Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - All the Lovers in the Night

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

81 reviews

sleepyriv's review against another edition

reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.0

nothing hits as close to my heart as japanese literature about loneliness. at only 20 i feel my life heading in the same direction as fuyuko’s. the melancholy quietness of her day to day, and finding comfort in someone n not knowing what to do with it.

when mitsutsuka doesn’t show up on her birthday, i felt how painful that wld be, how hopeless the future wld feel knowing she’d be alone like that forever.

maybe i shld make some more friends, but who’s to say it wld make any difference?

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calydr's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing 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

3.5

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rachill's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

I found this so interesting to read. For the better half of the story, I kept wondering ‘how is Fuyuko not addressing any of these crazy things or people with emotion?’ It was only 160 pages in when Fuyiko mentions her drinking behaviour in a negative light, as before then her drinking was described as if she was drinking water. It was so interesting and well done, with the first person perspective dulling my senses to what is bad and what is good, so much so I was randomly remembering details of the bad throughout the days it took me to read the book saying ‘oh. That was pretty bad actually’. It was quite sad that a lot of people seemed to use Fuyuko as therapy, yet something many introverts relate to.

I would have liked Fuyuko to have addressed her sexual assault from her teen years with more clarity for reader education/sake but this in itself is representative of our society’s rape myths that disregard assaults as assault unless it’s violent involving strangers.

Very interesting read. Totally agree with the ending. Poetic!

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falltumn's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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sovexedtofind's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

But I asked myself: Haven’t you always done your best with whatever you were up against? Haven’t you given it your all whatever came your way? Unfortunately, no. That’s not how things had been for me. I had faked it the whole way. In all those years of doing whatever I was told to do, I had convinced myself that I was doing something consequential, in order to make excused for myself, as I was doing right now, and perpetually dismissed the fact that I’d done nothing with my life, nothing. I was so scared of failing, of being hurt, that I chose nothing. I did nothing.

This excerpt is a good representation of what the book is about. It's a reflective insight into the life of a loner going through the motions. We learn about Fuyuko, the narrator/main character, through her interactions with people. She's kind of a blank slate and we really only know what she's like through how her acquaintances respond to her. It seems like the other characters only like her because her "emptiness" makes her a good sounding board for their frustrations...at least, until they don't have anything more to share:

I have no idea what you're thinking...I guess maybe you aren't thinking at all. It's like there's nothing in there. Just being around you really pisses me off.

It's not all one-sided either. Because of Fuyuko's lack of sense of self, she mirrors those who stick around long enough in an attempt to absorb bits and pieces to form a personality she thinks she should have. Because she thinks those parts are good, she believes it would also look good on her until someone confronts her. And it's like the mirror shatters. In the end, it still takes other people's words or actions directly about her to compel her to reflect on herself.

Not much happens in terms of a plot or a story, but I still think it's a well-written reflection on this type of person that does exist in the real world.

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dee_dee_dee's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.25

Once you get through the exposition the writing has a nice flow and seems very attentive but there are passages that are hard work to get through. Might be worth it though. Overall the plot seems rushed anyways.

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julesjb's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad 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

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mromie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Similar to her bestseller Breast and Eggs, Kawakami explores the themes of becoming as well as defining womanhood for oneself against a world that speaks so loudly on the ways a woman should be. In the vein of great Japanese novels, Kawasaki delves into these thought-provoking concepts ever so subtly through delicate yet poignantly worded descriptions of the mundane and muddled paragraphs of the main character’s inner thoughts and feelings.

The main character Fuyuko is stuck in an endless loop of isolation and passivity. I understood the feeling of wanting decisions to be made for you and to numbingly move through day to day. Fuyuko could even withstand being completely alone with no one to really talk to for a month or so.

Fuyuko reminded me of a quote from Fleabag where the titular character says, “I want someone to tell me what to wear every morning. I want someone to tell me what to eat. What to like, what to hate, what to rage about. What to listen to, what band to like…who to love and how to tell them.” There can be freedom in passivity, letting go of control and seeing where the waves of life take you. But, as we see with Fuyuko, there is also great damage as she numbs and blurs life through alcohol and struggles to build meaningful relationships.

I appreciated how the book ended without the resolution of a grand love story, rather with Fuyuko recognizing how bright and full of energy life can be, how striking it is to have felt something even if it is pain or hardship. It was wonderful to see the differences in how Hijiri and Fuyuko interacted with each other in the end. Instead of thoughtlessly nodding through Hijiri’s rambling, Fuyuko was now an active participant. Made me proud of the MC

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nrb2020's review against another edition

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emotional

3.5

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lesliekate's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense medium-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

2.0

I feel like I didn’t get this at all. it started off so strong, then got so depressing and creepy and weird and uncomfortable, then completely irritating and fucked up, then slightly better. I am lost.

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