The Genius of Banana Yoshimoto

[@kiczcock]

I love Banana. She's so great at conveying this awkward liminal state when you're in-between things and finally have to grow and change to get out of it.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yessssss you're absolutely right! Beautifully put!

[@adamwan0527]

I remember the first time I read Kitchen a few years ago, and from that moment on-despite my having only read a number of her stories-she became one of my favorite writers. Her writing style had felt so welcoming, so warm, and I couldn't help but be reminded of my own writing, in fact, whenever I read her. She tackled all of her themes in a way that really hit home for me, and coincidentally in a way that I would. Though I have a slightly different writing style now, and I tackle slightly different themes in my stories now, that warmth and kindness stayed; something that Banana Yoshimoto, in a sense, gave me the permission to keep (if that makes any sense.) Her books also remind me of manga, oddly enough. Specifically, the shoujo genre (shoujo being my favorite manga genre, still.) The feelings her stories conjure, the feeling that she's whispering into my ear, as I cry at the end of Moonlight Shadow, "I understand." It's the warmth of kindness and compassion, and understanding, and a hint of sentimentality in just the way I like. Her stories felt so, so human. And it's healing to me.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Kindness, compassion, and understanding are absolutely defining words when talking about her writing. She understands the pain of the human experience, but also the importance of the bonds that get us through it all. I love her so much.

[@KateyOneMoreTime]

I discovered Banana Yoshimoto this year and read Kitchen, The Lake, and Amrita. Amrita was my favourite book of 2021 and I can’t wait to read more from her. Really enjoyed this video!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

She's something special, isn't she? Thanks for watching!

[@kiczcock]

I was scared to pick up Amrita bc of the length. Nice to know it's good

[@aIparica]

Willow, the way you explain your thoughts on Banana Yoshimoto's works is already so beautiful I can feel my heart softening (and I'm only at the beginning of the video haha). Your channel is a gem for someone like me who wants to dive into Japanese literature but the fact that your values, politics, and taste align to mine is just so important to me. I haven't read any from your recommendations but I'll get into them this year!

[@AbsurdExistentialist]

How had I not seen this video yet??? Was pleasantly surprised to see that my local bookstore had Banana Yoshimoto and of course I've come here first to see what you think!

[@FlunderingChipper]

I love this, thank you for making it. Banana Yoshimoto's books are so close to my heart! She makes scary concepts like death feel... approachable? Safer? Like comfortably inevitable? Ugh. I teared up listening to you talk about her books.

[@jagodesune6894]

Asleep was the first of her books I read about 18 years ago. I'm lucky that there are at least 15 books of hers in German translation, I think Italy has even more. You put it so well what makes her special, wonderful video. There's a small Japanese film I really like called There's No Lid on the Sea. It's adapted from one of her not yet translated books. It's about a female friendship, love and a shaved ice store by the sea.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

You always recommend me some great Japanese films! Thanks, Jago!

[@anastasiaa.5837]

Have you ever thought to start a podcast ? Yours would be the only one I'd listen to ❤

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I have, many times! But I already pour everything I have into writing articles and making videos. I have no time or energy to make a podcast as well, sorry!

[@oliviaiai]

I love her! She’s so quickly becoming one of my favorite authors

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Mine, too. The more I read, the more I feel understood.

[@robotdowney]

Any time i search something about some author, I want to find out more about there are always your videos:D thank u

[@eenainwonderland]

My copy of Asleep just arrived yesterday and this video came at the right time haha I’ll come to this once I’m done reading Asleep! 😂

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Wow, what weird and wonderful timing!

[@mochiluv3r]

Fresh off finishing All the Lover’s in the Night by Mieko Kawakami and battling a weird transition of not having another story to get lost in.. I stumbled across your channel to hear your analysis and now I’ve just spent the last 2 hours watching video after video of your reviews and have compiled a rather large list of “want to reads” on my Goodreads account and no longer feel like I’m in a drought of stories to immerse myself in 😄 I get so attached to one thing (like “All the Lovers in the Night) not feeling like I’ll find anything else to love more but your very essence of passion for all these books you curate is opening up my mind to what is out there! I realize I’ve written an extremely long run on sentence of thoughts but to summate, I’m just so happy to have stumbled across your channel :)

[@lauramachmudova5507]

Hi Willow! I discovered your channel the other day while searching for translated fiction recommendations. I studied translation and love to read translated books - it’s so lovely to see that you share this passion! Really enjoyed this video and your others too. You’ve definitely inspired me to read more of Banana Yoshimoto’s amazing writing!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thanks for checking out my channel and enjoying my videos! I've got a lot more on the main blog as well, including interviews with translators which you may find interesting! Studying translation sounds wonderful! As you could probably guess, it's something I'm deeply fascinated by!

