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N.P
In N.P., Banana Yoshimoto’s enchanting novel of uncanny subtlety, style, magic, and mystery, a celebrated Japanese writer has committed suicide, leaving behind a collection of stories written in English. But the book, itself titled N.P., may never be published in his native Japan: each translator who takes up the ninety-eighth story chooses death too—including Kazami Kano’s boyfriend, Shoji. Haunted by Shoji’s death, Kazami is inexorably drawn to three young people whose lives are intimately bound to the late writer and his work. Over the course of an astonishing summer, she will discover the truth behind the ninety-eighth story—and she will come to believe that “everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy.”
208 pages, Paperback
First published December 25, 1990
About the author
Banana Yoshimoto
201 books8,122 followersBanana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな or 吉本 ばなな) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).)
Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age.
She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."
Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."
Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age.
She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."
Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,106 reviews
June 7, 2022
I Am Once Again Unable To Determine If I Loved A Book Or It Just Had A Perfect Ending.
i have a baby's sense of object permanence.
my brain also turns off every time i encounter incest in any book at all. even when i know there's a deeper meaning there, i become completely unable to process words. where normally my thoughts at the time would be, you know, reading the sentences in front of me, instead it's like "no no no no no no no no no no no no no."
but i know that is on me. and i know this book was good?
this review is confusing. if it helps, i'm confused too.
so it's kind of an immersive experience in that way.
bottom line: good and bad and good again?
------------
currently-reading updates
tiny spooky book
------------
reading books by asian authors for aapi month!
book 1: kim jiyoung, born 1982
book 2: siren queen
book 3: the heart principle
book 4: n.p.
i have a baby's sense of object permanence.
my brain also turns off every time i encounter incest in any book at all. even when i know there's a deeper meaning there, i become completely unable to process words. where normally my thoughts at the time would be, you know, reading the sentences in front of me, instead it's like "no no no no no no no no no no no no no."
but i know that is on me. and i know this book was good?
this review is confusing. if it helps, i'm confused too.
so it's kind of an immersive experience in that way.
bottom line: good and bad and good again?
------------
currently-reading updates
tiny spooky book
------------
reading books by asian authors for aapi month!
book 1: kim jiyoung, born 1982
book 2: siren queen
book 3: the heart principle
book 4: n.p.
June 24, 2021
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Ehhhhhh.
So I'm doing a project where I reread books from my adolescence to see how they hold up. I went through a pretty big Banana Yoshimoto phase in high school and when I found all my old books in the garage, I definitely wanted to give them a reread because I remembered liking them so much.
The last book I read was GOODBYE TSUGUMI and I wasn't impressed. I couldn't even finish that one. I made it to the end of NP but I wasn't really impressed by this one, either. It's a shame because the premise is so cool. It's about this cursed work of Japanese literature that was written in English and everyone who tries to translate it into Japanese ends up killing themselves (TW).
The heroine, Kazami, is acquainted with the book because her boyfriend, Shoji, was one of the casualties. Things get complicated when she meets the two children of the author and the woman who was the inspiration for the author's twisted and depressive work.
Here's the thing about Banana Yoshimoto's works. They are like being in a dream. They are wistful and full of emotion, but they also aren't grounded and they tend to be pretty forgettable. Often I find that I only remember the hook of her books and forget all the rest. For example, GOODBYE TSUGUMI is the book about two cousins at an inn and one of them is dying. This one is about a cursed book. AMRITA is about an atypical family where one of the daughters committed suicide. I will say this, her style appears to be unique enough that it is consistent across translators which speaks to the force of her personality. It makes me wonder if perhaps the books are much better in her native Japanese.
I am sorry to say that this book didn't really hold up for me. I am hoping that one of her other books will.
2 stars
August 14, 2008
I was unsure how to rate N.P., because I might have given it a better rating if I had read it at another time, in the 90s or when I was a teenager. I think maybe to me something was lost in translation - the short, matter-of-fact sentences didn't really engage me in the story or the characters. And there was a mistranslation: the word stepbrother is used when in the context of the story we see that she means half brother, as they are related by blood and have the same father.
It's always a bit strange as well to see characters talk about uncomfortable topics (like incest and suicide in this book) as if they were nothing out of the ordinary. The main character even points out that
"The man's love for her as a daughter and as a woman are one and the same, and this powerful feeling expands to fill the whole universe. It's uplifting."
I'm not at all saying that people shouldn't write about incest, but I felt that the way it was written alienated me a bit. But it was really the last sentence of the book that made me think I really didn't get the point:
"Everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy."
