Banana Yoshimoto

Japan’s internationally celebrated master storyteller returns with five stories of women on their way to healing that vividly portrays the blissful moments and everyday sorrows that surround us in everyday life First published in Japan in 2003 and never-before-published in the United States, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery. Among the women we meet in Dead-End Memories is a woman betrayed by her fiancé who finds a perfect refuge in an apartment above her uncle’s bar while seeking the real meaning of happiness. In “House of Ghosts,” a daughter of a yōshoku restaurant owner encounters the ghosts of a sweet elderly couple who haven’t yet realized that they have been dead for years. In “Tomo-chan’s Happiness,” an office worker who is a victim of sexual assault finally catches sight of the hope of romance. Yoshimoto’s gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the “most precious work of my writing career.”

Stories

Dead-End Memories

Francesca

People like him only see the world through assumptions. Just because they know someone who doesn't get to go outside, or leave their hometown, or has a life that looks boring... To then think that person's mind must be captive, too, or placid and simple? It's such a failure of imagination. But that's how most people think. They don't realise that your mind can be as spacious and wide-open as you want. Most people don't even try to see the treasure that lies inside the people they know.

Happiness descends on you suddenly, regardless of circumstance, and so indifferently that it seems cruel. It doesn't care where you are, or who you're with. 

You can't make it happen. It might arrive with your next breath, or you might never get to experience it no matter how long you wait. Like the movements of waves, or shifts in the weather, the miracles lie in wait for everyone.

"Keep looking out for happiness. Don't stop," I said, and my tears were coming, too. I hung up and cried for just a minute. These were good tears: an offering to accidents of timing. They squeezed my chest and glittered, and out of my sadness they fell and fell.

I knew that under our separate skies, Nishiyama and I were both so lonely it physically hurt. And in my mind's eye I saw once again the view from the upstairs window, and the quiet golden world where ginkgo leaves fell and settled forever on the ground.

I felt then that — even if I might someday forget when and where I had encountered them, or how they'd made me feel — these scenes were safely stowed in the part of my heart where I kept my most treasured memories, and would be among the visions that rose, radiant, to meet me at the moment of my death, as symbols of happiness, to lead me away.

This was what it took, I realized, to be something that survived. 

But — like the ever-flowing river — to engulf everything that came your way and move swiftly on as though it had never been.

Walking shoulder to shoulder on a winter afternoon, dressed casually and holding bulky bags of groceries, anyone seeing us would have thought we were newlyweds, or a nice cohabiting couple. But we were only two people, a little regretful, and soon to part.

We were having so much fun that it made me sad.

"If I stay home, with my family, for the rest of my life, I'll just get more and more nice." 

"It's fine, except the way I see it, it's not real. Anyone can be kind when they've got enough money and free time, and no problems, don't think? What I'm saying is, if I stay at home, that's all my niceness will ever be. And either something dark and unpleasant starts building up inside me, or I'm stuck with that superficial niceness until I die. I'm lucky to be easygoing by nature, and I want to make sure that's what I feed. Not the dark stuff."

"This is a supremely hopeful book, one that feels important because it shows that happiness, while not always easy, is still a subject worthy of art." —Brandon Taylor, The New York Times Book Review Japan’s internationally celebrated master storyteller returns with five stories of women on their way to healing that vividly portrays the blissful moments and everyday sorrows that surround us in everyday life First published in Japan in 2003 and never before published in the United States, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery. Among the women we meet in Dead-End Memories is one betrayed by her fiancé who finds a perfect refuge in an apartment above her uncle’s bar while seeking the real meaning of happiness. In “House of Ghosts,” the daughter of a yoshoku restaurant owner encounters the ghosts of a sweet elderly couple who haven’t yet realized that they’ve been dead for years. In “Tomo-chan’s Happiness,” an office worker who is a victim of sexual assault finally catches sight of the hope of romance. Yoshimoto’s gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the “most precious work of my writing career.”

c. y.

I started to feel that the two of us had been cut off from everything good—things like the lights of the world, the transparentness of dragonfly wings, perfect seasons expressed in wagashi, the luminous pale pink of cherry blossoms along the river, the way you look forward to going on vacation, the delightful feeling of knowing you're about to eat something good—and that dawn would never come.

renni

"I'd always believed I didn't take up a lot of space in this world that it hardly mattered whether I was here or not. When a person left, the people around them got used to their absence. That was true enough. But when I pictured the world without me, and the people I loved living on in it, I couldn't help but feel like crying."

Banana yoshimoto at it again in making me in awe of her writings 😮‍💨☝🏻 personally loved "kitchen" but DEM comforted me in different ways.

my favorite story amongst other stories would be "not warm at all" 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂 on my way now on finding & reading other works of banana !! 🦹🏻‍♀️

Jeremy Wang

banana hits again! i'm a little sad to see my pet thesis dismantled, but it was in the best way possible. the singular characters that usually live at the center of banana's stories take a backseat in this collection, leaving space for the narrators to muse and philosophize by themselves. one by one, they peel away scars left by ordinary life and heal, even as it seems like nothing really happens. among banana's works that i've read, this collection treats loneliness and grief most simply, and i feel like i learned most explicitly here how the serendipitous happenings of the everyday can save us. 

and as usual, banana's characters bleed pathos. i loved the voices and stories of the yoshoku daughter and iwakura, of mimi and nishiyama, their matter-of-fact relatability. 

thank you for this gift <3

every time! without fail! banana makes me feel like i’m in love, but also unmoored by the impermanence of life. it’s a strange, but not unwelcome feeling. these five short stories are ultimately about the people who pass through our lives and touch us in some unforgettable way (which is pretty quintessential banana)! the last story held such a breathtaking scene; i wanted nothing more than to paint it or hold it forever in my memory.

charisa

Short story collections are always hard to rate because you're bound to enjoy some stories more than the others. In this case, that last one was a really solid way to end the collection! 10/10. Can't wait to read Kitchen by Yoshimoto.

Amanda

I quite enjoyed this book's characters and pacing. It dealt with even the toughest of subjects with a softness and grace that I really enjoyed. Bittersweet tales of women finding their place in the world.

I did find the writing style a bit bland, but it was very readable anyway. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

Every book I've read by Yoshimoto has made me feel calmly introspective, which I love.

L'odore delle foglie secche colpite dal sole e il rumore della città, abbracciati, fanno da cornice a un amore che finisce e un'amicizia che fiorisce. E che diventa qualcosa di molto di più grande, di indimenticabile. Il racconto che Banana Yoshimoto considera il suo capolavoro ("Solo per aver potuto scrivere questo racconto, ringrazio di essere diventata scrittrice"). Una grande storia d'amore, qualunque sia il nome con cui vogliamo chiamare questo sentimento che ci illumina la vita. Tratto da Ricordi di un vicolo cieco, pubblicato da Feltrinelli.Numero caratteri: 65.502

Ricordi di un vicolo cieco

Ofelia

Sinceramente nessuna delle storie mi ha entusiasmata. Mi aspettavo qualcosa di meglio, alla fin fine non mi ha detto niente.

Morgana

Alcuni di questi racconti mi hanno anche presa un po' ( tipo l'ultimo ) ma alcuni erano veramente veramente pensati e ho fatto fatica a finirli anche se erano proprio corti.

Dead-End Memories Stories

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