All the Lovers in the Night is my third book by Kawakami and unfortunately my least favourite so far. I usually love a melancholy little book about women in their 20s dealing with who they want to be, but I found this one a drag to get through. The most compelling parts were the bits that dealt head on with Fuyuko’s depression, which she tries to drown out with alcohol. As someone who also works from home and struggles with depression, those parts did resonate. It’s fine like between revelling in aloneness and feeling lonely, and Fuyuko regularly topples over into existential dread. Maybe part of my ambivalent feelings about this book are to do with Mitsutsuka, the love interest who is simply mediocrity embodied in a middle aged man.

Some beautiful writing, but just not as engaging as Breasts and Eggs or Heaven. 

Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.