Review: The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto

Synopsis:

A major literary sensation is back with a quietly stunning tour de force about the redemptive power of love.

While The Lake shows off many of the features that have made Banana Yoshimoto famous—a cast of vivid and quirky characters, simple yet nuanced prose, a tight plot with an upbeat pace—it’s also one of the most darkly mysterious books she’s ever written.

It tells the tale of a young woman who moves to Tokyo after the death of her mother, hoping to get over her grief and start a career as a graphic artist. She finds herself spending too much time staring out her window, though ... until she realizes she’s gotten used to seeing a young man across the street staring out his window, too.

Pages: 192 pages (Paperback)
Publisher: Melville House
Released: May 3, 2011

Before I start, I just want to say that if you see this book at amazon, goodreads, book depository, the library, the book...basically anywhere that you can find this book. Do not, under any circumstances, read the synopsis past the point that I've posted here. Why? Because the synopsis kind of spoils the book. So if you plan on reading this, don't read the synopsis.

I've only read one book by Banana Yoshimoto, Asleep, which I enjoyed. I love her writing style and how it gives off a very dreamy sort of style. I'm still not sure if it's correctly translated, but I think for the most part, Michael Emmerich did a great job.

The story is about Chihiro and Nakajima and their complicated relationship. Chihiro is still suffering from the death of her mother and it's clear that Nakajima has a painful past that no one could ever imagine. (unless you read the synopsis, so don't!) The more Nakajima learns to trust Chihiro, the more she wants to heal him. It's a complicated relationship, but one that both of them want and need.

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Overall:

The Lake is a relatively short book. It's only 192 pages. But after reading Asleep and now The Lake, I've noticed that even though her books are short they feel longer. I remember reading this and feeling like a long time has passed, but I was only on page 70. Now, whether this is a bad thing or a good one is entirely up to the reader.

As far as the story goes, it's okay. There is a sense of loneliness, grief, and pain throughout the pages. This is a pretty dark book, but one that I thought was quite good. Like I mentioned before, I became a fan of Yoshimoto's writing style after reading Asleep and I was glad that the same translator was used for both books. When I read her books I feel a sense of disconnect from her characters, but they still keep me engaged. It's weird, but it's one of the things that I like about her writing.

The Lake does start off slow and I did feel like it dragged on at some points, but I still enjoyed my time reading this.


ps. Did I mention that you shouldn't read the synopsis?

4 stars

This was provided by netgalley

Review: Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto

Synopsis:

Banana Yoshimoto has a nuanced and magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning for a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers of contemporary international fiction.

Asleep
Pages: 72 of 177 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Grove Press
Released: July 26, 2000

The third and final novella in ‘Asleep’ is ‘Asleep’.

Terako use to be a lively and energetic person, but for some reason she can’t help but sleep all the time. She isn’t sure when it started, but realizes that whenever she is alone she just can’t help herself. The only thing that keeps her from wasting away in sleep is her boyfriend Mr. Iwanaga.

After Terako would spend time with Mr. Iwanaga, she’d usually talk to her best friend, Shiori, about it. However, Shiori commits suicide and Terako feels a sense of loss and loneliness from it. She can’t talk to her boyfriend about Shiori as he has his own problems to deal with. His wife has been in a coma for several months now and even though he’s in a relationship, he can’t let her go. Naturally, he doesn’t want to talk about it, but Terako finds herself growing more and more fascinated about his wife and waiting for the day when he finally lets go of his wife and comes to her, body, mind, and soul.

I feel like Asleep could relate to anyone who has ever been in a standstill in their life. When something happens and you find yourself in a rut, it’s hard to come out of it and you find yourself almost in a trance. It isn’t until someone gives you a wake-up call that you start to change your life.

Banana Yoshimoto’s simple prose and dreamlike setting worked incredibly well here. To me, this was her strongest story in this collection.

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Overall:

I liked the story; I mean I really, really liked this story. The sense of loneliness, even though you are with someone that you feel from both Terako and Mr. Iwanaga was sad, but interesting to watch. Both of them had to overcome their own demons if they wanted to have a proper relationship. Even though they both suffered from different things, they were still connected by Mr. Iwanaga’s wife. I do wish this was longer, but it was great.

4.5 stars

Review: Love Songs by Banana Yoshimoto

Synopsis:

Banana Yoshimoto has a nuanced and magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning for a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers of contemporary international fiction.

Love Songs
Pages: 36 of 177 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Grove Press
Released: July 26, 2000

The second story in Asleep is Love Songs. Just like Night and Night Traveler, Love Songs deals with death and the aftermath of it. Fumi and Haru were sworn rivals. They both loved the same man and instead of making him choose, they both stayed with him knowing that the other would be there. The rivalry started off small, but grew to vicious insults and even fights. In the end, their lover disappeared and Fumi and Haru went their separate ways.

Fumi moved on, but lately, she’s been drinking more and more and hearing a sweet song as she sleeps. She doesn’t know why this is happening, so she asks her current boyfriend Mizuo for help. He tells her that it’s probably someone who died and wants to talk to Fumi. The only person they can think of is Haru and once they find out that she’s passed on, Mizuo takes Fumi to a midget medium who can help.

Love Songs is ultimately a story about finding peace and how people affect us. Even though Fumi and Haru hated each other, they did find solace in the other’s company. When their lover disappeared, they knew that they would never see each other again. Not only did they like each other, but they felt just as lonely knowing that they wouldn’t see each other again.

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Overall:

Love Songs takes an interesting look at regret and sadness. I still found it hard to believe that two girls would stay with a guy like that, especially, when the girls continue to fight one another. But the relationship, despite their sticky situation, was fun to read. It did make me wonder, “If Fumi and Haru met under different circumstances, what would have happened?”

4 stars

Review: Night and Night's Travelers by Banana Yoshimoto

Synopsis:

Banana Yoshimoto has a nuanced and magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning for a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers of contemporary international fiction.

Night and Night's Travelers
Pages: 65 of 177 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Grove Press
Released: July 26, 2000


Night and Night's Traveler is from the book Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto. Instead of reviewing the book as a whole, I decided to review each short story in the book.

I’ve wanted to read Banana Yoshimoto’s books for awhile now, but sadly, I never got the chance to. After I found the book at the library, I knew that this was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. Asleep contains three stories, each of them dealing with a facet of sleeping. The first short story is called Night and Night’s Traveler.

The story is about Shibami, except it isn’t. Shibami is the narrator and reveals to us the life of her brother, Yoshihiro....except that the story isn’t about Yoshihiro. It’s more about how his death affects the lives of his two lovers, Sarah, an American girl, and Mari, his cousin.

When Yoshihiro dies on his way to meet Mari, she becomes grief stricken and stays with his family for a year to recover. Once she moves back to her own place everything seems like it will work out, until Shibami finds Mari outside in the cold without any shoes on. This isn’t the first time Mari has been walking around late at night and she’ll be continuing to do so as the novella continues. Sarah loved Yoshihiro, but holds another secret of her own and is unable to face his family, even though she cares for them.

Night and Night’s Traveler was the weakest story in Asleep, mainly because you didn’t get a sense of the characters like you did in the other stories. I think my main problem with the story is that we don’t really see everything about Sarah or Mari. We do hear bits and pieces, but since Shibami is the narrator, we never really get the full story. Shibami is an interesting character, but I don’t think she worked as a narrator.

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Overall:

I did enjoy reading Night and Night's Traveler; I just wish that we were told more of the story. And that it was in the point of view of the person suffering, like it was in the other two stories.

3 stars