Goodnight Tokyo
"Imbued with optimism-that despite living an unremarkable life or feeling small in the midst of an unrelenting vastness, you can achieve your dreams."
-Chicago Review of Books
"A haunting portrait of Tokyo life."-Shelf Awareness
Set in the early hours of the morning in and around Tokyo, this ingeniously constructed American debut is an energetic fresco of nocturnal existence. Hailed as a mélange of Agatha Christie, Teju Cole, and Hieronymus Bosch, Goodnight Tokyo is a compelling reflection on human relationships in modern-day metropolises at the intersection of isolation and intimacy.
Yoshida's debut offers readers a unique and intimate take on Tokyo; its characters are mysteriously but intricately interconnected and their fates converge and diverge on the city's neon-lit streets and in its nighttime alleys.
"Goodnight Tokyo explores the hushed surprises and understated mysteries enmeshed in daily human connectivity."-Foreword Reviews (starred review)
"Readers will be reminded of Jim Jarmusch's 1991 movie Night on Earth."-NPR
"Explores all of the surprising and mysterious ways we affect each other."-Bustle
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Become an affiliateBorn in Tokyo in 1962, Atsuhiro Yoshida is an award-winning book designer and renowned author of over forty books. Also translated into French, German, and Italian, Goodnight Tokyo is Yoshida's English-language debut.
★ "A quiet slice-of-night-life novel, Goodnight Tokyo explores the hushed surprises and understated mysteries enmeshed in daily human connectivity."--Foreword Reviews (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
"Here, readers can find everything from a quiet slice of life to moments of wry humor to surprise encounters bordering on the unreal. The result is an energetic mix of episodes and snapshots that come together in a seamless tapestry, illustrating not merely the lives of the assorted characters, but of the complexity of the city of Tokyo itself."--Hadyn Trowell, Electric Lit
"The timeless quality of Tokyo in the wee small hours is evoked as taxi driver Matsui encounters eccentrics and insomniacs alike. . . rewards are plentiful."--Financial Times
"A cacophony of characters and events and emotions that come together in a portrait of Tokyo, of course, but really humanity."--Parade Magazine
"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
"Looking at the books I'm loving lately, I can't help but draw the conclusion that readers and writers--and probably people in general--are yearning for community: Goodnight Tokyo . . . is about place, neighbors, and interconnectedness. . . Through their stories, the author explores all of the surprising and mysterious ways we affect each other."--Bustle
"Solid, atmospheric ensemble-piece, neatly meshed together, an engaging slice of Tokyo and its inhabitants (and, more generally, how individuals cope in an enormous and often impersonal metropolis) as seen from an unusual all-night vantage point."--Complete Reviews
"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)