The Lake – Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto’s works are well-known in Japan and fairly popular elsewhere. Ever since the acclaimed Kitchen was released in 1996, expectations have been high for her novels. The Lake does not disappoint. The book follows Chihiro, a young mural painter, who comes from an unconventional life. Her mother runs a seedy club and her father is ‘a person of local import’. The unconventionality comes from the fact that her parents are not married and though she leads what most would call a happy home life, she feels the discrimination that fact engenders in the society around her. After her mother’s death she moves to Tokyo and starts up a hesitant and curiously sexless romance with her neighbor Nakajima. The novel traces their journey and how childhood traumas affect their ability to love.

Some might criticize the writing as too spare and maybe even simplistic. Then one remembers that the protagonists are young people and she has used their voices almost perfectly. It is easy to be deceived by the slow pace into believing that nothing much has happened. However, the layers and depths are right there waiting to be discovered.

Matt Han