book that's truly successful.
All in all, if you are into those books about sad millennial women, knock yourself out. I didn't hate it, but it did feel a little unripe to me.
Don't get me wrong, there was SOME charm in this understated novel about a woman who made herself so small, she practically disappears. Throughout the book she develops an alcohol addiction out of nowhere, and for reasons that remain unclear. She also has some symbolic conversations about the physics of light (where of course she doesn't contribute all that much).
She is a proof-reader who was taught to never read the book she is proof-reading, to detach herself as much as possible to do the job well. She took that advice and applied it to her own life. That's that the only metaphor in this book that's truly successful.
All in all, if you are into those books about sad millennial women, knock yourself out. I didn't hate it, but it did feel a little unripe to me.
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.
April 2, 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.
August 1, 2023
Honestly. I was just waiting. Waiting for something, anything.
March 23, 2023
Ta książka dotknęła jakiś kawałek mojej duszy, o którym nie miałam wcześniej pojęcia.
•
„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.
•
„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.
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 3, 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 🫶🏻
November 22, 2024
"أنا وحدي منذ فترةٍ طويلة، وكنتُ مقتنعةً بأنَّه لا يوجد في العالم ما يُشعرني بالوحدة أكثر ممَّا أختبره. لكنَّني انتبهتُ الآن كم أنا وحيدة. رغم هذا الزحام من البشر، وهذه الأماكن كلُّها، والإمدادات غير المحدودة من الأصوات والألوان المحصورة في مكانٍ واحد، لم يكن هناك شيءٌ يمكنني الذهاب إليه ولمسه. لا شيء سيناديني باسمي. لم يكن هذا موجودًا من قبل، ولن يكون موجوداً أبداً. ولن يتغيَّر هذا الوضع مهما مضيتُ في هذا العالم. تحيطني مدينةٌ شائبة، أصبحت أكثر رماديَّةً تحت المطر الضبابيّ. لم أستطِع الحركة."
رواية "كل العشاق في الليل" هي تجربتي الثانية مع الكاتبة اليابانية "مييكو كاواكامي"، بعد روايتها "الجنة" والتي تناولت التنمر من منظور مختلف وأوسع وبشكل فلسفي اعتمد على الحوارات بين الشخصيات والأحداث المتفجرة. أما في "كل العشاق في الليل"، فكل شيء هادئ ووحيد، فربما العنوان يجعلك تشعر بالألفة والحميمية، لكن ما تناولته الرواية بعيد عن ذلك تماماً، فهي رواية عن الوحدة، وما تفعله بنا، وتلك الطرق المختلفة التي نسلكها من أجل التخلص من الوحدة أو على الأقل تقليص الشعور بها، وما سلكته "إيري فويوكو" كان طريقاً مليئاً بتدقيق الكتب والسُكر حتى تغيب عن العالم، وتعيش في عالم مليء باللاشيء، هي فقط تهرب من وحدتها، وألمها، وهذا ألمٌ أستطيع فهمه جيداً.
ما يُميز الرواية هو قدرة الكاتبة على وصف الوحدة بكلمات وأفعال عديدة دون الإشارة إليها صراحة، مدى واسع من المشاعر، والأفكار المحطمة للقلوب، ستشعر بالاشمئزاز ممتزجاً بالغضب من "فويوكو"، ولكنك بعدما ترى لمحات متفرقة من حياتها، لن يتملكك إلا أن تُشفق عليها، تفهم ألمها، خوفها، تفكيرها الزائد عن الحد الطبيعي، تصرفاتها غير المنطقية، اهتزازها النفسي، ولماذا توجّه كل طاقتها إلى تدقيق الكتب؟ ونفهم أيضاً لماذا اختارت العمل من منزلها عوضاً عن المكتب.
