Description

“A must-read for Murakami fans.”-Hotlist

A symphony of interconnected lives that offers a compelling reflection on life in modern-day metropolises at the intersection of isolation and intimacy in Yoshida’s English-language debut

Matsui is the driver of a taxi the colour of the night sky. Every night between the hours of 1 am and 4.30 am, Matsui guides his taxi around the streets of Tokyo, collecting passengers and their stories.

Seen through the eyes of a cast of colourful characters, Goodnight Tokyo takes the reader on an intimate journey around Tokyo after dark, when Tokyo’s eccentrics and insomniacs emerge, and a small grain of madness begins to germinate in the city’s night air. Confessions of intimacy and loneliness merge with the surreal: the funeral of an old telephone, the flea-market in which objects are bartered for that don’t actually exist.

Told over a number of nights – and punctuated by Matsui’s dawn arrival at his favourite canteen for a plate of their famous ham and eggs – Yoshida weaves a web of stories that prove to be intimately cand compellingly connected.

Publisher Review

"There's something magical about these late-night fairy-tale interactions, every person unwittingly walking the city with the key to a stranger's mystery in their pocket." * Kirkus Reviews * "Best-selling Japanese writer Yoshida's English-language debut, enabled by Australian literary translator Haydn Trowell, is a delightful montage portraying strangers serendipitously connecting in the wee hours despite the vast anonymity of living in one of the world's busiest, most populous cities." * Booklist * "A quiet slice-of-night-life novel, Goodnight Tokyo explores the hushed surprises and understated mysteries enmeshed in daily human connectivity." * Foreword Review (starred review) * "Readers will be reminded of Jim Jarmusch's 1991 movie Night on Earth, which also takes place in the wee hours of the morning and threads together the stories of strangers." * NPR * "A tender ode to life's unexpected moments of happiness." * Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) * "After closing this book, think of a friend or someone you know. Try to imagine their friends, the people they know whom you don't. Tokyo is made of such people. Definitely." * Sankei Shimbun (Japan) * "A must-read for Murakami fans." * Hotlist (Germany) *