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how i love quiet, meditative japanese fiction. i love the moonlight shadow, heavy snowdrift, softly muffled and introspective quality of banana yoshimoto's work in particular. she is so good at evoking this specific mood, semi-incomprehensible and soaked in melancholy nostalgia.

as for the individual stories:

NEWLYWED's most interesting quality is that it was originally published on posters on commuter trains. its protagonist rides the train and has an odd conversation with a mysterious person, and what fun it must have been to read the tale while on your daily commute! though i honestly expected the story to be more philosophical.

LIZARD, the title story, is about occupying life's darkness with someone. about wanting to do the things that good normal happy people do, wanting to live in that light, but always finding yourselves back in the dark together. childhood trauma can color everything that comes after it, or maybe some people are just meant to remain in the dark.

HELIX is an oddly romantic and matter-of-fact yet mystical meditation on a relationship. specifically on the possibility of forgetting, of losing the details that bind you to the person you love.

I liked places like that where one thing runs into another, blurring the boundaries. Night and day; the sauce on a plate; the things they're selling in the shop right up near the café tables. I think that came from my love of her. She was like an evening moon, her white light almost swallowed up by the gradations of pale blue sky.

DREAMING OF KIMCHEE is an interesting story about the aftermath of infidelity. i like how guilt is discussed but no party is specifically villainized. but i couldn't quite grasp what yoshimoto was getting at with this one.

BLOOD AND WATER is an odd story about the pain of the ephemeral. there are themes of faith, self reliance, and necessary distance. our protagonist is trying to enjoy the small daily pleasures of life, which all must come to an end, as a means of forgetting the undercurrent of sadness that flows through life.

A STRANGE TALE FROM DOWN BY THE RIVER is a reflection on times past. that eerie moment when someone from your past resurfaces, and you learn that they have hardly changed, despite the fact that you are living a completely different life now. i love the sapphic rep in this story; one of the many memories reflected upon is of a dreamy affair between the protagonist and another woman. the story is ultimately about refusing to be haunted by the past, and it feels hopeful.

yoshimoto's afterword talks about themes of healing, karma, fate, and the uncertainty of encountering hopefulness. she dedicates the english version to the memory of kurt cobain, and ends her author's note by mentioning that she's on her way to a sonic youth concert! ahh, such a lovely little time capsule.