Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Melville House (2011), Hardcover, 192 pages
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:A major literary sensation is back with a quietly stunning tour de force about the redemptive power of love. While The Lake shows off many of the features that have made Banana Yoshimoto famous�??a cast of vivid and quirky characters, simple yet nuanced prose, a tight plot with an upbeat pace�??it's also one of the most darkly mysterious books she's ever written. It tells the tale of a young woman who moves to Tokyo after the death of her mother, hoping to get over her grief and start a career as a graphic artist. She finds herself spending too much time staring out her window, though ... until she realizes she's gotten used to seeing a young man across the street staring out his window, too. They eventually embark on a hesitant romance, until she learns that he has been the victim of some form of childhood trauma. Visiting two of his friends who live a monastic life beside a beautiful lake, she begins to piece together a series of clues that lead her to suspect his experience may have had something to do with a bizarre secret from his past. . . . With echoes of real life events, such as the Aum Shinrikyo cult (the group that released poison gas in the Tokyo subway system) and the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korea, The Lake unfolds as the most powerful novel Banana Yoshimoto has written. And as the two young lovers overcome their troubled past to discover hope in the beautiful solitude of the lake in the countryside, it's also one of her most m… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member leahdawn
Another excellent work by Banana Yoshimoto. The story is a little slow at the outset, but events pull together so well by the end. The story is both touching and devastating all at once.
LibraryThing member snash
The Lake was a quiet but deep look at how people go on after childhood traumas, their limitations and their adaptations. I found it an excellent book with great insight and some quotes to hold on to.
LibraryThing member GreatImaginations
Alright..this is another review I have been dreading, truthfully because I don't have a lot to say. And it's hard, because I hate when that happens. I feel like I'm doing the author a disservice. But here's the thing. This was a fairly short novel and to me it read more like a short story. Which
I like a certain amount of detail in my reading and I felt like that was lacking in The Lake. There were hardly any place descriptions and it was very hard to picture exactly what was going on. I know that doesn't matter to some people, but it matters to me.
I also felt that there was an emotional disconnect. I didn't particularly care what happened to the characters, especially Nikajima, who I think the author intended me to have a lot of sympathy for. I just felt a complete lack of emotion for anything that was going on, and I found that to be a shame because the story had a great deal of potential.
The idea of the plot and the summary of the story really drew me in and was what initially made me want to read the book. It sounded a bit scary and mysterious. Plus the cover is absolutely mesmerizing. I wish it had been as good as i thought it was going to be.
The reason why I gave it three stars? I really enjoyed the writing style. I just wish it had been a little more detailed. She really does write beautifully. It's a very simple writing style, but manages to be quite poetic. And like I said, I really loved the plotline. I just feel the story would have been so much more if I felt emotionally invested in the characters, even if it was just a little bit.
I am very interested in reading another Banana Yoshimoto though, and I have added a few of her books to my TBR list. Maybe I will have better luck with another book. I hope so, because I really appreciate what she was trying to do here.
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would have been fine if I had been prepared for that going in. But I wasn't. This also the first Yoshimoto I have ever read and I did like it, but not as much as I thought I would. I'm going to try and articulate why. I like a certain amount of detail in my reading and I felt like that was lacking in The Lake. There were hardly any place descriptions and it was very hard to picture exactly what was going on. I know that doesn't matter to some people, but it matters to me.
I also felt that there was an emotional disconnect. I didn't particularly care what happened to the characters, especially Nikajima, who I think the author intended me to have a lot of sympathy for. I just felt a complete lack of emotion for anything that was going on, and I found that to be a shame because the story had a great deal of potential.
The idea of the plot and the summary of the story really drew me in and was what initially made me want to read the book. It sounded a bit scary and mysterious. Plus the cover is absolutely mesmerizing. I wish it had been as good as i thought it was going to be.
The reason why I gave it three stars? I really enjoyed the writing style. I just wish it had been a little more detailed. She really does write beautifully. It's a very simple writing style, but manages to be quite poetic. And like I said, I really loved the plotline. I just feel the story would have been so much more if I felt emotionally invested in the characters, even if it was just a little bit.
I am very interested in reading another Banana Yoshimoto though, and I have added a few of her books to my TBR list. Maybe I will have better luck with another book. I hope so, because I really appreciate what she was trying to do here.
