DeadEnd Memories, Banana Yoshimoto
DeadEnd Memories, Banana Yoshimoto
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Dead-End Memories
Stories

Author: Banana Yoshimoto, Asa Yoneda

Narrator: Kathleen Li

Unabridged: 4 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/06/2022


Synopsis

Japan's internationally celebrated master storyteller returns with five stories of women on their way to healing that vividly portrays the blissful moments and the sorrows that surround us in everyday life

First published in Japan in 2003, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery.

Among the women we meet in Dead-End Memories is one betrayed by her fiancé who finds a perfect refuge in an apartment above her uncle's bar while seeking the real meaning of happiness. In "House of Ghosts," the daughter of a yoshoku restaurant owner encounters the ghosts of a sweet elderly couple who haven't yet realized that they've been dead for years. In "Tomo-chan's Happiness," an office worker who is a victim of sexual assault finally catches sight of the hope of romance.

Yoshimoto's gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the "most precious work of my writing career."

About Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto is the author of the international bestseller Kitchen. She has published ten books in English translation, including Goodbye Tsugumi, Moshi Moshi, and most recently, Dead-End Memories. Her work has been translated and published in more than thirty countries. In Italy, she won the Scanno Literary Prize in 1993, the Fendissime Literary Prize in 1996, the Maschera d'Argento Prize in 1999, and the Capri Award in 2011. She lives in Tokyo.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Liong on September 22, 2024

The first book I read by this author was Kitchen. I loved all five stories in the collection; reading them felt relaxing and comforting. One quote from Dead-End Memories that resonated with me was from Mimi: "I'm just happy he's here. I don't need him to be mine." It reminds me that loving someone doesn......more

Goodreads review by Adam on July 23, 2022

it's a really beautiful, weird story collection and I'm sad I've never read her before! The stories move in surprising ways, and the gentle touch with everything from ghosts to poisoning to abuse is remarkable.......more

Goodreads review by Reading_ on October 09, 2022

For you if you like the style of Sally Rooney, Haruki Murakami, Jhumpa Lahiri and also if you enjoy reading Japanese stories/movies in general. Read each story as it is, as it comes. Read it from an adult’s point of view. However I do feel the stories could have been way shorter.......more

Goodreads review by Emily on December 26, 2024

[URL not allowed] A charming, heartfelt collection that centers on the life changing powers of love and loss. Through the eyes of five protagonists reflecting on their relationships to families and lovers, we see the snapshots of life, the everyday moments that seem routine, b......more

Goodreads review by Sam on November 23, 2022

I read Banana Yoshimoto’s Hardboiled & Hard Luck a few years ago and hated it but decided to give her another shot - maybe I just picked the wrong book? So I gave Dead-end Memories, her 2003 short story collection published in English for the first time this year, a chance and… nope! I just don’t th......more