I didn't feel it.
It's always a bit strange as well to see characters talk about uncomfortable topics (like incest and suicide in this book) as if they were nothing out of the ordinary. The main character even points out that
"The man's love for her as a daughter and as a woman are one and the same, and this powerful feeling expands to fill the whole universe. It's uplifting."
I'm not at all saying that people shouldn't write about incest, but I felt that the way it was written alienated me a bit. But it was really the last sentence of the book that made me think I really didn't get the point:
"Everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy."
I didn't feel it.
May 27, 2022
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N.P. is textbook Banana Yoshimoto: we have a cheerful, occasionally off-beat, young woman, as our narrator, Daddy Issues, sucide(s), a bizarre love story, and... incest?!
I will say that N.P. does seem to attempt to include a mystery subplot (which doesn’t really go anywhere but still…). In this novel a writer published a collection of short stories called, you guessed it, N.P.. This collection has never been successfully translated into Japanese as every translator who attempted to do so died. Our narrator was the girlfriend of one of these translators and she finds herself becoming entangled with the writer’s children and their incest-y dynamics. In spite of this premise, the novel follows in the usual slice-of-life steps as Yoshimoto’s other works, and much of the narrative revolves around the narrator’s everyday experiences, focusing in particular on her conversations and encounters with the writer’s offsprings. The narrative explores grief and love, but it does so in typical Yoshimoto fashion so that the observations and conclusions our narrator makes or reaches seem at times a tad corny or just plain weird. I liked the queer undercurrents between the narrator and one of the author’s children, and part of me wishes that rather than going on about the taboo topic of incest and making the incesty couple a central part of the story, Yoshimoto had focused on the narrator’s attraction to this other woman, who happens to be an ex of the mc's now dead bf (basically they dated the same guy who tried to translate N.P.). But no, it had to be about incest. The romanticisation of incest spoiled much of the story sadly and I didn’t find this as enjoyable or lighthearted as other works by Yoshimoto...which is a pity as the story had potential. The mystery surrounding this author and his collection is sadly sidelined in favour of the drama between his children.
The ending annoyed me a lot. It was profoundly cheesy & heteronormative (insta-love ahoy).
If you are curious about this author I suggest you try something else by them (such as Kitchen or Goodbye Tsugumi).
N.P. is textbook Banana Yoshimoto: we have a cheerful, occasionally off-beat, young woman, as our narrator, Daddy Issues, sucide(s), a bizarre love story, and... incest?!
I will say that N.P. does seem to attempt to include a mystery subplot (which doesn’t really go anywhere but still…). In this novel a writer published a collection of short stories called, you guessed it, N.P.. This collection has never been successfully translated into Japanese as every translator who attempted to do so died. Our narrator was the girlfriend of one of these translators and she finds herself becoming entangled with the writer’s children and their incest-y dynamics. In spite of this premise, the novel follows in the usual slice-of-life steps as Yoshimoto’s other works, and much of the narrative revolves around the narrator’s everyday experiences, focusing in particular on her conversations and encounters with the writer’s offsprings. The narrative explores grief and love, but it does so in typical Yoshimoto fashion so that the observations and conclusions our narrator makes or reaches seem at times a tad corny or just plain weird. I liked the queer undercurrents between the narrator and one of the author’s children, and part of me wishes that rather than going on about the taboo topic of incest and making the incesty couple a central part of the story, Yoshimoto had focused on the narrator’s attraction to this other woman, who happens to be an ex of the mc's now dead bf (basically they dated the same guy who tried to translate N.P.). But no, it had to be about incest. The romanticisation of incest spoiled much of the story sadly and I didn’t find this as enjoyable or lighthearted as other works by Yoshimoto...which is a pity as the story had potential. The mystery surrounding this author and his collection is sadly sidelined in favour of the drama between his children.
The ending annoyed me a lot. It was profoundly cheesy & heteronormative (insta-love ahoy).
If you are curious about this author I suggest you try something else by them (such as Kitchen or Goodbye Tsugumi).
December 4, 2021
N.P es una novela escrita por Mahoko "Banana" Yoshimoto en 1990, y que el comentarista de la edición de Tusquets nos anticipa que arranca con el encuentro con "esos dos hermanos tiernamente incestuosos", y desembocará en "un inextricable laberinto del que nacerá un amor salvaje, desenfrenado". Pues quien se guíe en su elección por este anticipo, sepa por esto no tiene nada que ver con la novela.
