NP is, in a way, a mixed bag of various subject matters (As Banana Yoshimoto herself admitted in the afterword) mashed together. In a book that is not even 200 pages, this does not always work. But surprisingly, it worked for NP. In Banana Yoshimoto's words,
Spatially, NP takes place in a very small world, and it involves only a limited number of characters, but I have attempted, in this miniature universe, to touch on as many of the themes that interest me as possible (lesbianism, love within the family, telepathy and empathy, the occult, religion, and so on).Before I say more about the book, I have a confession to make. I love Japanese literature. I don’t know what it is but there is something special about these books. OK, may be I shouldn’t say that I don’t know what it is. I think I have a fairly decent idea — it’s the Japanese language itself! Now, I could be wrong, seeing as I do not speak the language myself, nor do I understand it. However, in my experience, Japanese authors have a way of describing a scenario in ways that I have yet to come across in books written in English. Each word comes across and pulls certain strings in your heart in ways that not only creates a clear picture but also an accurate emotion. It’s not just a feeling of happiness or sadness, nothing so ambiguous. But the clarity of what a character feels permeates the reader. I am not good at explaining, but that’s the best I can do to paint a picture of what Japanese literature does to me. It transports me within the body of the characters, metaphorically speaking of course, so that I feel, or I think I feel, exactly what the characters feel. No book written in English has managed to choke me up, constrict my lungs, or feel love, despair, attraction, lust, abhorrence, hatred, disgust, or fear the way Japanese books have. Sometimes they make me feel these emotions that I have yet to feel in real life, but thanks to the vividness of these books, I feel like I already have experienced them all too well. And after much thought, I can only give credit to the Japanese language itself for creating such eloquent, almost pictorial emotions.
Now, on to NP. This book is a mood piece. It’s more about the characters and their interactions rather than specific events. But since it’s a pretty short novella, somehow it works out. The narrator, Kazami, is a 20-something girl who gets tangled up with the family members of the now deceased Sarao Takase — a Japanese author who lived in the US, wrote a number of short stories in English, and then committed suicide at the age of 48. Most of his stories were translated into Japanese, but the few who attempted at translating the ninety-eighth story ended up committing suicide themselves. One of these translators also happened to be Kazami’s boyfriend Shoji.
The book focuses mostly on the relationships that these characters have with each other and with Kazami. The nuances that I spoke of in the title of this post is in these intertwining relationships. The references of love, friendship, attraction are so subtle and undeniable, it kind of blew me away. And boy, the descriptions… so vivid, so very real.
There is incest in this book. A lot of it. The word incest alone, by itself, is enough to make a person raise an eyebrow or two… not necessarily because of disgust, oh no, but the topic is just so out here, and not at all part of something of a normal, everyday life. When our narrator, Kazami, became aware of the incestuous nature of the Takase’s, her reaction at first seemed a bit lacking in many ways. I kept wondering why that was so. I kept thinking, did the author fail to describe the reactions of Kazami? It seemed unlikely considering Yoshimoto had no trouble describing heart wrenching feelings or feelings of melancholy and helplessness all throughout N.P. So, what was it? I was stumped. And then it hit me. I imagined myself in Kazami’s shoes. Strangely attracted to the Takase siblings, the fact that Kazami was so close to every single one of them, only suggested that perhaps Kazami already knew what was happening. I mean, as a reader, I sure suspected as such, without even having to read the synopsis. And if she knew already, then it makes sense that she wasn’t quite as surprised.
The melancholy in this book was so thick and multilayered that I did not think an ending without tragedy was possible. But surprisingly, Yoshimoto pulled off a fairly happy go lucky conclusion to everyone’s problems. And even more surprisingly, it actually worked! I would suggest this book to anyone who likes reading sad, mood pieces. It’s my favorite genre, so, obviously, I loved it!
Title: NP
Author: Banana Yoshimoto, Ann Sherif (Translator)
Publisher: Washington Square Press, March 1, 1995
Format: Paperback, 194 pages.
Genre: Literary Fiction, Japanese, Contemporary
Source: University of Denver Library