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All the Lovers in the Night

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All the Lovers in the Night

By: Mieko Kawakami
Narrated by: Mirai Booth-Ong
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Bestselling author of BREASTS AND EGGS, Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with this new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today's most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists.

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it.

As the long-overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko's past surface and her behaviors slip further and further beyond the pale.

“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.”—JO HAMYA, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW©2011 Mieko Kawakami (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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Mieko Kawakami is a new favourite writer. Her writing is beautiful and honest, I’d recommend her to anyone.

Love Love Love

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Superbly written. I was completely drawn into someone else's mindset and view of life.
It is a gentle exploration of one person's struggle to interact with other people. Totally engrossing.

Completely absorbing

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it was very slow at the start but once i got about halfway into the story, it began to consumed all of my day!!. god the writing style of Japanese authors are something else!!

slow

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Such intriguing, yet gentle story, it left me wanting to know more about the characters.

Intriguing and haunting.

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one of the better books i've encountered so far written by Japanese writers. i have actually found all of this author's books quite good so far.
some difficult themes in there (rape, alcoholism, a frivolous lifestyle, patriarchy, misogyny, apathy, drifting from lack of direction), all in a fairly short book, with interesting characters. my only comment would be that i felt the dark themes were presented too dialled back. i would have liked it to either be more critical or more dramatic in regards to the things portrayed, to highlight a stronger message. otherwise, i felt the book was heartbreaking, with characters portraying very tragic circumstances...not the easiest listen.
good performance for the audio format.

difficult story

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