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

3.0

3.5

This is the most murakami-esque book by Kawakami I've read (I was aware she has been compared to him and is seen as his 'heiress', but I really didn't notice any similarities in her previous works). This isn't a bad thing, but it made me feel weird, like I was a teenager again reading Murakami for the first time, allowing the main character to make me feel as sad and lonely as she felt on the page.

The themes discussed in the book, though, are all Kawakami: loneliness, friendship, intimacy and "othering", as well as trauma and the different ways in which people deal (or do not) with it.

I didn't really like any of the characters in this book, but I could recognize parts of myself in them (some that I like, some that made me feel ashamed) and I enjoyed reading the different takes characters had on issues related to the role of 30-something year old women in Japan's society.

Overall I think this is a good book, but it wasn't my favorite of hers and it made me too sad, I always get too involved with her stories. Maybe I'll change my rating and my review after a while since I tend to think about Mieko's books constantly after I've finished them.

tw: alcoholism and sexual assault