Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Premonition

This short story Yoshimoto has conjured was thought provoking. The main character finds herself in a happy family, but often runs away for reflection and has missing memories she is trying to restore. Overall I interpreted a sense of coming of age and trauma healing from the premise.

The parts of the story I was not impressed by were the romanti relationships. I felt they may have been added for shock value rather than to add any real growth of the characters. These taboo relationships do however make a person reflect on what trauma may do to our decision making.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this short story, but it did keep me engrossed to try to see the outcome.

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ninabruinhof's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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saltycoffee's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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clone's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

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boba_n_books's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️

The Premonition is an odd little book. It definitely was not what I expected.

Yayoi is a 19-year-old girl living with her loving mother, father, and brother. From an early age, Yayoi has always felt like something is missing. Like she doesn't quite belong. She often goes on short solo trips to get away from home and figure things out. This time, she finds herself on her Aunt Yukino's doorstep, even though she and Yukino have never been close. Yayoi spends this time with her aunt trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs.

The Premonition explores complex, weird, and taboo relationships and shows the reader that love isn't always black and white.

I was very off-put by the incestuous relationship between Yayoi and her brother as well as the adult-minor relationship between Yukino and her student. Though these relationships were not included for shock value and didn't stop me from enjoying the book, I still have some reservations about them.

This book is meant to make you feel uncomfortable and uneasy, and the complexity of these relationships matches that tonality.

This book is about going after what you want instead of sleepwalking through life. It has some poignant thoughts and is an easy read. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to readers who appreciate nuance, unease, and taboo stories.

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areen's review against another edition

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1.0

this has to be one of the most boring, bland and almost meaningless books I've read in a while. the story is basically about our mc and her journey to remember her childhood and her real parents. that's literally as simple as it is but all they do is tell, not show. it's SO boring and these characters don't have a shred of personality.

to add to that, the worst things about this story are actually the questionable relationships. the mc just has a ~premonition~ that she's missing something and decided that it's bc her parents aren't her real parents, so what does it mean? she suddenly starts to develop feelings for her brother! this is where it really started to annoy me with the tell, not show. bc we're almost always in our MC's head and she KNOWS her brother too likes her romantically and that he also must KNOW that they're not biologically related. blood ties shouldn't be the only thing stopping people growing up as siblings from making out with one another and this story really felt like it's saying that... (and yes she's right and they kinda end up together) it was so uncomfortable to read bc it had NOTHING else for me divert my attention to.

and no, it's not the only questionable relationship lmao. MC's grown ass sister, a highschool music teacher, not only has a relationship with a male student but also is having a child....... and MC's reaction to learning this is like "oh I knew she's that type of person to do that!" BISH WHAT

all of banana yoshimoto's books I've read so far have at least one character dealing with grief and I've always enjoyed the way she writes those characters and the natural way she explores that theme as a part of life. but while in this book our mc is that character, there's none of that really, mostly just her relationship with her brother?? the dialogues where also so unnatural at times. there was no point of this story.

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sage_bee's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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jamisenfallot's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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