Goodbye Tsugami by Banana Yoshimoto
Jul 16, 2009 16:26:55 GMT
Post by spindrift on Jul 16, 2009 16:26:55 GMT
Banana Yoshimoto is the pen-name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (b.1964). She adopted the name 'Banana' because it is 'cute' and 'androgenous'.
She wrote Goodbye Tsugami in 1989. It was translated into English in 2002 so it is a relatively 'new' book.
This is the story of a young woman called Tsugami who has had frail health all her life and is close to dying at any time. For this reason her family have spoiled her by indulging her and so she has become bossy, cruel and spiteful but also has a loving nature. The story is told by her cousin Maria who spends a last summer at the family inn (minshuku) in a delightful seaside setting.
Yoshimoto excells in her descriptions of nature, the sky, darkness, the sea; as I read I gradually came to the realization that I longed to visit such a place and become part of the simple Japanese lifestyle that she portrays.
A review says: 'Yoshimoto has a gift for capturing the tiny but meaningful details that shape and define our lives...beautiful water-colour writing...this is an utterly charming and mooving book.'
Another says: 'This is a sad tale of loss, memory and shifting perceptions, deliciously drawn in a Japanese manner'.
She wrote Goodbye Tsugami in 1989. It was translated into English in 2002 so it is a relatively 'new' book.
This is the story of a young woman called Tsugami who has had frail health all her life and is close to dying at any time. For this reason her family have spoiled her by indulging her and so she has become bossy, cruel and spiteful but also has a loving nature. The story is told by her cousin Maria who spends a last summer at the family inn (minshuku) in a delightful seaside setting.
Yoshimoto excells in her descriptions of nature, the sky, darkness, the sea; as I read I gradually came to the realization that I longed to visit such a place and become part of the simple Japanese lifestyle that she portrays.
A review says: 'Yoshimoto has a gift for capturing the tiny but meaningful details that shape and define our lives...beautiful water-colour writing...this is an utterly charming and mooving book.'
Another says: 'This is a sad tale of loss, memory and shifting perceptions, deliciously drawn in a Japanese manner'.
