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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
my first banana yoshimoto and i was not disappointed by the writing - it was so good
... as long as you can ignore/look past theincest and adult/minor relationships that are both talked about as well mildly explored đŹ
but seriously... the actual writing and the relationship between the main 2 women was so good even if some parts of the content were a bit dubious, to say the least.
... as long as you can ignore/look past the
but seriously... the actual writing and the relationship between the main 2 women was so good even if some parts of the content were a bit dubious, to say the least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest
Moderate: Death, Car accident, Death of parent
Minor: Child death
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well written and interesting concept but i canât do the adopted siblings to lover pipeline
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
â 2.75/5 â
//
âI never knew until I lived there that sound could sometimes become visible to the eye. But no â the sight somehow felt more familiar. The elegant melody awakened a sweet feeling in me, as if l'd once spent long days just like that, watching sounds, somewhere in the distant past.â
I picked this up as a blind read and was instantly drawn to the cover and intrigued by the summary on the back. Iâd never read a Banana Yoshimoto book before and I hadnât any idea what to expect from her, but I certainly wasnât expecting this.
So letâs talk about the elephant in the room: the taboo relationships. There is an adopted sister/brother and teacher/student relationship in this novel, so if any of that is triggering or too uncomfortable for you then I definitely donât recommend this book! There are no explicit scenes, but the relationships certainly arenât subtle and are unavoidable. I myself found this quite uncomfortable and awkward as it didnât feel right and nor did the relationships feel natural. It just felt odd in every possible way to me.
Honestly itâs a shame that the romantic relationships had to happen in the first place, as I truly think the rest of the plot was really interesting. Unfortunately, the romantic relations kind of took over a large part of the already short novel. The relationship between the sisters and Yayoiâs strange intuition was incredibly interesting to me and I just wished the novel explored more of that, instead of the uncomfortable and frankly unnecessary relationships.
Aside from that, the writing was beautiful, it felt smooth and engaging and simplistic (in the best way). Itâs because of this that Iâm definitely going to try Yashimotoâs other works. Normally controversial writing such as what I described above would be enough to make me hesitant to try an authorâs other works, but I really enjoy the lyrical flow of Yashimotoâs writing and have been told not give up on her as she has some very good works in her oeuvre.
So while I ultimately didnât enjoy this novella, I will be returning to this author sometime in the future!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
2.5 rounded up
Didnât love it, didnât hate it. Kitchen is better I think.
Didnât love it, didnât hate it. Kitchen is better I think.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No