N.P es una novela sobre las amistades, y que ilustra con mucha serenidad el modo en que las personas inciden en el destino de las demás. Porque Kazami, joven estudiante de literatura conocerá a un grupo de tres personas, que modificarán su vida, y sobre los cuales ejercerá su influencia.
Pero N.P, en la novela, es también el título de un libro de cuentos maldito, comenzando con el suicidio de su autor y de quienes intentaron traducirlo. Y esta maldición amenaza a este especial grupo de amigos.
Hay un gran protagonista, que es la naturaleza, capaz de modificar la atmósfera y el ánimo de los protagonistas, desde los amaneceres y crepúsculos, las lluvias torrenciales, el cielo enceguecedor del mediodía, y la bella serenidad de los cerezos en flor.
Una linda novela de Yoshimoto, afortunadamente, sin marketineros amores incestuosos, salvajes ni desenfrenados.
N.P es una novela sobre las amistades, y que ilustra con mucha serenidad el modo en que las personas inciden en el destino de las demás. Porque Kazami, joven estudiante de literatura conocerá a un grupo de tres personas, que modificarán su vida, y sobre los cuales ejercerá su influencia.
Pero N.P, en la novela, es también el título de un libro de cuentos maldito, comenzando con el suicidio de su autor y de quienes intentaron traducirlo. Y esta maldición amenaza a este especial grupo de amigos.
Hay un gran protagonista, que es la naturaleza, capaz de modificar la atmósfera y el ánimo de los protagonistas, desde los amaneceres y crepúsculos, las lluvias torrenciales, el cielo enceguecedor del mediodía, y la bella serenidad de los cerezos en flor.
Una linda novela de Yoshimoto, afortunadamente, sin marketineros amores incestuosos, salvajes ni desenfrenados.
September 1, 2016
"Love is love. It doesn't matter what kind it is."
All hail my first one star review of 2016! Right now I'm at loss for words, I did really think I was going to enjoy this book. One of the key elements that drew me to N.P. was the translation bit. I thought this was going to be a story about translation and, more specifically, the seemingly impossible translation of the 98th story by the famous Japanese writer Sarao Takase, a translation that has led all of the people working on it to suicide. The story though doesn't really revolve around this mysterious string of suicides but instead it revolves around Takase's messed-up offspring and Kazami, a stranger to this family that becomes nonetheless involved in their issues. I don't even know how to explain the plot of N.P. because I still do believe there was none. The story was plainly flat. Sure the author threw in there suicide, incest, lesbianism, abortion and whatsoever but she didn't do anything with any of that. The writing-style was unsettling and sentences and thoughts didn't really connect to one another, one character would say something and the other one would reply with something else entirely. I think I can blame the translator up to a certain point.
Was this because of some cultural barrier? I don't know, I just know that this book bored me to death.
All hail my first one star review of 2016! Right now I'm at loss for words, I did really think I was going to enjoy this book. One of the key elements that drew me to N.P. was the translation bit. I thought this was going to be a story about translation and, more specifically, the seemingly impossible translation of the 98th story by the famous Japanese writer Sarao Takase, a translation that has led all of the people working on it to suicide. The story though doesn't really revolve around this mysterious string of suicides but instead it revolves around Takase's messed-up offspring and Kazami, a stranger to this family that becomes nonetheless involved in their issues. I don't even know how to explain the plot of N.P. because I still do believe there was none. The story was plainly flat. Sure the author threw in there suicide, incest, lesbianism, abortion and whatsoever but she didn't do anything with any of that. The writing-style was unsettling and sentences and thoughts didn't really connect to one another, one character would say something and the other one would reply with something else entirely. I think I can blame the translator up to a certain point.
Was this because of some cultural barrier? I don't know, I just know that this book bored me to death.
June 2, 2023
Tháng 5/2023: đọc lại sau đúng 11 năm, cũng không còn trẻ nữa nhưng cuốn sách khiến mình sống lại những lỗi lầm mà mình đã từng trải qua, những nổi buồn và cả niềm hạnh phúc trọn vẹn. Để rồi nhận ra giờ đây mình đã khôn ngoan hơn, cẩn trọng hơn nhưng cảm xúc cũng đã thay đổi nhiều hơn, không còn cảm giác mọi thứ cực đoan hay tận cùng như trước, khó có thể nói đó là thay đổi tốt hay xấu, chỉ đơn giản là mình đã trưởng thành và điều chỉnh cảm xúc cho phù hợp với hiện tại, thế thôi.
