Today's book

I really liked today's entry. #36 is Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto. This is a collection of short stories, which I'm normally not hugely enamored of, all loosely built around first person narrators finding faith and hope. I've read and loved other things by Banana (especially Kitchen) and this was no exception. It's ironic, because the same things that I viewed as negatives in reference to Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, particularly the narrative structure or lack thereof, worked here. Yoshimoto's work is often dreamlike and ephemeral, but rather than seeming unfinished as in Balzac it instead seems more like a diaphanous bubble enclosing a brief snapshot of a world. This is one example of a translated work that doesn't make me think that something essential has been lost to the reader. Check her out if you haven't. I don't think that you'll be disappointed.

Today's book

I really liked today's entry. #36 is Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto. This is a collection of short stories, which I'm normally not hugely enamored of, all loosely built around first person narrators finding faith and hope. I've read and loved other things by Banana (especially Kitchen) and this was no exception. It's ironic, because the same things that I viewed as negatives in reference to Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, particularly the narrative structure or lack thereof, worked here. Yoshimoto's work is often dreamlike and ephemeral, but rather than seeming unfinished as in Balzac it instead seems more like a diaphanous bubble enclosing a brief snapshot of a world. This is one example of a translated work that doesn't make me think that something essential has been lost to the reader. Check her out if you haven't. I don't think that you'll be disappointed.