All The Lovers In The Night: Mieko Kawakami
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Description
Fuyuko Irie is a freelance proofreader in her thirties. Living alone in an overwhelming city and unable to form meaningful relationships, she has little contact with anyone other than her colleague, Hijiri. But a chance encounter with a man named Mitsutsuka awakens something new in her. Through their weekly meetings, Fuyuko starts to see the world in a different light and still, painful memories from her past begin to resurface. As Fuyuko realizes she exists in a small world of her own making she begins to push at her own boundaries. But will she find the strength to bring down the walls that surround her?
Pulsing and poetic, modern and shocking, this is an unforgettable novel from Japan’s most exciting writer.
Book Information
Posts
"We're talking about the same light"
Why does the night have to be so beautiful? (...) Because at night, only half the world remains." (...) Why is the night so beautiful? Why does it shine the way it does? Why is the night made up entirely of light? The music flows from the earphones filling my ears, filling me it becomes everything. A lullaby. (...) It's like the night is breathing, like the sound of melted light. 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. They're all so sure that they're the ones who have seen the light.(...) They're always so loud about it, too, like they need you to see how happy they are. People act like feminism is a dirty word. As if being a stong, hard-working woman has fallen out of fashion. Nor that these people have ever thought about any of that before. They say its different for me. That not everyone is as strong as I am, that most people are weak or whatever. But that's not it. They aren't weak. They're dull. They don't pick up on things. And I'm not strong. I'm honest." When it comes to love, the only weapon that we've got is our emotions, right? So what can you do when your foundation's all messed up? If that's the state you' re in, there's no way you can ever get serious with anybody. In a way, touching means you can't get any closer. There he was, and there I was, the same person who was paralyzed by loneliness at home, but here, touching him. (...) I'm touching you, I said quietly, If this means I can't get any closer, I'm fine with that, because I'm touching you.
Isolation, Light, and the Weight of Silence
I picked up All the Lovers in the Night last year in New York, shortly after discovering my appreciation for Japanese authors. Mieko Kawakami is no exception—her writing style immediately drew me in. She has a way of focusing on details without over-explaining, creating an atmosphere that feels quiet yet deeply immersive. One of the most striking aspects of this novel is how unapproachable the main character, Fuyuko, seems. She almost feels like a blank page —lacking opinions, hobbies, or defining characteristics. This absence makes the story feel incredibly heavy, as if we’re trudging through her isolation with her. The dialogues with Mitsutsuka, rather than offering relief, only deepened this weight. Also I was disappointed that his letter wasn’t included in full, because it felt like a missing piece that could have added more emotional depth. The lightest moments of the novel were, without a doubt, the interactions between Fuyuko and Hijiri. I really liked Hijiri as a character. She exuded confidence and had a presence that which literally filled the room. While she’s undoubtedly a tough person who sometimes oversteps boundaries, her dynamic with Fuyuko added much needed energy to the narrative. That said, I’m still unsure whether this book had a central message or if it was more about sharing a collection of small, well thought ones. Either way, All the Lovers in the Night will stay with me for a while. Even though it had its slow moments, I truly enjoyed reading it.
Grandioser Schreibstil - Mieko ist ein Genie! 🤩
Der Schreibstil hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen - Mieko ist ein echtes Genie! Das Buch gibt einen besonderen Blick auf die Welt, mit „Licht” als Metapher. Der Hauptcharakter leidet unter Social Anxiety. Ihr Job als Proof Reader kommt ihr diesbezüglich sehr entgegen. Sie driftet ab ins Nachtleben, mit allem, was dazugehört.. Ich mochte wirklich, wie sie die Personen in ihrem Umfeld analysiert und in jedem etwas wohliges findet. Berührend. Poetisch. Brilliant. Regt zum Nachdenken an und macht Lust tiefer einzusteigen. 4 Sterne, weil ich das Ende nicht wirklich mochte und das Gefühl hatte, dass sie ab einem gewissen Punkt das Buch einfach beendet hat und ich mir noch eine Weiterentwicklung des Hauptcharakters gewünscht hätte. Trotzdem eine absolute Leseempfehlung - es ist einfach so gut geschrieben!