[@Sitting8ull]

Tsugumi is my favorite of her books as well. I have read all of her translated work. In fact, Goodbye Tsugumi is my favorite book outright right now.

[@joliebunny88]

Willow & Japanese fiction - I can’t imagine a better combination than this ❤️

[@WillowTalksBooks]

omg thank you, being associated with Japanese lit is a dream 😭💜

[@tuninh6254]

i love the way you describe how Yoshimoto has been embracing the concept of love death and growth, i realized the love and death in her stories but i felt i've missed something until you mentioned the growth in her characters. Banana Yoshimoto is one of my favorite writers, i have read nearly all of her short stories and novels that i can find, but last year i read Amrita, and it is the most "me" story until now, where i see myself in the protagonist, in the way she found her soul and happiness in many trivial things around her. Thanks for your review Willow, always love your Japanese lit reviews

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I love that you connected so intimately with Amrita. She's such a personable writer. She knows our souls 💜

[@tediumless]

I've read "Asleep" yesterday and I think i'm already in love with Yoshimoto (previoisly read "The Lake" and "N.P", loved both, especially "The Lake") While "Asleep" was my favorite story of the book, I found fascinating how in "Night Travelers", the protagonist, Shibami, has to deal with the loss of his brother indirectly trought Sarah and Marie. I mean, her brother just died and instead of dealing directly with his recent death (the most natural response) she finds herself instead worried about how miserable Marie is and the impact Yoshihiro leaved on Sarah. Of course, mourning has several stages, and sometimes the first response can be dry, or weird. But I find interesting how Shibami's true mourning and sadness lurked underneath the most resonant responses of Marie and Sarah.

[@shreyasudesh]

Absolutely loved this review. Her books are super expensive here, in India. So I was looking for reviews. Thank you 💕

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I'm sorry to hear that! She's certainly worth the investment if you can afford it :)

[@sharongonzales2495]

You did a beautiful job💪🏻😊! Thank you.

[@marinette6894]

She’s been one of my favorite authors for years. Thank you for this video 🥰

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Mine, too! And you're very welcome 💜

[@angeljpg3555]

Kitchen just feel like a warm kiss of good-bye.. AND moonlight Shadow felt like i understand now, how to gone felt

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Beautifully put, I agree!

[@larrythoren9683]

Of course Kitchen was my first foray into the work of Banana Yoshimoto. My favorite so far is The Lake. Thanks for the rant.

[@annaelizabethhyland4275]

Your videos are simply the best 😂❤️

[@WillowTalksBooks]

No, YOU'RE simply the best!

[@chrisrichards7063]

I made a note to myself the other day just saying 'must read Banana Yoshimoto', so very happy to see I was right about that... better move her up the list!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Well this came around at a very opportune moment!

[@willcacti8302]

I started reading her with Lake and it was great because I could not put the book down.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Her writing is certainly addictive! I relate so hard to her characters, I just want to stay in their world.

[@Kgstar402]

I've only read Kitchen & The Lake but am hoping to get to all of her works. :)

[@WillowTalksBooks]

There's a comfortable kind of predictability to her themes but the characters and events are so kind and warming. Every story is worth reading 💜

[@Lost_in_a_book]

I’ve never read anything by Yoshimoto 😳 but I know she is a big name in Japanese literature. *adds Asleep and Goodbye Tsugumi to wishlist* 😄 Plus I’m going to check out your post now because I cannot get enough of your beautiful words 💜 Also, on a slightly different topic…another book which has just caught my eye is Toddler Hunting and Other Stories by Taeko Kono. This might already be on your radar so apologies if this is the case.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Aw thank you so much! I haven't updated the article yet so apologies if it's written poorly! And thanks for pointing me to that book; I don't think I've ever read Kono before!