ختاماً… هناك تعبير فيما معناه "أنت تحتاج إلى إنسان لتفهم إنساناً"، وأحب أن أزيد قليلاً "أنت تحتاج لإنسان وحيد، لتفهم إنساناً وحيداً"، وهذا ليس حصراً على من يشعر بالوحدة أو شعر بها، فكلنا وحيدون بشكلٍ ما، وبدرجة ما، ولذلك، أحببت الرواية، تفاعلت معها ومع قدرة الكاتبة الهائلة على فلسفة الوحدة، ونقل المشاعر الهائلة التي يمر بها الوحيدون دون أن نجد لها وصفاً، فتلك الحالة التي تضعنا في حالة خطيرة، من تدمير الذات والاتجاه بقدميك نحو الهاوية، يتخللها طيف هائل من المشاعر والأفعال، وكلها تندرج تحت كلمة "الوحدة"، لو أردت أن أصف الوحدة وما تفعله بالإنسان، لاكتفيت بترشيح هذه الرواية الحزينة الشاعرية التي تأخذنا في مغامرة مع كل العشاق في الليل. يُنصح بها للوحيدين وغيرهم.
October 19, 2024
Single female proofreader is trying to escape human interaction. However it is clear that secrets and shame, not feeling good enough and being governed by societal expectations also impact men in this book.
”Just going through life without asking anything of anything, or letting anyone ask anything from you. Sounds pretty easy to me.”
“Is it though?” I said.
I was rather frustrated with All the Lovers in the Night and the lack of direction and impulse our main character exhibits. I do believe it is intentional and forms a fusion of form and message by Mieko Kawakami, still I found this slim book a relatively hard read. The themes of society forcing itself onto our narrator, and the lack of happiness from both conventional and a more adventurous paths in life was interesting.
Our main character is a proofreader, trying to escape human interaction. Already early on in the novel she experiences workplace bullying for being a single woman, and inquiries in how she as a 34 year old hasn’t got any friends or hobbies.
She goes freelance, earning around 300.000 yen a month (is that enough to live in Tokyo?), encouraged by a friend who expresses trust in her work ethos:
I trust how you approach your work and that means I trust you
She has a Christmas Eve birthday, which she spends alone, and the sense of existential loneliness is reinforced by sentences like: Not that I need to tell you this but proofreading is a lonely business full of lonely people.
Some people do challenge the deterministic view (It’s up to you to make your own environment, right?) but events only start to happen when our main character meets an elder man and starts drinking. This includes throwing up, and passing out, yet I also wrote down while reading: Why do we get all these boring scenes in this book where nothing happens?
Going to check out courses but not going, going to a bookstore and not buying a book, it makes for rather uneventful reading...
I also thought it was highly unlikely someone can just sleep 3 hours in a public place, and has no bankcard in her wallet, yet at least something is happening, even though I rather would have seen that it been therapy instead of a downward spiral of languishing over physics teacher, Mitsutsuka, 58 years old.
Hijiri, her friend who is also a proofreader, has a more exciting life but also keeps herself far from real connections. How should one live and feel seems to be a key question, and the existential loneliness is strong in this novel. Both the reader and the main character spend most of our time listening, being a receptacle to other people their theories about life and their experiences.
Along the way we get high school rape, traumatic sexual experiences and ever more desperate searches for cheaper sources of alcohol.
Women gossiping about each other and making each other's life hard is definitely also an undercurrent commented upon by the author. Even following the preferred path of society, married life (in an iteration sexless and all focused on kids) is clearly not ideal, when our narrator meets a classmate having a breakdown at a spaghetti chain.
The penultimate chapter reminds me of being asked at a family dinner to explain my dietary preferences and me bursting out that I don’t have any obligation to justify myself; the depiction of female - female interrogations about love life gave me a claustrophobic feeling.
I get it, lack of connection is difficul to overcome as an adult. And secrets and shame, not feeling good enough and being governed by societal expectations also impact men in this book. At least love doesn’t fix everything in this novel, saving it from 1 stars. I just didn’t much enjoy the reading experience despite all the relevant themes touched upon.
Quotes:
I’m sorry I didn’t apologise.
What matters is how much I can get rid of, these things that have been determined for me
It’s fine for you, who never speaks up.