Tháng 4/20212: Đọc N.P suốt 4 tiếng đồng hồ, bên tai vẫn nghe Keane hát về những điều mất mát của tuổi trẻ. Cũng như bao tác phẩm khác của Banana, N.P kể về những con người không bình thường, họ bị ám hảnh bởi cái chết, bởi tình yêu, bởi những điều của quá khứ, nhưng câu chuyện vẫn đẹp đẽ và trong trẻo đến lạ kỳ.
Cuốn sách nói rất nhiều về mùa hạ, về vẻ đẹp của nó, về bầu trời xanh màu opal, về những cơn mưa bất chợt và bầu trời đêm trong vắt đếm tận cùng, về tình yêu đối với mùa hạ cũng chẳng khác tôi là mấy.
Cũng như Kitchen, Vĩnh biệt Tugumi hay Thằn lằn, Banana với N.P cũng khiến tôi buồn man mác, nỗi buồn không thể lý giải nỗi vì những điều mong manh của cuộc sống.
"Mọi thứ đều rất đẹp. Mọi thứ của những chuyện đã xảy ra đều đẹp một cách dữ dội, như trong mắt một người điên".
Tháng 4/20212: Đọc N.P suốt 4 tiếng đồng hồ, bên tai vẫn nghe Keane hát về những điều mất mát của tuổi trẻ. Cũng như bao tác phẩm khác của Banana, N.P kể về những con người không bình thường, họ bị ám hảnh bởi cái chết, bởi tình yêu, bởi những điều của quá khứ, nhưng câu chuyện vẫn đẹp đẽ và trong trẻo đến lạ kỳ.
Cuốn sách nói rất nhiều về mùa hạ, về vẻ đẹp của nó, về bầu trời xanh màu opal, về những cơn mưa bất chợt và bầu trời đêm trong vắt đếm tận cùng, về tình yêu đối với mùa hạ cũng chẳng khác tôi là mấy.
Cũng như Kitchen, Vĩnh biệt Tugumi hay Thằn lằn, Banana với N.P cũng khiến tôi buồn man mác, nỗi buồn không thể lý giải nỗi vì những điều mong manh của cuộc sống.
"Mọi thứ đều rất đẹp. Mọi thứ của những chuyện đã xảy ra đều đẹp một cách dữ dội, như trong mắt một người điên".
March 26, 2022
Dziwna, niekiedy mocno gorsząca, ale jednocześnie niesamowita i piękna.
June 11, 2023
Jest w tej książce coś przyciągającego, ale i ogromnie osobliwego.
May 16, 2015
It's hard to review this book. It's unlike anything I've ever read. To me, the descriptions were the most striking part - beautiful and vivid, and Yoshimoto created metaphors I'd never considered. I glimpsed scenes in my imagination with the same clarity as when you wake on a bright morning and see something right before your eyes, and after that the freshness and clarity of the image is gone forever. Her descriptions had that feeling for me.
It did not feel as though much happened in the story, and I could not really get a handle on the characters, but I became incredibly thoughtful and introspective while reading, and I would be left thinking about the story in the times I was away from it.
Most of all, "N.P." felt Japanese.
But I say it's difficult to review because at no point did I have the distinct feeling of liking the book. What does that mean? I guess it's possible to recognize that a book is good without liking it. Haha.
It did not feel as though much happened in the story, and I could not really get a handle on the characters, but I became incredibly thoughtful and introspective while reading, and I would be left thinking about the story in the times I was away from it.
Most of all, "N.P." felt Japanese.
But I say it's difficult to review because at no point did I have the distinct feeling of liking the book. What does that mean? I guess it's possible to recognize that a book is good without liking it. Haha.
November 14, 2022
“Todas las diferentes personas que hay en este mundo tienen derecho a vivir como crean y donde quieran, sin sentirse amedrentadas por nadie” .- Banana Yoshimoto.
Sin duda muy buena continuación en mi adentramiento de la obra de Yoshimoto. Me encanta poder desenmarañar el estilo que la autora maneja y sus semejanzas. Su conexión con la naturaleza y los sentidos es algo que me agrada. Descripciones de cómo el sol roza las mejillas o el viento abraza a los personajes me parece muy acorde a la cultura japonesa.
Además diré que me agrada lo mucho que aprendes de los japoneses desde su cotidianidad. Es muy interesante.