Oh
Spoilers I thought at the beginning of the book that it was really boring since it only has 200 pages but when she was telling how she had her „first time“ I realized how much she was suffering. I loved the way she tried to be nice to Hijiri or any other of her friends even what she went through. She is the perfect example of a sad girl who never knew how to handle trauma so she grew up to be a lonely woman. The Way Mitsuzuka treated her was even worse. The Age Difference, the way he talked with her and lied about his whole life is so disgusting and yet she fell in love with him. The End was so surprising I felt empty for a few moments after this book, I didn’t know what to say. I honestly don’t know how to rate this book
It took me a long time to finish this book because i was struggling at the beginning. I thought it was a bit boring but after some time i just looked at things differently and stopped focusing on the plot but more on the main character’s feelings. With this i was able to enjoy this beautiful book although I felt a bit empty after i finished it. I recommend all the lovers in the night if you want to read something „quiet“ and sad (not in the someone-dies but in an i-relate/i-understand-that-sadness sad way). I just really love the way mieko kawakami writes the women in her books. It’s so real and „near“.
I’m really unsure how to rate the book. On the one hand is this how my sobriety journey kind of felt like. I could relate with Fuyuko on many different occasions. Someone who struggles to form (lasting) connections with other people, in her addiction, keeping herself small, trying to please everybody but her. Just as I thought the book was starting to grow on me -as I really disliked the first 2/3 of it- it took another turn that made me go “are you for fvcking real?”. I really felt sorry for Fuyuko, but other than that, I mostly just disliked the book. Her work bestie, who claims to be a feminist, spends several pages bashing other women for doing things she doesn’t approve of and just glorifies being a workaholic. The love interest really gave me hope. I really liked him. He helped Fuyuko (probably unbeknownst to him) get through many of her problems, just to abandon her again. At some point I was able to excuse the pace of the book. The way it was written matched the way life felt for me, when I was living away, getting drunk every day. Life felt so small and mundane. I also did enjoy how she got to grow through all of it. Nevertheless it was still kind of hard for me to push through and almost all of my annotations are “wtf?” annotations, so I’ll just leave it at 2,5 stars, I suppose. Also what even does “The chubby woman smiles and asked if I could donate blood today. For some reason, her smiling face reminded me of a head of cabbage split perfectly in two” mean?????
3.5⭐️ Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t have finished this book if I wouldn’t have listened to it. I read it first, but the story seemingly went NOWHERE and felt so stretched out and almost boring… BUT the audiobook actually made it very enjoyable. The story is pretty deep once you look behind the curtain… not to mention Fuyuko’s absolutely toxic circle of friends/acquaintances and the alcoholism, which was pretty intense. On more than one passage I felt so deeply sorry for Fuyuko, I just wanted to give her the biggest and warmest hug.
Description
Fuyuko Irie is a freelance proofreader in her thirties. Living alone in an overwhelming city and unable to form meaningful relationships, she has little contact with anyone other than her colleague, Hijiri. But a chance encounter with a man named Mitsutsuka awakens something new in her. Through their weekly meetings, Fuyuko starts to see the world in a different light and still, painful memories from her past begin to resurface. As Fuyuko realizes she exists in a small world of her own making she begins to push at her own boundaries. But will she find the strength to bring down the walls that surround her?
Pulsing and poetic, modern and shocking, this is an unforgettable novel from Japan’s most exciting writer.
Book Information
Posts
"We're talking about the same light"
Why does the night have to be so beautiful? (...) Because at night, only half the world remains." (...) Why is the night so beautiful? Why does it shine the way it does? Why is the night made up entirely of light? The music flows from the earphones filling my ears, filling me it becomes everything. A lullaby. (...) It's like the night is breathing, like the sound of melted light. 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. They're all so sure that they're the ones who have seen the light.(...) They're always so loud about it, too, like they need you to see how happy they are. People act like feminism is a dirty word. As if being a stong, hard-working woman has fallen out of fashion. Nor that these people have ever thought about any of that before. They say its different for me. That not everyone is as strong as I am, that most people are weak or whatever. But that's not it. They aren't weak. They're dull. They don't pick up on things. And I'm not strong. I'm honest." When it comes to love, the only weapon that we've got is our emotions, right? So what can you do when your foundation's all messed up? If that's the state you' re in, there's no way you can ever get serious with anybody. In a way, touching means you can't get any closer. There he was, and there I was, the same person who was paralyzed by loneliness at home, but here, touching him. (...) I'm touching you, I said quietly, If this means I can't get any closer, I'm fine with that, because I'm touching you.
