NP

Conditions fine. It doesn't look new but still very good. Actually I like it very much!Time of shippement correct as well.

I was fortunate enough to stumble across a dusty, yellowing version of this book in a second hand book shop on the East coast of Taiwan. Having loved Kitchen so much, I forked over the equivalent of US$2.00 and took NP with me. While, as many others will you tell you, I did not enjoy it as much as Kitchen, it still had its dazzling moments, to say the least. What I enjoy about this story is how it revolves around the emotional pain that the late Shoji expresses through his stories, while the main character, Kazami Kano, is also affected by him in real life. As the reader learns soon after opening N.P., Shoji, who took his own life, has left behind untranslated stories, ex-girlfriends and family members whose wounds he left are still very fresh. Such wounds are parallel to the ones that Kano's dead boyfriend left her after committing suicide during the process of trying to translate Shoji's work.The way that Banana Yashimoto is able to humanize some of the twisted characters in this book is brilliant. Perhaps what makes this different from Kitchen is the fact that everyone involved is not as sympathetic. Nonetheless, she is still able to make you wonder about such characters' futures and not rest easy when they have been out of the picture for a few chapters. While the story, as mentioned, does not fulfill the shoes of her most famous work, it is certainly full of the same emotional imagery which drives her to be on of the best Japanese novelists, in my opinion. Perhaps what hit me the most while reading this story, as the question of why it is considered very taboo in Japanese society for males to enjoy her work. As a man who considers Murakami Haruki and Yukio Mishima to be two of his favorite writers of all time from any country, I also feel that Yoshimoto deserves a spot in the same category of vulgarly beautiful, heart wrenching yet inspiring abilities to write stories with a Japanese societal backdrop. When I told a good Japanese friend of mine that I enjoyed reading Yoshimoto, he immediately laughed. Why is this such a common response? I do not understand how one could enjoy Murakami or Yukio, but neglect Yoshimoto because her opposite gender. Perhaps I do not understand some of the patriarchal undertones of the Japanese literary society. Nonetheless, N.P. is certainly worth a read, and contains many of her well known writing styles. Most importantly, it causes us to take a deeper glimpse into what seem to be simple, nuclear familial situations of society.

I have read other books by Banana - Kitchen and Lizard. She always makes me feel as if I'm being followed, though I'm not sure by whom. Her remarkable stories of transvestities, lost love and in the case of NP, incest, awaken a surpressed sense of guilt inside of me. Though my morals, scruples, or just plain common sense tells me it is wrong, I can't help but feel oddly touched by the posioness, romantic love of Otohiko and his sister, Sui. Yoshimoto's stories defy logic, they are about a more spiritual and accepting way of life, they force me to try to strive for such honesty in my own life. My only criticizm lies in the fact that it is a translation of Japanese into English. It pains me that I cannot read and understand this book as it was actually written. At times the words seem overly simplistic, I'm sure it has lost some of the poetry of Banana's style in the translation. Perhaps this is just the kind of inspiration I need to go out and learn Japanese.

I could read this novel a million times, it is so good! I have read every single book by Banana Yoshimoto, and I think NP is the best, or at least my favorite! most reviews don't even begin to give the book justice. Although the main themes are suicide, loss, and even the supernatural, Yoshimoto writes with such an uplifting tone, that you can't help but feel good, or at least it wil arouse some deep thought! Although the book's narrator is Kazami, the real star of the book is Sui. what an exquisite, complicated mess she is! And yet you can't help but love her! If everyone in Japan is like the characters in this book, i want to live there! Almost all of Yoshimoto's characters have an appreciation for the small things that make people happy, and I think that is a wonderful gift to have! I hate to sound so cliche, but this book has changed my life! It is simply magical!

What do you get when you combine the light, easygoing narrative and characters of Banana Yoshimoto with heavy themes like incest, suicide, and a manuscript that might be cursed? A bizarre but very compelling book that's difficult to put down, of course. Although I wouldn't recommend this as a first look into Yoshimoto's bibligraphy -- Kitchen might be better suited for that purpose -- for anyone who's had a taste of her style and is looking for more, this is a perfect next step and a great little novel.