A review by sarahmatthews
Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Moshi-Moshi: A Novel by Banana Yoshimoto

tr. Asa Yoneda

read as e-book, using a mix of electronic Braille and TTS

pub. 2010, 210pp

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Yocchan is living with her mother after her father dies in suspicious circumstances, trying to cope with her own grief while encouraging her mother to return home. Her mother believes the family home is haunted and is very happy to spend her days living in her daughter’s apartment, like a housemate, pottering around the local shops and cafes all day while Yocchan works in a bistro.

Yocchan’s father was a musician in a rock band, Sprout, and she travelled with him and her mother when he went on tour, living a rather bohemian childhood. She has fond memories of him as a loving father:

“He kept every promise he made to Mom or me, no matter how small, writing them down in his diary or on the back of his hand. even now, when I think of his hands, I see them in my mind's eye covered in notes.”

As the days go by, Yocchan reflects on life with her father, wondering about how well they really knew him:

“Even when he was alive, Dad had been like a hologram projected between us, showing us each a different image.”

Mother and daughter help one another cope with what has happened, talking frankly about their shared past and consoling each other. They keep returning to the day he died, trying to make sense of the tragedy, speculating on what he might have been thinking and feeling.

As the novel progresses, details emerge about yocchan’s father that may explain the mystery of his death and she has to confront his failings while continuing to support her mother.

I fell in love with Banana Yoshimoto’s elegant writing from the start and gulped this book down in a day. The afterward about loss and the importance of community was very touching and now I want to find an accessible copy of Kitchen, 1988, her most famous novel.