If you’re used to spicy food, Japanese food may at first taste a little bland. It’s only after a while that your palate can detect the subtle variations of broiled eel, soba noodles or miso soup (to name a few of my favorites).
Yoshimoto’s short stories are very similar. If you just finished reading a very emotional story or anything with a particularly twisted plot before picking this book, you may miss out on all the fun and not like it at all: most of her stories are about subtle, almost infinitesimal changes in her main characters. Not a brutal epiphany, just a sort of drift from their original position in order to find themselves (more) at peace with the world.
The main characters often seem ordinary, but there’s always a twist, sometimes a supernatural fact that is presented in very ordinary, understated terms, sometimes a psychological state where the character (more often than not a young urban woman) feels a bit of an outsider, slightly naïve (bordering to childish) and taking everything lightly, even life-changing decisions. They seem to worry little and attach themselves even less. I have seen many Japanese young women act like this, and to a Western person, it’s very puzzling. For example, in the last story of this collection, “A strange tale from down by the river” (the one I preferred, together with Dreaming of Kimchee), a young engaged woman suddenly learns that her fiancé has been informed of her previous intense sexual life. In a Western novel, you would expect a storm of emotions, arguments from the betrayed man, shame, guilt, threats, pleas, and lots of tears. I won’t tell you the end, but at least I can reveal that you won’t get any of those expectations fulfilled.
These stories are very soothing and serene. I appreciated that the backdrop was contemporary Japan and not full of local clichés (sushi on tatamis etc.), but the philosophy behind them is undoubtedly very Japanese.
The food analogy is brilliant…this really has me interested.
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