Fiction, 2022
I learnt a new term recently: ‘cuffing season'. It refers to short-term love affairs that only last through the winter months. Couples meet come fall, and part come spring. When I Googled the meaning, I was struck with yet another reminder that there is no escaping the grip of the bane of human existence; loneliness.
All The Lovers In The Night is an experiment in watching loneliness expand across a narrative, through colours, people, clothes, and moonlight. We roughly follow the daily life of a proofreader, Fuyuko as she avoids people, drinks sake, and thinks about taking long walks without actually doing it. Tokyo in indigo midnight is painted. Lovers lurk. The absence of light is touched.
This is a novel where literally nothing happens, which isn’t a spoiler because most Japanese literature I’ve read is about people listening to classical music, thinking about doing a thing, and taking no action. Kawakami differs crucially by describing the emotions of her characters with the force and violence usually reserved for Russian classics. When someone is shy, they are cripplingly, devastatingly shy and must exit the situation. When someone is in love, it propels them to throw themselves into the night, or onto the floor. Despair ensues and I lick it up.
Song - For Lovers - Lamp