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misshappyapples 's review for:
N.P.
by Banana Yoshimoto
I really struggled with how many stars to give this. There were points where I thought this was lyrically beautiful with the sort of sweeping passages and insightful truths I love. But there were other parts where the prose was so simple and childlike that I couldn't help being somewhat annoyed. I wondered, at points, if something was lost in translation. But, overall I did like it.
Japanese writer Sarao Takase commits suicide and leaves behind a collection of stories written in English. Everyone who attempts to translate the ninety-eighth story commits suicide as well. Including Kazami Kano's boyfriend, Shoji. Four years later a chance encounter with Takase's children leads to a strange summer that tests what Kazami thought she knew about the past, the power of the written word, and the bonds between human beings.
Now, this story is super weird. I expected a little bit of weirdness with the description on the back of the book. I expected there to be a bit of mysticism surrounding this ninety-eighth story. I didn't really expect the characters themselves to be quite so strange. Kazami herself is rather flippant in the face of the bizarre. Two of Takase's are unrepentantly getting it on, and everyone is slightly too comfortable with the idea of suicide. Yet somehow it all... works. The character of Sui is clearly the center of the story with her somewhat questionable existence. She's somewhat mystic, somewhat insane, and probably only exists to give other people a chance at happiness. It was a little bit beautiful and a little bit painful and I think that was the point.
Japanese writer Sarao Takase commits suicide and leaves behind a collection of stories written in English. Everyone who attempts to translate the ninety-eighth story commits suicide as well. Including Kazami Kano's boyfriend, Shoji. Four years later a chance encounter with Takase's children leads to a strange summer that tests what Kazami thought she knew about the past, the power of the written word, and the bonds between human beings.
Now, this story is super weird. I expected a little bit of weirdness with the description on the back of the book. I expected there to be a bit of mysticism surrounding this ninety-eighth story. I didn't really expect the characters themselves to be quite so strange. Kazami herself is rather flippant in the face of the bizarre. Two of Takase's are unrepentantly getting it on, and everyone is slightly too comfortable with the idea of suicide. Yet somehow it all... works. The character of Sui is clearly the center of the story with her somewhat questionable existence. She's somewhat mystic, somewhat insane, and probably only exists to give other people a chance at happiness. It was a little bit beautiful and a little bit painful and I think that was the point.