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LibraryThing member mojomomma
I didn't care for this novel at all. I remember liking Kitchen, which I read years ago, much more than Lake. Chihiro falls in love with the odd young man down the street. Something is different about him, but it takes her 150 pages to figure it out. The last 35 pages are pretty good. The lead up to
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the climax is torturously dull. Show Less
LibraryThing member banjo123
[The Lake] by [[Banana Yoshimoto]] is a sweet little book. The narrator is a relentlessly upbeat, charming young woman. Very soon, it’s clear that her optimism covers a lot of pain. She was an illegitimate child in a small town, daughter of a prominent businessman and the hostess of a popular
The book depicts how Chihiro deflects from her own difficult past by focusing on someone else, seemingly more fragile than herself. I have run into many people like this, and sometimes even have a bit of Chihiro in me.
My main criticism of the book is that it is too short. I would especially like to have seen a deeper exploration of Nakajima’s past.
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night club. She is still reeling from her mother’s death; when she meets and becomes attached to a young man, Nakajima, who has been broken by a mysterious past. Our narrator, Chihiro, is clearly a talented artist, but she undervalues her own talents and portrays her success and merely a matter of luck.The book depicts how Chihiro deflects from her own difficult past by focusing on someone else, seemingly more fragile than herself. I have run into many people like this, and sometimes even have a bit of Chihiro in me.
My main criticism of the book is that it is too short. I would especially like to have seen a deeper exploration of Nakajima’s past.
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LibraryThing member heterotopic
Imagine taking a walk with the protagonist of the story, and having her tell you a surreal story. You don't really get to know her as much as you get to know her haunting tale, but it's alright. You walk on and she takes you to the lake, where everything supposedly happens and where all the
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characters come together, and then she goes, and you are left with a haunting feeling. This is pretty much how the novel (novella) was for me. It's a quick read but, like other Yoshimoto books, will leave you with a haunting feeling long after you've finished the book. I agree with some that it's not at par with her other works, yet it still has that 'distinct' Yoshimoto voice I've come to enjoy. Show Less
LibraryThing member JenneB
Strange and haunting. I didn't always love it while I was reading it, but I can't stop thinking about it now. Images from it just keep floating up.
Oh and apparently the jacket copy gives away a big plot point (really kind of the only plot point) so don t read it if you're going to read the book!
Oh and apparently the jacket copy gives away a big plot point (really kind of the only plot point) so don t read it if you're going to read the book!
LibraryThing member missizicks
This is the first book by Banana Yoshimoto that I've read. I didn't know what to expect, and I found it a little cold at the beginning, but as the characters developed I warmed to them. The book is a good character study of two people struggling with the extraordinary and the mundane, working out a
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way to fit together. It's moody but satisfying. There's a mystery to be unravelled and an air of uncertainty runs through the book. I found it very compelling. Show Less
LibraryThing member RealLifeReading
Chihiro, a painter of murals, tells the story of The Lake. Her late mother was the owner and ‘mama-san’ of a club and her father is of some prominence in their small rural town. The book opens with her mother’s hospitalisation and death, which leaves Chihiro feeling lost and distanced and
There’s a tenacity in him that’s beyond all that. The intensity of a person unafraid of death, at the end of his rope.
Maybe that’s how I knew we would get along.
Yes there is an actual lake in this book.
“The water was so still you almost felt like it would absorb any sounds that reached it. The surface might have been a mirror. Then a wind blew up and sent small waves drifting across it. The only sound was the chirping of birds that whirled around us, high and low.”
Nakajima and Chihiro travel several hours to get to it, to a little shack by the lake that Nakajima and his mother used to live in, and which is now the home of Mino and Chii, siblings who make their living as clairvoyants. That is, Mino voices what the bedridden Chii ‘sees’. Mino also makes the most delicious tea, from spring water.
“The tea, made from leaves with a subtly smoky aroma, was so good I could feel my senses sharpening. It had a sweetness to it, and at the end of each sip I’d catch a whiff of fruit.”
And this is that kind of book that is to be read with a pot of steaming tea (lapsang souchong perhaps?) next to you - and I suppose if you have a view of a lake, that would be helpful. Because this is story that gradually awakens.
I made the mistake of glancing at an interview with Banana Yoshimoto about The Lake which revealed more than I cared to know (at the point of my reading progress). The Goodreads description also reveals just a little too much about the story. So hopefully I’ve managed not to, and if you are interested in reading this book, just jump right in and read it, without reading too much about it! Because Yoshimoto (and her translator) has written a book that seems, at first glance, simple, direct. But there is so much more beneath.
