Banana Yoshimoto, Hardboiled / Hard Luck, 1999

Two novellas that explore how two slightly unconventional Japanese women react to situations after people close to them have died, the first discovering how her awareness of the spiritual world has opened up, the second discovering how the circumstances of her late sister’s life has now given her own a new direction. Yoshimoto focuses on seemingly irrevelant details that at first make the stories feel too mundane until their importance to the development of the story is revealed. The first tale is quietly unsettling, the second an understated gem of quiet observation.  PY

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