Review of ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT by Mieko Kawakami (New Release)

3 Stars

Though I’m not a reader who needs a plot-driven story, this novel’s slow pace left my mind numbed. 

Fuyuko Irie, 34, is a freelance proofreader in Tokyo.  She describes the entirety of her life in a few words:  “I live alone.  I’ve been living in the same apartment forever.  . . . I like to go out on a walk once a year on my birthday . . . I have no friends to talk to on a regular basis.”  Her life revolves around her work.  Seeing her reflection one day, she sees “the dictionary definition of a miserable person.”  The person with whom she has the most contact is Hijiri Ishikawa, an editor whose personality and lifestyle are totally different.  Desperately lonely, Fuyuko starts to drink to ease her discomfort in the outside world.  During this time, she meets Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher who is 24 years her senior, with whom she establishes a friendship. 

The glacial pace is the result of monologues.  There are the lengthy monologues delivered by secondary characters.  Hijiri, for example, goes on and on, speaking virtually non-stop because Fuyuko says little.  When Fuyuko meets Noriko, a former classmate, and Kyoko, a former colleague, it is these women who dominate the conversations with seemingly endless discussion of topics that interest them.  Exchanges with Mitsutsuka are vague philosophical discussions or focus on the physics of light and colour.  And then Fuyuko’s internal monologues analyzing her thoughts and emotions become repetitive and tedious.  More than once I found my eyes glazing over. 

The book is a character study of its protagonist.  We learn that Fuyuko was always an introvert who was socially awkward, but a traumatic event leaves her fragile self-esteem in tatters.  She becomes totally passive, eventually admitting that “I’d done nothing with my life, glossing over it all.  I was so scared of being hurt that I’d done nothing.  I was so scared of failing, of being hurt, that I chose nothing.  I did nothing.”  I appreciated that she is a dynamic character who learns that “’we can forget pretty much anything’” and a pain can exist in memory “growing weaker by the day” so it can eventually be lost entirely. 

Because of its themes of isolation and loneliness, this novel reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.  Eleanor's transformational journey towards a fuller understanding of self and life is more compelling. 

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.