[@rhiannac8107]

you really know how to sell books ahaha. Added to cart.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Aw thanks! Enjoy!

[@CestKevvie]

I just heard about Kitchen, and was apprehensive about the quality of the trans rep. Knowing you praise her work so highly assuages my fears.

[@ae8_little]

眠

[@priscillaeyles3301]

I have to say I find the character of Eriko and depiction of transness in Kitchen problematic to say the least. So sorry to be the killjoy in the room, but I do have to strongly & respectfully disagree with your assessment of this character. As much as this character is impactful, lively and clearly meant to be a sympathetic and charming character and is certainly more fleshed out than Chika (who really is a hollow caricature of transness existing only to provoke pity in the main character, so I'm not so sure about how progressive she is...). She still only really exists to provide a means for the two main characters, Mikage and Yuichi, to come back together through her death and to reaffirm, by way also of contrast, the primacy of heteronormative love ultimately. Her death also,lest we forget, comes pretty early on and is pretty horrific coming at the hands of a stalker who suddenly appears out of nowhere (also death itself is just plain bizarre in its description, which then just undercuts the tragedy). Now of course you can argue that many trans people must die this way, and they do because transphobic hate crime is rife, sadly to this day. But it seems such a cliche for her to not only be a prostitute but to then die like that. I just wondered why a) she had to die so early on and b) why if she has to die, and I don't think she did, she couldn't have died by some other means less violent. (If Yoshimoto was truly being progressive Eriko imho would've lived a full life, perhaps met someone who valued her and didn't fetishise her and wouldn't have to work as a prostitute.) It just seems a really lazy unoriginal choice which she then tried to justify and make slightly more edgy/slightly redeem by having Eriko defend themselves and beat their attacker to death (cool, still dies though). I can only think it was inspired by bad media representation of trans characters where they always have to die and exist merely as plot devices to aid the story of the cis characters (there's a great documentary Disclosure on this very issue which I highly, highly recommend).Even if she was doing this unconsciously, it's still bad writing imo. Also the reason for her being trans is just what??!! You couldn't be with another woman after the mother's death and you wanted 'muddled happiness' (weird translation?) and things were going to happen the way they were going to happen anyway and you can't control things? Ok,sure but don't think you're passing any gender reassignment interviews anytime soon...Fatalism and mourning your dead wife is definitely a new one for me for wanting to be trans... And then suddenly realising you didn't like being a man? I mean surely you would've had that realisation earlier at some point no? Like way earlier.I understand denial and suppression to survive a transphobic society, but that's not even given as a reason either, so it's just very vague and very much like Yoshimoto didn't bother to actually research tran's people's experiences. She's just like, yeah that'll do, sounds like good enough reasons to me! I also hated that Mikage and Yuichi would constantly make references to them being a man or a father or masculine post-transition. It felt unnecessarily cruel and disrespectful to constantly make a joke out of misgendering them, a joke that we as the reader was supposedly also meant to find funny (hilarious, I love it when bigots poke fun at trans people and don't respect their gender choices, what whimsical humour!!). So yeah not a fan, although I understand this is a book written in the late 80s in Japan,so not expecting it to be radically progressive or understanding of trans liberation, it was still just badly written for me...And in parts painfully juvenile and clichéd. The only parts I did like were in the descriptions of domestic bliss and some of the passages about grief and loneliness, but even that started to be a stylistic cliché or a narrative crutch she relied too much on after a while. I can accept that also some of the faults of this book could be because she was what 22,23 years old writing this, hadn't fully developed her writing yet, and also that some of the more basic aspects of the writing is also down to a very poor uncreative translation. But regardless even with all that in mind I was left with a nasty taste, like I'd been manipulated. A sense that barely underneath its striving for profundity and quirkiness and edginess in its representation of transness, is a wholly traditional and conservative fear and intolerance around performing gender, alongside a rigidity/black and white view about what kinds of women and versions of feminity are actually acceptable, intrinsically valuable and loveable. (I also caveat by saying I haven't read the second part of Kitchen yet, maybe that story is better). I just hope that she matured as a writer and as a human being since that book quite frankly.