I know it is my own doing, but it makes me really sad.
What had I been doing until now?
Maybe I am where I am today because I hadn’t chosen anything.
Unsure if I felt crazy or happy
“You’re young and beautiful” she said with a laugh. “Enjoy it!”
Eating uncooked brown rice? That sounds like a Californian diet hack.
You always play it safe.
Just going through life without asking anything of anything, or letting anyone ask anything from you. Sounds pretty easy to me.
Is it though? I said.
I like to do my things, on my own. Not that I need to tell you.
”Just going through life without asking anything of anything, or letting anyone ask anything from you. Sounds pretty easy to me.”
“Is it though?” I said.
I was rather frustrated with All the Lovers in the Night and the lack of direction and impulse our main character exhibits. I do believe it is intentional and forms a fusion of form and message by Mieko Kawakami, still I found this slim book a relatively hard read. The themes of society forcing itself onto our narrator, and the lack of happiness from both conventional and a more adventurous paths in life was interesting.
Our main character is a proofreader, trying to escape human interaction. Already early on in the novel she experiences workplace bullying for being a single woman, and inquiries in how she as a 34 year old hasn’t got any friends or hobbies.
She goes freelance, earning around 300.000 yen a month (is that enough to live in Tokyo?), encouraged by a friend who expresses trust in her work ethos:
I trust how you approach your work and that means I trust you
She has a Christmas Eve birthday, which she spends alone, and the sense of existential loneliness is reinforced by sentences like: Not that I need to tell you this but proofreading is a lonely business full of lonely people.
Some people do challenge the deterministic view (It’s up to you to make your own environment, right?) but events only start to happen when our main character meets an elder man and starts drinking. This includes throwing up, and passing out, yet I also wrote down while reading: Why do we get all these boring scenes in this book where nothing happens?
Going to check out courses but not going, going to a bookstore and not buying a book, it makes for rather uneventful reading...
I also thought it was highly unlikely someone can just sleep 3 hours in a public place, and has no bankcard in her wallet, yet at least something is happening, even though I rather would have seen that it been therapy instead of a downward spiral of languishing over physics teacher, Mitsutsuka, 58 years old.
Hijiri, her friend who is also a proofreader, has a more exciting life but also keeps herself far from real connections. How should one live and feel seems to be a key question, and the existential loneliness is strong in this novel. Both the reader and the main character spend most of our time listening, being a receptacle to other people their theories about life and their experiences.
Along the way we get high school rape, traumatic sexual experiences and ever more desperate searches for cheaper sources of alcohol.
Women gossiping about each other and making each other's life hard is definitely also an undercurrent commented upon by the author. Even following the preferred path of society, married life (in an iteration sexless and all focused on kids) is clearly not ideal, when our narrator meets a classmate having a breakdown at a spaghetti chain.
The penultimate chapter reminds me of being asked at a family dinner to explain my dietary preferences and me bursting out that I don’t have any obligation to justify myself; the depiction of female - female interrogations about love life gave me a claustrophobic feeling.
I get it, lack of connection is difficul to overcome as an adult. And secrets and shame, not feeling good enough and being governed by societal expectations also impact men in this book. At least love doesn’t fix everything in this novel, saving it from 1 stars. I just didn’t much enjoy the reading experience despite all the relevant themes touched upon.
Quotes:
I’m sorry I didn’t apologise.
What matters is how much I can get rid of, these things that have been determined for me
It’s fine for you, who never speaks up.
I know it is my own doing, but it makes me really sad.
What had I been doing until now?
Maybe I am where I am today because I hadn’t chosen anything.
Unsure if I felt crazy or happy
“You’re young and beautiful” she said with a laugh. “Enjoy it!”
Eating uncooked brown rice? That sounds like a Californian diet hack.
You always play it safe.
Just going through life without asking anything of anything, or letting anyone ask anything from you. Sounds pretty easy to me.
Is it though? I said.
I like to do my things, on my own. Not that I need to tell you.
June 25, 2024
yall ive got nothing to add i just really loved this lmfao
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