Sinister: "Banana Yoshimoto: meet the man who sweats."

[allen]

Warning: no B&S and content! :(

On Fri, 7 May 1999, jarkko frantila wrote:

> Nice to see Dougie Coupland is popular here, although I personally think 
> "Polaroids from the dead" was a bit boring. Hmmm... Was it called that? 

The only Coupland books I've read were Shampoo Planet and a bit of
Microserfs (don't think I finished it).  The only thing that got to me about
the books was that they seemed to try so very hard to be hip and cool that I
just got so sick of them.  Too pretentious, I suppose.

> Can't remember. Talking of books, I'm reading Banana Yoshimoto's "Amrita" at 
> the moment, something like 50 pages to go. Pretty naive but wonderful. Not 
> as good as N.P. was, though. Can anyone tell me why all those Japanese 
> writers seem so gloomy but cheery at the same time? Yoshimoto writes about 
> death almost all the time, it's sad and suicide and spirits etc, but still 
> she manages to keep it a bit happy at the same time. Maybe it's their 
> culture? All in all, her text is sooooo beautiful (insert schoolgirl tone of 
> voice here). And a writer who's obsessed with Sonic Youth and also likes 
> Shonen Knife is always nice. Oh, sister I'm a poet.

I remember reading the first few paragraphs of Kitchen and falling in love
with the conversational style of her writing.  In order of favourites, I'd
rate Kitchen, then Lizard, then N.P.  I had bought Amrita long ago but could
never really get into it.  Is it worth picking up and trying again, do you
think?  Right now I'm reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which is
excellent.

Cheers,
Allen
--
"Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
Till your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle." -- Song to the Siren, Tim Buckley.

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