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

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Leave it to Mieko Kawakami to create the most beautiful visuals and lyrical descriptions of what listening to your favorite song feels like. I also enjoyed the brief lessons on how light and colors work. 

I could relate quite a bit to Fuyuko, and to me, this story served as an important reminder on what it REALLY means to have a real, genuine connection to someone. 
(To put it in a nutshell, take the time to get to know the other person in depth and, in turn, allow yourself to be known and seen and heard as well. It needs to go both ways.) 

Did NOT see that ending coming, but I can't say I was disappoined.
In fact, I quite liked the subversion of expectations. It goes back to the previous idea of knowing someone & being known in return. Fuyuko barely shared anything about herself, and also never got to know Mitsutsuka on a deeper level, opting instead to daydream about him or stay mostly silent during their hangouts instead of asking those questions she had in her mind, to get to know him better. In turn, Mitsutsuka himself avoided to tell the truth about who he really was from the very beginning - perhaps out of shame, or simply because it was great to be somebody else for a little while. Maybe he felt lonely, too. Maybe he knew that, if they were to get closer, Fuyuko would eventually find out he wasn't at all what he said he was. Maybe he got scared and that's why he ran away. So they pretty much remained strangers to each other all throughout their "relationship".
 Same thing with Hijiri's wish to know Fuyuko better - whether she wanted to get closer to and manipulate Fuyuko, or whether that actually was a genuine plea for connection: "I want to know you better. I want to know you, so I can be your friend, too." I like to think it's the latter reason, but it could be either one.
 
I only wish we'd gotten more of a glimpse on how Fuyuko's friendship with Hijiri developed after the end of chapter 12. 

With that last paragraph, I like to believe that Fuyuko went on to write this very book that we're reading right now, and named it "All the Lovers in the Night". I like to believe that, with these six words, with this book, she finally found her voice.


All in all, every character had its flaws, but Kawakami wrote them in such a way that their personalities & motivations were believable and, most of all, very human - which is why I found all the characters likeable in some way and worthy of consideration. 
Except for Mizuno, he can die in the hole he crawled out of for doing what he did and for having the absolute NERVE to blame it all on Fuyuko - and on TOP of that, to say that SHE pisses HIM off. While I can understand his frustrations with a stagnant, pre-determined life in a small town, and wanting to leave somewhere far away, to create his own identity & make a different, better life for himself, NOTHING could EVER justify what he did.
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