Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

24 reviews

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

my favorite kawakami novel by far! this one was so emotional and beautiful. i wanted nothing but the best for fuyuko the entire time

and was absolutely devastated by the ending

. i was not expecting to like this one as much as i did because of how i felt about kawakami’s other novels. i definitely will be recommending this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Suicide, Car accident, and Pregnancy

mmefish's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

What the hell did I just read. Don't know if it's genius or completely pointless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Rape

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, and Car accident

rinku's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

All the Lovers in the Night is a quite character driven, melancholic story. I liked it for what it was, but it couldn’t really catch me. 

Fuyuko is a single woman in her thirties that is not happy with her life, so it happens one day that she starts to drink alcohol to deal with everything. For me, this decision came a bit too sudden. Then, she meets Mitsutsuka and everything starts to change. It takes some time, but it was so nice to see how Fuyuko starts to dress nicely and just starts to feel better. I’m not sure about the message of this novel though, and I don’t know what I think about the ending. Another thing I appreciate is that the has some feminist undertones but with Hijiri, I sadly have the feeling that her femininity was quite shamed. 

Fuyuko is a likable main character, and her feelings are portrayed so well, especially her loneliness is intensively described. She just feels miserable and doesn’t want to be anymore. It’s so terrible when we learn that

she was raped as a teen

which explains some of her feelings.  Mitsutsuka is the other important character and kinda the love interest of the story. I have to say that I didn’t like him, and that I couldn’t feel the chemistry between them. He’s just this kind of man that talks <i>to</i> women but not with them, if you know what I mean. This is probably because of the long dialogues. There’s also an age gap of around 25 years between them. 

All in all, I would still recommend All the Lovers in the Night for people who are interested in Japanese contemporary literature and stories focussed on female characters like I am. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Vomit, and Alcohol

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Car accident

Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy

aude's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Rape, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Pregnancy

sea_sea's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a good book! It was so beautifully written and

I really liked how the ending wasn’t the classic “happy end” but you could still tell that the mc had grown as a person.

. It also had very sad parts ;^;… I think the mc was really likeable and relatable, I enjoyed reading the book from her perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Self harm, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

ruthjenkins's review

slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Pregnancy

robinks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My first Kawakami! The story reminded me a bit of Murakami: beautiful descriptions of scenes, interesting philosophical questions, and a protagonist who is very passive. It was refreshing to have a female protagonist though, and I liked the commentary on feminism presented through Fuyuko’s interactions with and about Hijiri.

Fuyuko and Hijiri initially had a bit of a romantic connection, and I would’ve loved to see that fleshed out. I was a little disturbed by the final argument between Fuyuko and Hijiri and how they became friends from that, and the age gap between Fuyuko and Matsutsuka creeped me out. I was also pleased to see Fuyuko’s growth at the end, but it felt rushed, especially with the time skip that we didn’t get to see.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, and Dysphoria

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

kia_y_k's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Death

spogboy's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

only flaw is that hijiri and fuyuko dont end up together (romantically)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment