Banana Yoshimoto

These six stories explore the themes of time, healing and fate, and how urban, sophisticated and independent young men and women come to terms with them.

Lizard

maia

When I looked out from that window each morning at the river, I saw the water glistening, like a million sheets of crushed gold leaf, flowing by. The light within me was something gorgeous like that. I wondered if that was what people in the old days used to call hope.

I didn't even know what hope was. Even if something like that existed, shining and sparkling brightly somewhere, way beyond my reach, I knew that I couldn't absorb its force.

"You had a talent for it, though, and I didn't." "A talent for what? Sex?" I laughed. 

"No, for living. You know all the right techniques, all the secrets. You understand how to flow with time, and not get stuck in one place. Once you master one thing and have done it enough, you move on. Or at least youre good at pretending to move on. I think most people live their whole lives repeating the same patterns, again and again and again."

The way we think may be completely different, but you and I are an ancient, archetypal couple, the original man and woman. We are the model for Adam and Eve. For all couples in love, there comes a moment when a man gazes at a woman with the very same kind of realization. It is an infinite helix, the dance of two souls resonating, like the twrist of DNA. Jike the vast universe.

Your love is different from mine. What I mean is, when you close your eyes, for that moment, the center of the universe comes to reside within you. And you become a small figure within that vastness, which spreads without limit behind you, and continues to expand at tremendous speed, to engulf all of my past, even before I was born, and every word I've ever written, and each view I've seen, and all the constellations, and the darkness of outer space that surrounds the small blue ball that is earth. Then, when you open your eyes, all that disappears.

“I just wish there were someone, like God or somebody, who was in charge of what went on in this world, someone to watch over us and tell us, ‘This type of behavior is not acceptable’, or ‘You're doing fine’, or whatever. I wish someone would put a stop to all this. But there is no higher power, so we have to do it ourselves.”

"It's amazing how differently people respond to trauma. Your mom had something awful happen to her, but now she's fine. My mother ended up taking her own life. And families are all different too-sonme come through it, and others don't I wonder if it's more the personalities involved or the nature of the trauma. Either way, the children pay for it the rest of their lives. I witnessed my own mother's death, for God's sake, and that's not something I'm going to forget, ever. But at least I'm still alive, and I can enjoy a good meal now and then, and feel happy when the weather's good. I don’t know.”

Sarah Sammis

Captivating, enchanting and alive from start to finish. A book of stories that carry the persevering weight of grief and love; a portrayal of the essence of humanity, with all its darkness and light, all its vulnerability and tenderness.

deniz

made me feel grimy in a very human way. will read again in 5 years.

banana yoshimoto wrote this to explore time, healing, karma and fate. she also wrote “i believe that we are not born with hope, but rather it comes to us as a transforming force”. i’ve never been so invested in seeing how hope is discovered for the first time in these characters, even how much they doubted the arrival of hope. i need more slice of life books like this! 

charisa

3.5 rounded up! i think i prefer banana’s novellas to her short stories, with the exception of dead-end memories. her breezy, colloquial style tends to translate better across a longer format, since there’s more space for her characters, with their runaway ruminations and offbeat personalities. 

at a shorter length, the bits of philosophy and backstory fall a bit flat. the characters feel more like vehicles for commentary on fate and self-discovery than comprehensive beings tied to nuanced histories and motivations. 

on that note, i’m suddenly reminded to re-read kitchen yet again…

Morgan Thomas

For some reason every time I read a Banana Yoshimoto novel (this is my second) I expect something sinister to happen. Someone to die, a cheating spouse, some disturbing plot twist or extreme moment of violence (and I think this speaks more about me and my expectations than the author's writing). But I never get it. Instead I get the slow contemplation of someone's deep inner life. The affects on us as adults of trauma from our young lives and how it shapes us, especially the relationships we have with others. In this case romantic relationships. 
I found these explorations to be thoughtful as the characters navigated complex emotional relationships while trying to examine where their thinking had stalled. There was a self awareness as these characters were able to critically look at who they were and grow. But again some of these stories had such deep violent experiences that I was shocked their actions as adults weren't similar. But I suppose that ends up working out in the end.

Ann Sherif

A collection of six short stories incorporates themes of time, healing, and fate, following the adventures of young men and women who struggle to understand confusing emotions while embarking on journeys of self-discovery. Reprint.

this is my first experience with anything written by banana yoshimoto, so i didn’t know what to expect going in but i was quickly taken by the dream like writing !! this is a collection of short stories, each focusing on different ways people find their own places and hope and purposes in life. at times it left me reflecting and touched so i really enjoyed reading this from where i’m at right now.

there is something a little sparse about these stories in the way they aren’t too heavy on the details, they bled with an atmosphere of slice of life reality and fantasy. and despite the sparse feeling of them, they still hold emotions of hopefulness by the end which i think is a really nice company to have when going through your own self discovery. the stories are written like snapshots, all seeming to share the transitioning from one part of someone’s life into another and because of that the narrators have a lot of complicated emotions (entering different parts of a life is never a light thing so). so it kept my attention!! 

i was probably a little too hasty with how quickly i read them but i think this collection is something i’d reread again in the future. and i definitely want to check out more of this authors work now

although i’d say definitely checking the content warnings before reading this is like a must

Lizard

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