A review by james1star
N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

TW: this book and review contains mentions of suicide and incest 

I don’t know what to say about this book. It’s well written with characters and a ‘plot’ that makes you carry on reading, it’s engaging to start but then… I dunno? ‘n.p.’ follows the story of Kazami as she’s recounting around 6 months of a year whilst also thinking back to things (sort of). The central storyline consists of a book by the Japanese author Sarao Takase who shortly after completing the 89th story died by suicide and then the three people who have tried to translate the final story into Japanese (as it was written in English) then decide to die by suicide too. Kazami is roped into this world by the book’s latest victim Shoji who was her boyfriend. In the present day she’s reintroduced to Takase’s twin children Otohiko and Saki, then later to someone else involved with the family called Sui but revealing her connection is kinda a spoiler. Other things happen and it’s decent-ish, I liked seeing the MC becoming friends (kinda) with them but also a large chunk of this book was a little frustrating sort of. 

The book does have some positives with Yoshimoto’s writing being somewhat like a dream - it’s very strange to describe but it’s very intriguing. Parts of ‘n.p.’ are also very funny in a not witty or humorous way but just so bonkers I guess that I did quite like. The premise is also very fascinating and as soon as I got this I wanted to give it a read but held off to the beginning of July. But around halfway through I felt a little let down and it’s not that I had very high expectations but more I didn’t know where it was going or more importantly why. The discussion of incest and the ways certain characters try to minimise or romanticise it was very uncomfortable, and the more things fitted into place and the book developed I did want to remove myself in some essence… does that make sense? Like a few books I’ve read recently where suicide is a primary focus/motif, I wasn’t very pleased with the discourse on this matter. The character’s attitudes seemed rather blasé and it frustrated me when an inappropriate/unconcerned level of attention was given to the topic - I get suicide is viewed differently in East Asia then the ‘West’ but I don’t know, it’s a strange one to ponder. As I went on reading I was still enjoying the act of reading it but not necessarily the story or engaging with the characters. That being said, the ending was very good and I liked the ambiguity to it. 

I do and don’t recommend this book. That that as you will. 
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