The Lake; Banana Yoshimoto

Title: The Lake

Author: Banana Yoshimoto

Publication Year: 2011

Publisher: Melville House

Edition: ARC

Source: Amazon Vine

Date Completed: 4/13/2011 

Setting: Tokyo, Japan

Rating: 4/5

Recommend: Yes

 

I've read some excellent reviews for books written by Banana Yoshimoto, so I wanted to experience this author for myself. It was a different experience, but not an unpleasant one.

Chihiro is a 30-something Japanese woman whose mother had recently died. Chihiro's father was a Tokyo businessman, and son of rich, prominent parents. The kind of parents who would not have approved of a marriage between the two. Chihiro sees her mothers death in some ways as a blessing, but then she has not had time to deal with what the loss really means. Now that her mother has passed on, she sees herself as free. She is anxious to leave the small town she grew up in and see what the big city has to offer.

In Tokyo, her graphic artist background lands her a job painting a mural on an elementary school that was to be torn down. In her free time, she finds herself staring out of the window of her second floor apartment. In the building across the way, also on the second floor, a young man about her age is staring back at her. On a daily basis an unspoken friendship among two strangers begins until the two finally meet. The young man is, Nakajima, and before long the two begin a somewhat unusual relationship; he too has lost a mother. Nakajima is smart, studying genetics, yet he is emotionally cold, distant and definitely a bit odd. At first Chihiro thought he might even be gay, when in fact his painful past has affected his present self. As Chihiro learns more about the mysterious Nakajimi, she finds her art begins to reflect what she has learned about her new romantic interest. As the couple begins to find a comfortable rhythm together, the secrets of the past are brought to the forefront, disturbing the couple's new found peace.

This book was translated from the Japanese, so for me I had a little trouble with the flow. For most part, it was not a huge problem. Although the story held my interest, in that I wanted to find out the terrible thing that Nakajima had experienced in childhood, I was only able to read about 40 pages at a time of this less than 200 page novel. When all is finally revealed, and the final page had been turned, I was satisfied with what I had read. The Lake, is definitely different, a style that is not for everyone, but one you might enjoy, especially if you are a fan of author Haruki Murakami.