Hardboiled/Hard Luck - Softcover

Yoshimoto, Banana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571227821 ISBN 13: 9780571227822

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2005

Synopsis

‘Sensitive, refined and graceful, Yoshimoto’s writing is simple and clear.’ i-D Hardboiled opens as the narrator, a woman in her thirties, treks high above her secluded mountain hotel. As so often in Yoshimoto’s supremely atmospheric stories, it is memory that forms the backdrop against which the present unfolds. In this case it is the memory of an old lover - the only woman she ever had intimate relations with - who died a year to the day previously. What unfolds is a night of intimation and blurred memory, disturbing signs and half-forgotten moments, as the narrator confronts the fears and the sense of loss that haunt her. In Hard Luck we find another female narrator, this one keeping vigil by the side of her sister who lies in a coma. Together with her father, she appears almost trapped in a void as she waits for the sister’s death. Can her burgeoning relationship with the brother of her sister’s absent fiancé offer any kind of release? Collectively these two stories brilliantly explore themes of love, loss and the ties that bind.

About this title

Review:

'Subtle, haunting ... Here are two affecting short stories from an author billed as Japan's leading female novelist.' -- Daily Mail

'Yoshimoto writes with absorbing lucidity ... The passing seasons are a recurrent metaphor for the transience of mourning and parting.' -- Guardian

Synopsis:

Hardboiled opens as the narrator, a woman in her thirties, treks high above her secluded mountain hotel. As so often in Yoshimoto's supremely atmospheric stories, it is memory that forms the backdrop against which the present unfolds. In this case it is the memory of an old lover - the only woman she ever had intimate relations with - who died a year to the day previously. What unfolds is a night of intimation and blurred memory, disturbing signs and half-forgotten moments, as the narrator confronts the fears and the sense of loss that haunt her. In Hard Luck we find another female narrator, this one keeping vigil by the side of her sister who lies in a coma. Together with her father, and the brother of her sister's fiance, they appear almost trapped in a void, as they wait for the sister's death. Collectively the two stories brilliantly explore themes of love, loss and the ties that bind.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0571227821
• ISBN 13: 9780571227822
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160