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saomah5566's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Car accident, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
emilycacho's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I loved the prose of this novella, the translation is incredible. I would recommend this book for a short, thoughtful, and quite beautiful read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Deadnaming
charlieeee's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming and Outing
Moderate: Murder, Grief, Death of parent, and Death
vaekay's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Deadnaming, Medical content, Murder, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol and Cancer
adawada's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
2.75
The first story in this book has started off very strong for me. I loved the main character’s relationship with kitchens but thought that it wasn’t developed far enough.
The themes of grief in this book have been written very well, especially in the second story. What I couldn’t believe wasMikage’s grief for Eriko being much deeper than for her recently deceased grandmother, despite only knowing Eriko for a very short amount of time.
I thought that the ways of grieving, both alone and collectively were interesting.
What I didn’t like was that most of these characters, in both stories, felt very one dimensional and just blended into each other too much.
Now, what I absolutely hated about this book is the transphobia. There was so much misgendering in the first story which was also at the heart of jokes between the main characters. There was trans shaming in the second story. The idea that both characters just seemed to decide on a whim to either “become women” or “cross-dress” is so appalling. I get that the book was first published in the 80s and that was predominantly the thinking of the time (one could argue that it still is in some cases) but what I don’t get then is that the book still gets so much praise despite the transphobic language.
It wasn’t the worst book. It was my first time reading Yoshimoto’s work and I must say that it didn’t inspire me enough to pick up anything else by her.
The themes of grief in this book have been written very well, especially in the second story. What I couldn’t believe was
I thought that the ways of grieving, both alone and collectively were interesting.
What I didn’t like was that most of these characters, in both stories, felt very one dimensional and just blended into each other too much.
Now, what I absolutely hated about this book is the transphobia. There was so much misgendering in the first story which was also at the heart of jokes between the main characters. There was trans shaming in the second story. The idea that both characters just seemed to decide on a whim to either “become women” or “cross-dress” is so appalling. I get that the book was first published in the 80s and that was predominantly the thinking of the time (one could argue that it still is in some cases) but what I don’t get then is that the book still gets so much praise despite the transphobic language.
It wasn’t the worst book. It was my first time reading Yoshimoto’s work and I must say that it didn’t inspire me enough to pick up anything else by her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Outing, and Transphobia
Minor: Self harm
lidia7's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Spoilers throughout:
This book was a mixed bag for me.
I can see that the author had good intentions but parts of this book did not age well, one of the main characters who is trans is othered, misgendered and her deadname is shared. Her coworker gets a similar treatment. Given that in the second novella (Moonlight Shadow) there's a similar character who is a man grieving for his girlfriend and wearing her clothes, the fact that Eriko transitioned after her wife's death strikes me as odd because it's almost as if it's suggested that Eriko is still a woman because she couldn't let go of her dead wife while Hiiragi stops wearing his girlfriend's clothes once he gets the chance to say goodbye and it's implied he moves on. There's also Eriko's murder, how lgbt characters's lives are often portrayed as tragic and are brutalized in order to move the plot forward? Still, violence against trans women is a real societal issue and it's good to bring awareness to it. I just don't think Banana Yoshimoto was educated enough on trans issues and possibly didn't even know the difference between a trans woman and a drag queen...
Everything I mentioned before *really* took me out of the story so I couldn't connect. I wish the story would be revised at least a little.
The message overall is hopeful even though we follow grieving and lonely characters who are understandably depressed. Kind of reminded me of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room or Kafka's Metamorphosis - both books and authors that I love but I couldn't love this book. I haven't read a lot of Japanese books but there's a recognizable style. Very hard-hitting, getting to the core of feelings but from a somewhat detached perspective and at times "cheesy".
This book was a mixed bag for me.
I can see that the author had good intentions but parts of this book did not age well, one of the main characters who is trans is othered, misgendered and her deadname is shared. Her coworker gets a similar treatment. Given that in the second novella (Moonlight Shadow) there's a similar character who is a man grieving for his girlfriend and wearing her clothes, the fact that Eriko transitioned after her wife's death strikes me as odd because it's almost as if it's suggested that Eriko is still a woman because she couldn't let go of her dead wife while Hiiragi stops wearing his girlfriend's clothes once he gets the chance to say goodbye and it's implied he moves on. There's also Eriko's murder, how lgbt characters's lives are often portrayed as tragic and are brutalized in order to move the plot forward? Still, violence against trans women is a real societal issue and it's good to bring awareness to it. I just don't think Banana Yoshimoto was educated enough on trans issues and possibly didn't even know the difference between a trans woman and a drag queen...
Everything I mentioned before *really* took me out of the story so I couldn't connect. I wish the story would be revised at least a little.
The message overall is hopeful even though we follow grieving and lonely characters who are understandably depressed. Kind of reminded me of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room or Kafka's Metamorphosis - both books and authors that I love but I couldn't love this book. I haven't read a lot of Japanese books but there's a recognizable style. Very hard-hitting, getting to the core of feelings but from a somewhat detached perspective and at times "cheesy".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Deadnaming
Minor: Stalking, Murder, Car accident, and Alcohol
akizato's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Transphobia and Deadnaming
clar_a's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deadnaming
lynn_x5452's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Murder, and Hate crime
james1star's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I picked this up as a ‘blind date with a book’ and was pleasantly impressed. It’s quite a strange one consisting of two short stories (the first split into two parts so three chapters in total), the first about a young woman Mikage who recently lost her sole family member, her grandmother. Yuichi who knew her grandmother asks Mikage round with the possibility of moving in wi yh him and his mother Eriko, who’s a trans woman. The second story follows Satsuki who recently lost her high school lover of four years Hitoshi as she tries to look to the future. Out running she meets a strange woman called Urara who says a once in a hundred year event will take place, Hitoshi’s you get brother Hiiragi is another strange but lovable character we meet.
The prominent motif throughout is grief, the many forms and how it impacts oneself. This sensation is heavily explored and Yoshimoto does a great job at realising these characters and thus how they’re impacted by the death of loved ones. Her storytelling isn’t particularly imaginative but is very real and flows well. The characters are for the most part loveable but what’s done best is how we’re attached to them as a reader in an emotional way. Some sentences maybe went on too long with many passages but her nuance/craft could’ve been lost in translation. Being written in 1988, I thought the inclusion of a transgender character was rather ‘modern’ and greatly appreciated, Yoshimoto’s work was hailed as very contemporary in Japan so this is great. That being said, some parts made me a little uncomfortable where there’s an emphasis played on Eriko (and later Chika)’s ‘masculine’ features, with some outdated terms like ‘transsexual’ with deadnaming and Yuichi has a ‘she was/is a man’ ideology. But this was about it and overall I was impressed by this book. It’s not a favourite but definitely decent and one I’d recommend, the author does an amazing job at making grief a very real and important emotion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death
Minor: Deadnaming, Murder, Alcoholism, Car accident, Mental illness, Hate crime, Cancer, Death of parent, and Transphobia