Banana Yoshimoto

A pair of thematically linked novellas from the acclaimed author of Lizard, Amrita, and Goodbye Tsugumi. In cherished novels such as Kitchen and Goodbye Tsugumi, Banana Yoshimoto’s warm, witty, and heartfelt depictions of the lives of young Japanese have earned her international acclaim and bestseller status. Her insightful, spare vision returns in two novellas possessed by the ghosts of love found and lost. In Hardboiled, the unnamed narrator is hiking in the mountains on an anniversary she has forgotten about, the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death. As she nears her hotel—stopping on the way at a hillside shrine and a strange soba shop—a sense of haunting falls over her. Perhaps these eerie events will help her make peace with her loss. Hard Luck is about another young woman, whose sister is dying and lies in a coma. Kuni’s fiancé left her after the accident, but his brother Sakai continues to visit, and the two of them gradually grow closer as they make peace with the impending loss of their loved one. Yoshimoto’s voice is clear, assured, and deeply moving, displaying again why she is one of Japan’s, and the world’s, most beloved writers. “A sparkling book.” —The Washington Post

Hardboiled & Hard Luck

yes i love the honorary mention of my country

maia

I thought of various places I had visited in the past: caves I had seen in Bali and Malaysia that in were so deep they made me shudder; sites in Cambodia and Saipan that brimmed with achingly dark passions left over from the war. 

The rituals of our daily lives permeate our very bodies. After all we had been through, the very one tie that still bound my mother and me was the way time moved in our lives, because it had seeped down so deep inside us.

I think you're a really lucky person. I can tell you're going to have a very unusual life.I bet all kind of things will happen. But you mustn't blame yourself. You have to live a hard-boiled life, OK? No matter what happens, keep going around with your nose in the air."

Oh, I’ll be fine. I said this earlier, but it's true-you have strange nights no matter where you are. And they always pass. You just have to force yourself to act like nothing is wrong, and when morning comes everything is back to normal. 

"In November the sky always looks so high up, somehow, and it has such a sad, lonely feel to it" said Sakai. "Which month do you like best?" "November." "Really? Why?" "Because the sky is high and lonely, and it makes me feel very alone, and that makes my heart dance, and then I feel stronger. But at the same time, there's this energy in the air; it's a time of waiting, before winter really sets in."

Death isn't sad. What hurts is being drowned by these enotions. I want to run away, I thought—to escape this distant autumn sky.

Yes, it will happen just like it does in the lyrics of Yümnin's song, I thought. This autumn Will never come back; it was one of a kind. And it's setting out on its distant travels tonight, weaving away through the barren winter trees. And then, ever so quietly, a cruel, unknown winter will set in.

march🐇

“And when you take a spill, you can always rise up from it with something good in your hand.”

aywen

It could only have happened in that distorted temporality. And it’s true, I thought, interesting things do happen, even in the midst of the blackest nights. And when you take a spill, you can always rise up from it with something good in your hand.

Hardboiled & Hard Luck quotes

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