Dead-End Memories by Banana Yoshimoto
Cosmic Review Entry 002: The Tenderness that is Banana Yoshimoto's writing
If tenderness is a book, then this book will be the embodiment of the word, in every sense.
If you’ve never read any of Banana Yoshimoto’s books before, then, I IMPLORE you to get a head start now.
There’s something so poignant and beautiful in her writing. Honestly, it’s hard to really describe HOW TENDER Banana Yoshimoto’s works are. My experience with all of her books had varied, but if there’s one thing that I loved about her, is in how she had mastered the art of describing the everyday things - from the feel of the wind, to how the warmth of the sun feels on our skin - Yoshimoto knows how to word out the unsaid emotions and lets you just…. feel. Everything.
Dead-End Memories are one of her works that I picked up during a major relapse. And I always find it interesting, how books comes to us at the right moment and at the right time, because, this book was just what I needed during that moment.
Made up of 5 Short Stories, Dead-End Memories revolves around the theme of Self-Exploration and The Complex Relationships between humans. The stories varies from one to another.
House of Ghosts (4.75🌟) showed the tenderness of love throughout the ages. Its a belief of of a simple thing called fate. Personally, this one had gotten me smiling all the way to the end.
Mama! (5🌟) is a story of self-exploration and the appreciation for life after a big incident occurred that lets you reconnect with your own self. This one had gotten me sobbing so much. I loved the different perspective that Yoshimoto had let us readers explored in here.
Not Warm At All (5🌟) another story that had gotten me bawling my eyes out. This story was the shortest in the collection but it had left the biggest impact throughout. Yoshimoto played around with a lot of words in here that can mean two things if seeing it through a different perspective.
Tomo Chan’s Happiness (4.25🌟) is a story that is quirky to its name.
Dead-End Memories (5🌟) was a story that I didn’t expect to love but its a show that sometimes, a person comes into your life and they are there to make an impact, even if they are not yours, and that is okay.
Explore this book on your own! You will find yourself immersed in the world of Yoshimoto, through a lense that is almost surreal.