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All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami, and translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, is published by Europa Editions.
For some reason I thought this book was about a lonely woman's budding friendship with her boss, and while it's not not about that, it definitely isn't about that. It's about a lonely woman trying to change her life and make connections, and a lot goes wrong, but it's a quiet, lovely book. The sense of isolation it conveys is sometimes too much; even when Fuyuko is talking to other people there's so much held back. The translation is beautiful and flows well.
There were multiple moments at which I was agonized on Fuyuko's behalf, and every positive change or decision was a relief. The feeling of wanting to change but not wanting to make choices was...too real. Unrelated, but I found the description of Fuyuko's job as a proofreader fascinating, especially as I feel like I've noticed more and more typos in books recently (didn't notice any here, though!). As a whole, this was a neatly done messy story, and I thought it was pretty good!
For some reason I thought this book was about a lonely woman's budding friendship with her boss, and while it's not not about that, it definitely isn't about that. It's about a lonely woman trying to change her life and make connections, and a lot goes wrong, but it's a quiet, lovely book. The sense of isolation it conveys is sometimes too much; even when Fuyuko is talking to other people there's so much held back. The translation is beautiful and flows well.
There were multiple moments at which I was agonized on Fuyuko's behalf, and every positive change or decision was a relief. The feeling of wanting to change but not wanting to make choices was...too real. Unrelated, but I found the description of Fuyuko's job as a proofreader fascinating, especially as I feel like I've noticed more and more typos in books recently (didn't notice any here, though!). As a whole, this was a neatly done messy story, and I thought it was pretty good!