Finalmente esta novela desarrolla un fenómeno muy arraigado entre los japoneses: el suicidio. Explora que es lo que lleva a una persona a dicho acto y todo lo que conlleva. ¡Brutal! Igualmente toca temas muy difíciles como el incesto. Fascinante todo lo que explora en tan pocas páginas.
Me gustó mucho pero “kitchen” continúa a la cabeza.
Sin duda muy buena continuación en mi adentramiento de la obra de Yoshimoto. Me encanta poder desenmarañar el estilo que la autora maneja y sus semejanzas. Su conexión con la naturaleza y los sentidos es algo que me agrada. Descripciones de cómo el sol roza las mejillas o el viento abraza a los personajes me parece muy acorde a la cultura japonesa.
Además diré que me agrada lo mucho que aprendes de los japoneses desde su cotidianidad. Es muy interesante.
Finalmente esta novela desarrolla un fenómeno muy arraigado entre los japoneses: el suicidio. Explora que es lo que lleva a una persona a dicho acto y todo lo que conlleva. ¡Brutal! Igualmente toca temas muy difíciles como el incesto. Fascinante todo lo que explora en tan pocas páginas.
Me gustó mucho pero “kitchen” continúa a la cabeza.
Read
June 18, 2011I had read Asleep, which was very good, but N.P. is more immature. It has in commun with Asleep a dreamy atmosphere, but in N.P. this atmosphere is more contrived. The novel is made mostly of scenes that take place in enclosed spaces--dialogues between the protagonists. This is a good premise, as far as I am concerned, but the problem is that the novel doesn't live up to its premise. One has the feeling that we are supposed to be fascinated with the characters and their incestuous relationships in the same way that the narrator is. We are told over and over how "weird" the characters are, and how uncanny "this all seems," but the fact is that the characters are far too normal. The descriptions of the hot summer are the best part. I can see why the author is such a sensation in Japan--there is an undeniable talent in these pages. She walks a fine line between serious art and pop culture, but in the end she is closer to the latter.
April 20, 2020
This didn't really work for me...I felt so disengaged from the story and every single character. I ended up not caring for any of their weird antics or their fate.
November 1, 2021
A very confusing read where I really disliked Sue's character, and I just wanted to tell Kazami to not mix up with these crazy siblings.
The story revolves around a book named N.P. and how people who are set to translate it, die. The people whom the book is about are in an incestual relationship and are suicidal themselves. Basically yeah, not a happy read, nor a tragedy either. Just a very weird thought provoking one about which I don't plan to think anymore. Its got that depressing vibe.
The story revolves around a book named N.P. and how people who are set to translate it, die. The people whom the book is about are in an incestual relationship and are suicidal themselves. Basically yeah, not a happy read, nor a tragedy either. Just a very weird thought provoking one about which I don't plan to think anymore. Its got that depressing vibe.
July 11, 2010
This was a really weird book for me. I suppose it was meant to be shocking and ground-breaking but wasn't and I ended up feeling more confused than appalled or thrilled.
The story was going nowhere, it's kind of hard to retell the plot, if there was one. There was, in fact, a given situation the characters find themselves in and their different ways of dealing with it, ways of getting out of it. The characters themselves were two-dimensional, as in you can probably imagine them from the author's descriptions but can't fathom existing in real life.
And I confess, by the end I was so bored with the characters and their issues I might have skipped a couple of pages so something could have been lost...But I think I can live with that.
The story was going nowhere, it's kind of hard to retell the plot, if there was one. There was, in fact, a given situation the characters find themselves in and their different ways of dealing with it, ways of getting out of it. The characters themselves were two-dimensional, as in you can probably imagine them from the author's descriptions but can't fathom existing in real life.
And I confess, by the end I was so bored with the characters and their issues I might have skipped a couple of pages so something could have been lost...But I think I can live with that.
March 13, 2022
Una lectura ligera que trata diversos temas, como el amor, la sexualidad, traumas del pasado, etc. a través del misterio que rodea la traducción de un capítulo de un libro de cuentos, que parece estar maldito.
Partiendo de este punto el libro se me ha hecho un tanto extraño, ya que no he conseguido empatizar mucho con ninguno de los personajes protagonistas y sobre todo porque la trama principal me ha parecido un tanto difusa, no quedándome claro en muchos momentos qué esperar de esta lectura.
El final, por tanto, ha sido un poco decepcionante, ya que no he logrado sacar ninguna conclusión clara ni del argumento principal, ni de la relación entre los personajes.
