Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - All the Lovers in the Night

A reflective book, on a woman who's reached her 30s, and realises she's not fully happy with her life, as she feels she's fallen into everything she's done.

Spoiler

As her birthday approaches, she decides to try new things, such as going out with her colleague and only contacting on her phone, before eventually attempting to join a class at a university. In her attempt to apply, she meets someone who might just trigger the change she needs in her life.

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jessbasuthakur's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Simply, a book that achieved what it set out to do, but nonetheless a bit of a slog to read. However, I will read more Kawakami books.

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tej_reads's review

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

From the start, I identified with Fuyuko a lot - a homebody, with few physical friends, and predictable existence. And so the realism Kawakami evokes hit hard, it was a very emotional read, you feel right there with Fuyuko; in and through her loneliness, alcoholism and depression. The melancholic tone continues till the end of the work, so it really is not a 'happy' storyline nor is it plot-driven.

Hijiri is a work friend of Fuyuko, and the friendship is one-sided in a way where Hijiri makes most of the effort to connect. Hijiri is interesting and so are most of the conversations between her and Fuyuko, Kawakami uses the characters to tackle the perception of 'middle-age' women in Japanese society, specifically the issues surrounding marriage, careers and motherhood. Kawakami does this brilliantly. However, often Hijiri does monologue where either a page or half a page is dedicated to her speech, to the point where I thought that part about celery was added just to cut through the dialogue. Hijiri is also for all her talk of 'career women' and how women do not need anything in their lives to be complete other than themselves, rather misogynistic. Hijiri judges a female colleague for luring in men and sleeping with different men, in a way I found her to be a more interesting character than Fuyuko but perhaps that's because she spoke more and we heard her opinions.

All the Lovers in the Night is beautiful work showing the fragmentation of Fuyuko Irie's life and the hope that comes with living for yourself.

Book #153 of 2022

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