All The Lovers In The Night

By (author) Kawakami Mieko; Translated by Bett, Sam; Translated by Boyd, David
Short description/annotation
From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes a deeply moving story about a woman searching for meaning in contemporary Tokyo.
Description

International Booker Prize-shortlisted author

From literary sensation Mieko Kawakami, the bestelling author of Breasts and Eggs and Heaven comes All the Lovers in the Night, an extraordinary, deeply moving and insightful story set in contemporary Tokyo.

''Mieko Kawakami is a genius'' - Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance proofreader in her thirties. Living alone, and unable to form meaningful relationships, she has little contact with anyone other than Hijiri, someone she works with. When she sees her reflection, she’s confronted with a tired and spiritless woman who has failed to take control of her own life. Her one source of solace: light. Every Christmas Eve, Fuyuko heads out to catch a glimpse of the lights that fill the Tokyo night. But it is a chance encounter with a man named Mitsutsuka that awakens something new in her. And so her life begins to change.

As Fuyuko starts to see the world in a different light, painful memories from her past begin to resurface. Fuyuko needs to be loved, to be heard, and to be seen. But living in a small world of her own making, will she find the strength to bring down the walls that surround her?

All The Lovers In The Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and captivating, pulsing and poetic, modern and shocking. It’s another unforgettable novel from Japan’s most exciting writer.

Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.

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Kawakami’s novel is uncompromisingly candid in its appraisal of the harm women inflict on one another, while never losing sight of the overarching structures that lead them to do so in the first place. Compact and supple, it’s a strikingly intelligent feat.
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Her most accomplished novel yet . . . A contemporary Japanese master continues her meteoric rise into our literary firmament
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[An] engrossing, fine-boned new novel, deftly translated from Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd . . . with this consummate novel, Kawakami’s star continues to rise, pulsing against a night that’s anything but holy
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Kawakami — the author of titles such as Breasts and Eggs and Heaven — has crafted another atmospheric, subtly beautiful novel.
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Kawakami has an effortless way of turning the mundanity of Fuyoko''s day-to-day into detailed occasions that I want to know more about . . . Though the everyday is more interesting than you''d think, this is a book that''s really about Fuyoko discovering happiness
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In contrast to the many suffocating (western) conventions of romantic storytelling, it is refreshing to encounter a book of such irresistible sweet melancholy.
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Kawakami has created a rich and notable examination of the varied ways women choose to live their lives and the gains and losses that come with the choices they''ve made. Kawakami writes with the tender and incisive sensibilities of a poet . . . An unforgettable and masterful work.
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Candid and searing, Kawakami''s latest is another brilliantly rendered portal into young women’s lives.
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The author dazzles with her exploration of emotions . . . An invigorating and empowering portrait. It’s a winner.
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Mieko Kawakami has emerged as a literary feminist icon