Mieko Kawakami’s All The Lovers In The Night portrays a woman’s fight for her own humanity

Mieko Kawakami, a Japanese female author, is likely one of the most talked about novelists worldwide at the moment. After receiving Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Award for “Breasts and Eggs” in 2008, she has been nominated recently as an America’s National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist for her latest work “All The Lovers In The Night.”

To me, “All The Lovers In The Night” is a story about a woman who fought to liberate herself on her own terms.

The main character, a 34-year-old proofreader named Fuyuko, has long been immobilized emotionally and spiritually, and therefore struggles to build relationships with anyone or anything. She largely lacks social skills, self-esteem and essential self-expression to survive a typical human life.

Powerless main character

When Fuyuko criticizes herself in the midst of the book, “I was so scared of being hurt that I’d done nothing. I was so scared of failing, of being hurt, that I chose nothing. I did nothing,” I cannot help defending her because this line naturally leads me to wonder why she has lived this way, or rather, why Kawakami depicts Fuyuko this way.

If you can imagine all the hurdles women and girls in Japan often have to jump over throughout their lives, you will understand the threat this poses to self-respect and even dignity. Fuyuko seems to see the world around her as something to run away from instead of something to embrace. Kawakami makes it clear that this woman in her adulthood does not know how to find pleasure in her own body or mind.

Fuyuko feels undeserving of choices because she has been overwhelmed by the expected roles and hurt by sexual violence. My heart sinks because this isn’t some made-up tragedy but a quiet actuality in Japan.

The plot brought me the question, “If a woman finds herself in an environment that doesn’t let her overcome trauma, is she just unlucky?” Should she let someone or something else take over and control her life, as Fuyuko let people around her, alcohol and work do so?

A human body or a living person?

When she meets Mitsutsuka and falls in love, possibly for the first time in her life, it takes a long time for Fuyuko to admit to the feeling. She tries hard to forget about Mitsutsuka by not seeing him, sleeping a lot and shutting away from the real world.

A dead body has a shape of a human being, but it doesn’t look like a person. A person could look like a human physically but that doesn’t necessarily make it a person with a life. Witnessing possibly a mortal bike accident, I think Fuyuko sees herself in the dead body. She then realizes she is about to lose the one thing that really mattered to her in her life if she doesn’t take an initiative. “I had to see him.” Fuyuko gathers all the courage and telephones Mitsutsuka at last. The scene represents the moment Fuyuko wins back control of her life, choosing a path for herself.

We are entitled to humanity

This powerful scene reminds us how vulnerable and bold humans become in seeking someone to care about. We can’t help to pursue ways to connect with them, even if it scares and tortures us. The longing for good relationships and happiness has been imprinted in us. We are born to strive for this one thing with hope. This, which I’d like to call, “humanness,” is what drives us and where all of our energy comes from. Fuyuko’s choice here perhaps implies a victory of humanity.

Life seems worth living as long as that is protected. As much as Kawakami likes to write about life struggles in her work, this story makes me think of possible solutions to make the process fairer to begin with in the actual world. We must feel entitled to lead a fulfilling life regardless of the situation we are in.