Reviews

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

brownbear5's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-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

3.25

papapete24's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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

3.5

I've spent the last few years on a journey through the landscape of Japanese literature. There's a quick classification for most modern Japanese literature between what we might categorize as soft, cat literature that is warm, quiet, and emphasizes traditional elements of Japan's culture (book covers often with cats, coffee, changing seasons) and then there is a darker, serious literature that traces a lineage from Soseki and Kokoro or Kawabata and Snow Country or Oe and A Private Matter. While there are pleasures to be found in the trend of soft Japanese lit (I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop), I prefer a harder edged modern literature from Japan. Mieko Kawakami clearly falls into the latter category. From my perspective, she simply seems uninterested in telling the soft, glossy stories of Japanese society and prefers to delve into fictional lives that illustrates how people on the other side of the tracks are living.  In Heaven, the darker side centers around brutal bullying in Japanese schools (almost too much for me to read). In Breasts and Eggs, Kawakami writes what many probably consider a Feminist novel plumbing the modern and historic sexism in Japan and the devaluing of women to their reproductive capabilities. I further think it is also a great example of what academics call intersectionality where the main character is a woman and also was raised in poverty, carrying the generational trauma with her into her current life. Breasts and Eggs is a stunning novel. In All The Lovers in the Night, we have a female protagonist that will make some choices and habits that are confounding to the reader. There is some trauma and especially trauma that influences how she tries to connect to the opposite sex. There is also commentary around how women in Japan can have professional aspirations without being criticized for the independence and sexuality. I believe that many readers will not find Lovers as engaging as her previous work. There are some beautiful passages on the nature of light and the night, but the overall inaction of the character and the story will ultimately not find this slim novel as compelling as Breasts and Eggs. 3.5 Stars.

sevireads's review against another edition

3.0

Having read so many rave reviews for the author's other books, "Heaven" and "Breasts and Eggs", I had very high expectations for "All The Lovers In The Night" (a title I loved from the moment I saw it), and I think that hindered my enjoyment somewhat. Either that or the pretty unremarkable prose and plot. Not a bad book, per se, just... unremarkable.

agootek's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

jollibee's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

Girlfailure failing for 219 pages, and I loved every bit of it.

ntt017's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

nireadsthings's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

clemitski's review against another edition

3.0

this book was so simple and so strange at the same time, as i liked the subtle shift of the main character battling her detachment at the end of the book but dislike that she managed to overcome alcoholism in the span of a sentence.

ivansensacional's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-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

2.0

This was a difficult one. While in general I enjoyed the book, I feel it tries to be more seriously than it should.

First of all, a lot of stuff dont really add to the plot. Halfway trough it, we learn that the protagonist was a used when she was a teenager. Its important but doesnt helps at all, Maybe Just shedding a little light about why she doesnt want sex. Or the part when he high School friend shows up of nothing and tells her she and her husband stoppdd having sex. Why include that?

Also, I didnt enjoy the long conversations between caracteres. They barely added anything to the plot and were inssuferable to go trough. If I wanted to read conversations ID read a script. 

This could have been a three stars but that end was awful!

Between drunk Hiriji metting the protagonist only to be mean to her, or Mitsuzuka not showing again and revealing he has been lying, it really ruined the sweet aura of the book. I wish I had stopped in the second to Last chapter.

The book goes between cozy and trauma without it really developing either of those. Its an easy read if you dont mind the long conversations but I personally wouldnt go back to it anytime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Toxic friendship

overtsentio's review

emotional reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual assault