Partiendo de este punto el libro se me ha hecho un tanto extraño, ya que no he conseguido empatizar mucho con ninguno de los personajes protagonistas y sobre todo porque la trama principal me ha parecido un tanto difusa, no quedándome claro en muchos momentos qué esperar de esta lectura.
El final, por tanto, ha sido un poco decepcionante, ya que no he logrado sacar ninguna conclusión clara ni del argumento principal, ni de la relación entre los personajes.
January 20, 2022
Siempre he amado lo meticulosa que Banana es con el ambiente en su narración, pero debo decir que se lució en este libro. Bellísimas escenas, bellísimos sentimientos. Los personajes me gustaron. Amé el final.
December 4, 2010
Teenage angst and suicidal tendencies written in a scanty, simple yet elegant language.! Ü
June 19, 2024
This book has been on my physical book shelf for so so long. I'm not even sure how long. It has served as prompt fulfillment for many a challenge over the years and I have hitherto failed to complete those prompts/challenges.
However, today, I am triumphant!
It's actually quite a brief book (191 pages), and not difficult to read, but it took me quite a while simply because it is in paperback format and I can't read dead tree books at night anymore (not enough light) and I have limited time for eye-reading anyway.
This book is written from the POV of a young Japanese woman, whose boyfriend committed suicide just after he translated a story written by a man who had committed suicide just after writing the story. She becomes friends with his 3 children (1 of whom was from a different mother from the others). Hazami is fascinated by these siblings and over the course of the summer watches as all of their lives are transformed. The weirdest things happen and the relationships among Hazami, the siblings and all the people on the periphery are incestuous and fraught. They say random things to one another that end up hanging in the air without comment. It sounds like it ought to be a terrible book, but somehow it wasn't. There were some beautiful observations about relationships and about the environment/settings. It was like watching a slow-motion car crash. Then there was impact and everything went poof. So strange. Maybe it's a Japanese thing? It ended on a satisfying note, at least.
However, today, I am triumphant!
It's actually quite a brief book (191 pages), and not difficult to read, but it took me quite a while simply because it is in paperback format and I can't read dead tree books at night anymore (not enough light) and I have limited time for eye-reading anyway.
This book is written from the POV of a young Japanese woman, whose boyfriend committed suicide just after he translated a story written by a man who had committed suicide just after writing the story. She becomes friends with his 3 children (1 of whom was from a different mother from the others). Hazami is fascinated by these siblings and over the course of the summer watches as all of their lives are transformed. The weirdest things happen and the relationships among Hazami, the siblings and all the people on the periphery are incestuous and fraught. They say random things to one another that end up hanging in the air without comment. It sounds like it ought to be a terrible book, but somehow it wasn't. There were some beautiful observations about relationships and about the environment/settings. It was like watching a slow-motion car crash. Then there was impact and everything went poof. So strange. Maybe it's a Japanese thing? It ended on a satisfying note, at least.
April 8, 2018
Mình đã bắt đầu đọc Banana Yoshimoto bằng Hồ, và ghét luôn từ đấy, quyết định còn khuya mới rớ vào văn cô này. Lúc đó hình như là lớp 10. Thế mới biết, sau 6 năm, gu đọc có thể đảo lộn ghê vậy. Thích Say ngủ ngay từ những dòng đầu tiên và sau khi đọc phần mào đầu N.P ở hội sách thì không ngần ngại cho ngay vào giỏ. Đọc cuốn này, cảm nhận về nhân vật và tình tiết của mình không thật sự rõ ràng, nên hãy bỏ qua chuyện mối tình đồng huyết, đồng tính ngoằn ngoèo giữa các nhân vật. Mình ưa cái cách viết hơn. Văn học Nhật Bản, ngoài Murakami, giờ mình đã tìm được một người nữa mà lúc đọc văn cứ như đang hòa tan cả người, như lịm đi trong câu chữ. Rõ là không hề đồng cảm, không hề bắt gặp điểm chung nào với nhân vật mà khi đọc, mình cứ có cái cảm giác "thuộc về", thuộc về những câu từ này, thuộc về bối cảnh này, trưa hè oi ả, gió đêm lành lạnh, tiếng lửa lách tách, chiếc quần dính cà phê ẩm ướt, nụ hôn ngọt ngào ngắn ngủi, cái chết gần kề, tất cả cứ như của mình, không, là mình của những cảnh vật này, sự kiện này, cuốn sách này mới đúng. Rõ ràng là từng từ, từng chữ hoàn toàn giản dị bình thường nhưng lại như có sức mạnh kéo cả linh hồn mình vào, mình không còn là kẻ đứng ngoài ngắm nhìn câu chuyện mà đã trở thành một phần của nó từ lúc nào không hay. Còn phải đi đâu xa tìm giọng văn yêu thích, tác giả yêu thích nữa. Còn gì mừng hơn việc tìm được một phong cách viết văn hợp ý đến nhường này.
