A review by elisemiddletonxo
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

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? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

if mitsutsuka, a high school physics teacher in tokyo, taught me — taught fuyuko — well, then the colours we see are those that have been left behind. not having been absorbed by the material we see them reflecting off of (see the light reflecting off of?), these colours suddenly all feel melancholy in their abandonment. this characterisation of something we take for granted in our day to day, the reflection of light, is a key consideration of this short novel. i’ve likely butchered the physics of the phenomenon as it was always my least favourite subject, but isn’t it a testimony to mieko kawakami’s story and to sam bett and david boyd’s translation that i felt compelled to try? 

all the lovers in the night is my second kawakami, having read breasts and eggs back in 2020, and for me it’s a testament to the steady development of one’s writing over time. there is something almost unassuming about this novel at first glance, following the lonely fuyuko irie, a freelance proofreader who encounters mitsutsuka by chance and develops a tentative friendship over a number of weeks. this is certainly a character-led novel, and i was particularly struck by the delicate building of fuyuko’s character and how we got to know her. she’s often quiet, seeming to some like only a reflective surface or a minor character for them to vent their frustrations to — she nods, mm’s and ah’s at appropriate moments, often slightly baffled by the thoughts and feelings of the women in her life (these conversations traverse work, marriage, sex and relationships, all manners of connection fuyuko feels absented from). the main thing we might know about her beyond her profession is that she is consistently drinking, finding each day easier with a combination of beer and sake swirling around her system. and yet in kawakami’s depiction of her emotional state, of a yearning and a loneliness that will slip beneath your skin, we know her sense of herself entirely. we are brought across every plane of her emotional life. 

a novel of sensation and feeling, all the lovers in the night, one to accompany you in the delicate solemnity of the early hours. acutely rendered and beautifully written, it’s a winner for me. 
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