Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
N.P.
by Banana Yoshimoto“[An] ethereally mesmerizing . . . novel of Japan’s Generation X.” —Martin Brady, Chicago Sun-Times
Books
Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
About The Book
In N.P., Banana Yoshimoto’s enchanting novel of uncanny subtlety, style, magic, and mystery, a celebrated Japanese writer has committed suicide, leaving behind a collection of stories written in English. But the book, itself titled N.P., may never be published in his native Japan: each translator who takes up the ninety-eighth story chooses death, too—including Kazami Kano’s boyfriend, Shoji. Over the course of an astonishing summer, she will discover the truth behind the ninety-eighth story and she will come to believe that “everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy.”
Praise for N.P.
“Yoshimoto’s characters possess a discerning maturity for people in their early twenties, which lends a fantastical, almost timeless quality to the narration . . . Her ability to make everyday events seem romantic is a rare gift.”—Meg Cohen, Harper’s Bazaar
“[An] ethereally mesmerizing . . . novel of Japan’s Generation X.”—Martin Brady, Chicago Sun Times
“Banana Yoshimoto hits the generational mark again. . . N.P. is essentially reading for everyone who has ever felt lost while trying to find their lives through coffee and credit cards . . . N.P. focuses on death and love and, most of all, overcoming loss and realizing that not everything is explainable in words.”—Georgea Kovanis, Detroit Free Press
“Deeper than trendy . . . miraculous . . . [a] poignant achievement that draws its power from an atmosphere of earnestness—from that honesty of youth, untouched by cynicism . . . Deceptively simple.” —Kathleen Byrne, Toronto Globe and Mail
“The disturbing, ironic, relentless clarity of Kazami’s voice casts a spell . . . Yoshimoto has given readers a snapshot of a generation of Japanese women caught between traditional expectations that define them in male-dominated marriages and their desire to remain young, pure and free.”—Robert Johnson, Denver Post
“Charming . . . Banana Yoshimoto has a way of writing about suicide and insomnia that’s positively exuberant . . . The narrators of her novels exude pure optimism, even as they suffer.”—Nathalie op de Beeck, Washington City Paper
“Yoshimoto throws four trendy young Japanese into a quandary that involves the reader instantly. Swept up by her heroine, Kazami Kano, off we run through the streets of Tokyo . . . Almost one with the girl, we feel the oppressive summer heat, her loneliness, blind trust and choking fear.”—Nancy W. Olson, Milwaukee Journal
“Japan’s leading pop novelist follows her successful debut with an ambitious novel of darker themes—incest, suicide, and the supernatural—that recalls more classic Japanese fiction . . . A contemporary, hip treatment of a potentially lurid plot makes for a read that nonetheless resonates with echoes of the past. Offbeat but sound.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Compelling and clever, Yoshimoto writes with the sort of lucidity that usually takes hours and hours to appear so effortless . . . But what really makes N.P. click . . . are the indomitable personalities of the main figures.”—David Finkle, Trenton (NJ) Times
“Every bit as good as Yoshimoto’s first book . . . perhaps better”—Frank Ramirez, South Bend Tribune
