Reviews with content warning for Vomit - All the Lovers in the Night

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

36 reviews

cecinamo's review

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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

Spoiler

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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corinnajl's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

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greyyy's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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lambclown's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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hanfaulder's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

All The Lovers In The Night by Mieko Kawakami is a story about the intensity of emotions, and the human experience of loneliness. Although the story might be marketed as being a love story, and it is true that our main character Fuyuko is awakened into the true extent of her loneliness through a burgeoning romantic relationship with Mitsutsuka, it is in fact the female friendship that she develops with her co-worker, Hijiri, which truly shapes her as a character. The romance is painful, it tortures Fuyuko, but her friendships make her step outside herself, they make her stronger, and ultimately it is Hijiri's love for Fuyuko that helps her begin to trust other people. It is also their relationship which preservers above all others.

Our narrator, and from whose perspective we understand the events of the novel, is Fuyuko Irie, a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties, with no close friends and no family. She recounts her excruciating days at a publishing house, where she avoided speaking with any of her co-workers, and altogether seemed to fade into the scenery. Then we learn of her transition into freelance, and of her rigid daily routine, as she describes the conciseness and dedication that she has for her work, but also how this does not solve her loneliness. In fact, it seems to be a way of passing the time for her, of numbing herself. So to help work up the nerve to leave her apartment, she starts to drink. More and more, so much so that she is even sick in public; and this is where she meets the solitary, slightly detached older man, Mitsutsuka, who tells her he is a high school physics teacher.

Mitsutsuka and Fuyuko's scenes are vivid and full of little details which make the world of All The Lovers In The Night feel painfully tactile. The two meet at a cafe to drink coffee and talk about light - conversations which clearly hold a great deal of emotional weight for Fuyuko, even if they might seem insignificant, or pretentious, as Mitsutsuka explains things to her, taking on a teacherly role. But as their trust grows, and Mitsutsuka becomes an important person in her life, Fuyuko relishes her connection with him, clings to the feeling that there is one person out there who knows that she is alive, while also lamenting that their relationship may never become anything beyond their encounters in the cafe, stating “But then what? These feelings, these awful feelings, what would happen to them?”

The uncertain progress of comprehending oneself, or of trusting another person, and how to cope with feelings - the awful intensity and unpredictability of them - are central questions that Kawakami raises in her novels. Like light, emotions are invisible things, refutable yet world-altering, life-informing. Like light, emotions make up what we can understand about the world. There is a beautiful symmetry between these two themes as expressed in the story. And it is because of the startling way that Kawakami writes, how vivid and real these mundane experiences are rendered, which only serves to draw the reader deeper into the intensity of the scenes, the relationships and the characters.

Kawakami is an incredibly sensory writer, simplistic but beautiful in her prose, her background in writing poetry is very clear and makes for an incredibly pleasing read. Her attention to the sensory experience of the characters, and how she swiftly relates this to her readers, is particularly enjoyable to experience. Her writing sensibility is keen, concise, and meaningful - if only the translation wasn't a little jarring in certain passages. Kawakami doesn’t just assemble a scene, she breathes it onto the page, these sensations seemingly drive her scenes forward. There is no real plot, but there are these characters whose pain and emotions are so vivid it feels as if you too are experiencing it alongside them. Ultimately, this is the story of a woman who was traumatised, who lived her life disconnected and as if constantly dreaming, and how she longs to brake free of her loneliness, to finally start living in a world which has colour and light, a world in which she loves people and is loved. There are many more things that I could say about this story, many more interpretations and brilliantly cutting quotes that I could extract, but put simply I wouldn't want to tarnish the experience for anyone else. Go read it!

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