January 26, 2010
Japanese girls, love quadrangles, incest, spirit mediums, and a book that makes people kill themselves... sounds like the next Takashi Miike movie.
However, it's actually the critically aclaimed book "NP" by Banana Yoshimoto. I won't go into detail about the slight but convoluted plot, but it follows the family and friends of the author of the eponymous book, a great example of the motif of harmful sensation. Translating it fully into the author's native language results in the translator's suicide, and even translating part of it or interacting with the manuscript(which the main characters have all done) leads to some degree of mental instability.
Aside from being an exploration of love and grieving and youth, as expounded by Ms. Yoshimoto, it is this thread of instability and subtle madness that makes the book so interesting. As a study of anomie and modern malaise, this blows shite like "Fast Sofa" or "Prozac Nation" out of the water. I read this book in high school but it is only with the passage of many years and many hardships along the way that I was able to reread it with some appreciate for the darkness underneath the light, beautiful prose.
However, it's actually the critically aclaimed book "NP" by Banana Yoshimoto. I won't go into detail about the slight but convoluted plot, but it follows the family and friends of the author of the eponymous book, a great example of the motif of harmful sensation. Translating it fully into the author's native language results in the translator's suicide, and even translating part of it or interacting with the manuscript(which the main characters have all done) leads to some degree of mental instability.
Aside from being an exploration of love and grieving and youth, as expounded by Ms. Yoshimoto, it is this thread of instability and subtle madness that makes the book so interesting. As a study of anomie and modern malaise, this blows shite like "Fast Sofa" or "Prozac Nation" out of the water. I read this book in high school but it is only with the passage of many years and many hardships along the way that I was able to reread it with some appreciate for the darkness underneath the light, beautiful prose.
October 12, 2021
Totally inane. During the course of a summer, a young woman named Kazami hangs out with 3 other people in their twenties: Otohiko, Saki and Sui. Otohiko and Saki are the legitimate children of Takase, a writer who committed suicide. Sui, their half-sister, who had an incestuous relationship with Takase, has been Otohiko's girlfriend for some years. Between those 2 bouts of incest, she also found time to have an affair with Shoji, Takase's translator, who then had an affair with Kazami, before, of course, taking his own life. All these people do during the entire novel is chitchat about sex and suicide while drinking endless rounds of tea, wine, sake, coke etc. Eventually Sui falls pregnant, dismisses the idea of suicide, and decides to have a go at raising the kid with a customer from the bar where she used to work. Otohiko and Kazami have a bonfire on a beach. I found it totally impossible to care about any of these characters and wonder why I bothered to finish the book at all.
September 3, 2022
I can’t really describe why I like this book even to myself. I almost feel like I don’t fully grasp it mentally but do emotionally. I think it fit into the same category as “Ocean Waves” which is one of my favorite films.
I finished the book in one sitting which I haven’t done with any book in maybe 10 years. I can’t really put into words why I liked this book but it was so simple yet engaging in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time.
I finished the book in one sitting which I haven’t done with any book in maybe 10 years. I can’t really put into words why I liked this book but it was so simple yet engaging in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time.
August 25, 2023
niezłe, ale jakoś takie bizarnie bizarne
February 20, 2015
Like many Japanese novels, a preoccupation with dreams here. A very unique read here. Mesmerizing, immersive, transporting. I was confused part of the time, but I believe that was partially the idea. The story was visually enchanting, with it be somewhat overwhelming at times. It was more of an experience than a story, actually. It starts out about a young translator, Kazami Kano, whom is greiving following her boyfriend, Shoji's suicide/death. The cause? Like two others before him, it was while trying to translate the ninety-eight story in a collection titled North Pole (from a very sad song) by Sarao Takase. The 98th story borrows from Takase's real life sexual relationship with his daughter Sui.
Throughout the summer, she becomes close to three different characters revolving around the late author, his twin children, Otohiko & Saki, and their half-sister, but also Otohiko's girlfriend, Sui.
