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Reviews

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

bmd0704's review against another edition

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mysterious

5.0

_cassiereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

All the Lovers in the Night is an exploration of loneliness and the deterioration of one womans mental health. Fuyuko works from home as a proofreader and is so absorbed in her work she forgets to live. Passing her reflection one day she decides she needs to change who she sees looking back at her.

This book was sad and calming all at once. I feel like it's one of those where you either love it or hate it, as there really isn't much plot. It's just a slice of someone's everyday life and their feelings of inadequacy.

"I became unsure of how to leave the mirror, how to leave
the me in the mirror behind."

Kawakamis works always have a strange effect on me. My first initial ratings after finishing her books are always a bit lower, for instance, I rated this 3.75 stars. Then, after days of it weighing on my mind and being unable to shake the feelings within,I bumped it up to a 4. I really find her works incredibly relatable in their sadness

sophhehe's review against another edition

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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

3.75

annarosalie's review against another edition

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reflective

2.5

lydiafriedman's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad 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

3.0

digidemii's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5⭐️

It wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
I thought that this would be a book with beautiful prose throughout, one that I would be highlighting many times due to finding yet another beautiful quote.
Whilst it definitely had elements of that, it was more a slice of life.

squeezedlemon's review against another edition

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reflective relaxing sad medium-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

3.75

Kawakami narrates the story of a lonely woman experiencing depression. 

It truly embodies the experience that many of us may have had: taking up the least amount of space, almost being sorry for your existence as if it were a burden for others to even witness.

As a reader, it is clear to me that Kawakami has chosen the words in this book intently, carefully crafting All The Lovers In The Night.

What I didn't like about the book was the lack of character development in the last chapter. Moreover, it has felt like there wasn't much of a resolution to the story at the end of the book.

rrwnomad's review against another edition

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

3.0

jeyanlri's review against another edition

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3.0

6/10

as someone who's read heaven, i went into this book expecting it to feel just as full and memorable as the former was, but it ended up feeling,,, lacking, for lack of a better term. alone, i do feel that it was a good book in general, but there was still something about it that just seemed duller and not very memorable; it was just felt like it missing something

notnotkris's review against another edition

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

3.5

Not sure how I feel about this one.