Referring to a book of 97 stories called NP written by a depressed Japanese writer, Banana Yoshimoto tells the story of a narrator's involvement with his estranged wife and two children and of the effect the stories have had on everyone who has tried to translate them.

N.P. Paperback Banana Yoshimoto

Literature & Fiction

BANANA YOSHIMOTO

Contemporary

Faber and Faber Limited

Lizard

I shall refer to her as Lizard here, but not because of the small lizard tattoo that I discovered on her inner thigh.  The woman has round, black eyes that gaze at you with utter detachment, like the eyes of a reptile. Every bend and curve of her small body is cool to the touch, so cool that I want to scoop her up in my two hands.  This may bring to mind the image of a man holding a bunny or a chick, but that's not what I mean. What I imagine is the strange, tickling sensation of sharp claws scampering around in my palms. And then, when I open up my hands to take a peek, a thin, red tongue lashes out. Reflected in those glassy eyes, I see my own lonely face, peering down, looking for something to love and cherish. That's what Lizard feels like to me....

Short Stories & Anthologies

GROVE PRESS

In these six stories, the author of "Tugumi" and "NP" explores themes of time, healing and fate, and how her urban, sophisticated, independent young men and women come to terms with them. The stories are a blend of traditional Japanese and contemporary popular culture.

Faber&Faber

Amrita

Penguin books.India

An actress dies in shocking circumstances. She leaves behind an unconventional extended family of three who embark on a journey through grief and suffering, memories lost and gained, forbidden romance, redemption and recovery, and a confrontation with spirits on a remote Pacific island.

Faber Paperbacks

Yoshimoto has a magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.

Asleep

Asleep tells the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost love, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, embarking on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself unable to stay awake. The third finds her sleep haunted.

Literary

In Kitchen, a young Japanese woman named Mikage Sakurai struggles to overcome the death of her grandmother. She gradually grows close to one of her grandmother's friends, Yuichi, from a flower shop and ends up staying with him and his transgender mother, Eriko.

Kitchen

Faber and Faber

Maria is the only daughter of an unmarried woman. She has grown up at the seaside alongside her cousin Tsugumi, a lifelong invalid, charismatic, spoiled and occasionally cruel. Now Maria's father is finally able to bring Maria and her mother to Tokyo, ushering Maria into a world of university, impending adulthood, and a 'normal' family. When Tsugumi invites Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love, and Maria learns the true meaning of home and family. She also has to confront both Tsugumi's inner strength and the real possibility of losing her.

Goodbye Tsugumi

FABER

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BANANA YOSHIMOTO. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by BANANA YOSHIMOTO

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BANANA YOSHIMOTO. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

N.P. Paperback Banana Yoshimoto

Lizard

Lizard

Amrita

Amrita

Asleep

Asleep

Kitchen

Goodbye Tsugumi

Goodbye Tsugumi