Isolation, Light, and the Weight of Silence
I picked up All the Lovers in the Night last year in New York, shortly after discovering my appreciation for Japanese authors. Mieko Kawakami is no exception—her writing style immediately drew me in. She has a way of focusing on details without over-explaining, creating an atmosphere that feels quiet yet deeply immersive. One of the most striking aspects of this novel is how unapproachable the main character, Fuyuko, seems. She almost feels like a blank page —lacking opinions, hobbies, or defining characteristics. This absence makes the story feel incredibly heavy, as if we’re trudging through her isolation with her. The dialogues with Mitsutsuka, rather than offering relief, only deepened this weight. Also I was disappointed that his letter wasn’t included in full, because it felt like a missing piece that could have added more emotional depth. The lightest moments of the novel were, without a doubt, the interactions between Fuyuko and Hijiri. I really liked Hijiri as a character. She exuded confidence and had a presence that which literally filled the room. While she’s undoubtedly a tough person who sometimes oversteps boundaries, her dynamic with Fuyuko added much needed energy to the narrative. That said, I’m still unsure whether this book had a central message or if it was more about sharing a collection of small, well thought ones. Either way, All the Lovers in the Night will stay with me for a while. Even though it had its slow moments, I truly enjoyed reading it.
Grandioser Schreibstil - Mieko ist ein Genie! 🤩
Der Schreibstil hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen - Mieko ist ein echtes Genie! Das Buch gibt einen besonderen Blick auf die Welt, mit „Licht” als Metapher. Der Hauptcharakter leidet unter Social Anxiety. Ihr Job als Proof Reader kommt ihr diesbezüglich sehr entgegen. Sie driftet ab ins Nachtleben, mit allem, was dazugehört.. Ich mochte wirklich, wie sie die Personen in ihrem Umfeld analysiert und in jedem etwas wohliges findet. Berührend. Poetisch. Brilliant. Regt zum Nachdenken an und macht Lust tiefer einzusteigen. 4 Sterne, weil ich das Ende nicht wirklich mochte und das Gefühl hatte, dass sie ab einem gewissen Punkt das Buch einfach beendet hat und ich mir noch eine Weiterentwicklung des Hauptcharakters gewünscht hätte. Trotzdem eine absolute Leseempfehlung - es ist einfach so gut geschrieben!
Oh
Spoilers I thought at the beginning of the book that it was really boring since it only has 200 pages but when she was telling how she had her „first time“ I realized how much she was suffering. I loved the way she tried to be nice to Hijiri or any other of her friends even what she went through. She is the perfect example of a sad girl who never knew how to handle trauma so she grew up to be a lonely woman. The Way Mitsuzuka treated her was even worse. The Age Difference, the way he talked with her and lied about his whole life is so disgusting and yet she fell in love with him. The End was so surprising I felt empty for a few moments after this book, I didn’t know what to say. I honestly don’t know how to rate this book
It took me a long time to finish this book because i was struggling at the beginning. I thought it was a bit boring but after some time i just looked at things differently and stopped focusing on the plot but more on the main character’s feelings. With this i was able to enjoy this beautiful book although I felt a bit empty after i finished it. I recommend all the lovers in the night if you want to read something „quiet“ and sad (not in the someone-dies but in an i-relate/i-understand-that-sadness sad way). I just really love the way mieko kawakami writes the women in her books. It’s so real and „near“.
I’m really unsure how to rate the book. On the one hand is this how my sobriety journey kind of felt like. I could relate with Fuyuko on many different occasions. Someone who struggles to form (lasting) connections with other people, in her addiction, keeping herself small, trying to please everybody but her. Just as I thought the book was starting to grow on me -as I really disliked the first 2/3 of it- it took another turn that made me go “are you for fvcking real?”. I really felt sorry for Fuyuko, but other than that, I mostly just disliked the book. Her work bestie, who claims to be a feminist, spends several pages bashing other women for doing things she doesn’t approve of and just glorifies being a workaholic. The love interest really gave me hope. I really liked him. He helped Fuyuko (probably unbeknownst to him) get through many of her problems, just to abandon her again. At some point I was able to excuse the pace of the book. The way it was written matched the way life felt for me, when I was living away, getting drunk every day. Life felt so small and mundane. I also did enjoy how she got to grow through all of it. Nevertheless it was still kind of hard for me to push through and almost all of my annotations are “wtf?” annotations, so I’ll just leave it at 2,5 stars, I suppose. Also what even does “The chubby woman smiles and asked if I could donate blood today. For some reason, her smiling face reminded me of a head of cabbage split perfectly in two” mean?????
3.5⭐️ Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t have finished this book if I wouldn’t have listened to it. I read it first, but the story seemingly went NOWHERE and felt so stretched out and almost boring… BUT the audiobook actually made it very enjoyable. The story is pretty deep once you look behind the curtain… not to mention Fuyuko’s absolutely toxic circle of friends/acquaintances and the alcoholism, which was pretty intense. On more than one passage I felt so deeply sorry for Fuyuko, I just wanted to give her the biggest and warmest hug.