Saki, working in the same building as Kazami, meets with her for lunch quite often throughout the summer months. Otohiko, Saki's twin brother, shows up on her doorstep periodically in the middle of the night (often on rainy, dark nights), intoxicated, often needing to share the burden of the suicide; to discuss the ninety-eighth story; otherwise to explore his relationship with Sui, whom also had some previous relationship with Shoji. Kazami soon has some sort of dream like lesbian experience with her. Later on, Saki also sorta tries to almost kill her. Meanwhile, Otohiko & Sui are on the verge of a love suicide pact. See what I mean?
So, fear not. In the end, everyone actually lives. Although the entire novel has a depressing tone, it does have a good ending? As I said, this does not exactly read as a story. It is an experience. It is like watching something....
Throughout the summer, she becomes close to three different characters revolving around the late author, his twin children, Otohiko & Saki, and their half-sister, but also Otohiko's girlfriend, Sui.
Saki, working in the same building as Kazami, meets with her for lunch quite often throughout the summer months. Otohiko, Saki's twin brother, shows up on her doorstep periodically in the middle of the night (often on rainy, dark nights), intoxicated, often needing to share the burden of the suicide; to discuss the ninety-eighth story; otherwise to explore his relationship with Sui, whom also had some previous relationship with Shoji. Kazami soon has some sort of dream like lesbian experience with her. Later on, Saki also sorta tries to almost kill her. Meanwhile, Otohiko & Sui are on the verge of a love suicide pact. See what I mean?
So, fear not. In the end, everyone actually lives. Although the entire novel has a depressing tone, it does have a good ending? As I said, this does not exactly read as a story. It is an experience. It is like watching something....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2012
There were a few developments in this story that threw me for a loop. In light of some strange coincidences, fate and destiny are raised by the small cast of characters, all of whom are caught in a mutual orbit that carries them through a significant series of changes in their lives. I don't know about fate, per say, but I will say that, were this kind of story to happen outside of fiction, it would rank high in terms of strange. I am glad that I did not read a plot synopsis beforehand, else I would have gone into this with the wrong expectations.
Young people plus summer plus tumultuous romance yields an alloy that many a writer has shaped and pounded in various works of fiction. Yoshimoto gives it life through the sensory impressions of the narrator, whose setting descriptions convey both her and other characters' moods as they get to know one another and confront inner agonies. With spare prose that I found wonderful and remarkable, Yoshimoto creates a story that offers many entry points for open-hearted readers. I was touched by this story.
Young people plus summer plus tumultuous romance yields an alloy that many a writer has shaped and pounded in various works of fiction. Yoshimoto gives it life through the sensory impressions of the narrator, whose setting descriptions convey both her and other characters' moods as they get to know one another and confront inner agonies. With spare prose that I found wonderful and remarkable, Yoshimoto creates a story that offers many entry points for open-hearted readers. I was touched by this story.
February 12, 2017
Flat and boring. Incest is definitely not a topic that I would recommend to anyone. Banana Yoshimoto might be a master of her genre and the light YA love novels. She can elegantly portray the affection and tribulations between young lovers. Anyone who liked her "Kitchen" novella and Ms. Yoshimoto's writing style will undoubtedly like anything that she writes. Having said that, I could not wait for this to end. I hated to abandon midway wrongly anticipating a climax that never materialized. I prefer faster paced novels that have clear objectives and storyline. NP was an utter bore. It is the story of four youngsters with twisted relationships who met during one summer in Japan. The novel is basically an endless dialogue between the characters with intermittent contemplations by the narrator.
October 25, 2017
N.P là sự tổng hòa của những sự việc bất thường, những con người bất thường. Câu chuyện diễn ra vỏn vẹn chỉ trong một mùa hè mà cảm giác cứ như hàng năm tháng, hàng bao nhiêu thời gian đã trôi qua vậy.
January 3, 2023
Kocham Bananę ale to było słabe :( A zapowiadało się świetnie — książka o tłumaczeniu, pracy tłumaczy, o odbiorze tłumaczonej literatury... tak miało być, ale okazało się, że to także książka o kazirodztwie. I nawet jeżeli to czemuś służy, ma to jakiś literacko-interpretacyjny walor, to ja nie mam siły się tego doszukiwać, bo po prostu jest mi słabo na samą myśl. Poza tym krótkie zdania wybijały mnie z rytmu i w ogóle raczej się nie dogadałam z tą książką. Największe rozczarowanie, bardzo rzadko czytam książki, które mi się nie podobają, do końca, ale to było krótkie, więc chciałam sobie wyrobić obraz całości.
April 14, 2020
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1 acc bookreview mới lập trên ig ấy mà :)))
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