“But sometimes we encounter people like Nakajima who compel us to remember it all. He doesn’t have to say or do anything in particular; just looking at him, you find yourself face-to-face with the enormousness of the world as a whole. Because he doesn’t try to live in just a part of it. Because he doesn’t avert his gaze.
He makes me feel like I’ve suddenly awakened, and I want to go on watching him forever. That, I think, is what it is. I’m awed by his terrible depths.”
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eventually she moves to Tokyo, where she meets Nakajima, who lives in the building diagonally across. She finds herself attracted to him.There’s a tenacity in him that’s beyond all that. The intensity of a person unafraid of death, at the end of his rope.
Maybe that’s how I knew we would get along.
Yes there is an actual lake in this book.
“The water was so still you almost felt like it would absorb any sounds that reached it. The surface might have been a mirror. Then a wind blew up and sent small waves drifting across it. The only sound was the chirping of birds that whirled around us, high and low.”
Nakajima and Chihiro travel several hours to get to it, to a little shack by the lake that Nakajima and his mother used to live in, and which is now the home of Mino and Chii, siblings who make their living as clairvoyants. That is, Mino voices what the bedridden Chii ‘sees’. Mino also makes the most delicious tea, from spring water.
“The tea, made from leaves with a subtly smoky aroma, was so good I could feel my senses sharpening. It had a sweetness to it, and at the end of each sip I’d catch a whiff of fruit.”
And this is that kind of book that is to be read with a pot of steaming tea (lapsang souchong perhaps?) next to you - and I suppose if you have a view of a lake, that would be helpful. Because this is story that gradually awakens.
I made the mistake of glancing at an interview with Banana Yoshimoto about The Lake which revealed more than I cared to know (at the point of my reading progress). The Goodreads description also reveals just a little too much about the story. So hopefully I’ve managed not to, and if you are interested in reading this book, just jump right in and read it, without reading too much about it! Because Yoshimoto (and her translator) has written a book that seems, at first glance, simple, direct. But there is so much more beneath.
“But sometimes we encounter people like Nakajima who compel us to remember it all. He doesn’t have to say or do anything in particular; just looking at him, you find yourself face-to-face with the enormousness of the world as a whole. Because he doesn’t try to live in just a part of it. Because he doesn’t avert his gaze.
He makes me feel like I’ve suddenly awakened, and I want to go on watching him forever. That, I think, is what it is. I’m awed by his terrible depths.”
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LibraryThing member mirikayla
For how short this book is, the number of times I was stopped short by a sentence or phrase or paragraph is really unbelievable. I just love the way Japanese works when it's translated into English, and Yoshimoto is such a promising prospect for me. I liked Kitchen, but it wasn't anything
"It was an emotion that none of these people, struggling so hard to impose a shape on a life when life has no shape, could begin to understand."
"That's how I was. I felt close to people, but I didn't have any friends I could really share my life with, our hearts melting together. Something always failed to communicate."
"You never know you're happy until later. Because physical sensations like smells and exhaustion don't figure into our memories, I guess. Only the good bits bob up into view."
"He was quiet in the way people are when they believe the world would get along just fine without them."
"I felt how important the simplest things were, like feeling proud, finding something funny, stretching yourself, retreating into yourself."
"Here we were, two ridiculously fragile people, sliding along on a very thin layer of ice all the time, each of us ready to slip and take the other down at any moment, the most unsteady of couples—and yet I believed what I had said. It would be all right. Going along like that, I felt like we were high above the clouds, shining."
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particularly notable. This book, though. I am going to remember it."It was an emotion that none of these people, struggling so hard to impose a shape on a life when life has no shape, could begin to understand."
"That's how I was. I felt close to people, but I didn't have any friends I could really share my life with, our hearts melting together. Something always failed to communicate."
"You never know you're happy until later. Because physical sensations like smells and exhaustion don't figure into our memories, I guess. Only the good bits bob up into view."
"He was quiet in the way people are when they believe the world would get along just fine without them."
"I felt how important the simplest things were, like feeling proud, finding something funny, stretching yourself, retreating into yourself."
"Here we were, two ridiculously fragile people, sliding along on a very thin layer of ice all the time, each of us ready to slip and take the other down at any moment, the most unsteady of couples—and yet I believed what I had said. It would be all right. Going along like that, I felt like we were high above the clouds, shining."
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LibraryThing member greeniezona
I bought this book because a) Banana Yoshimoto (Kitchen was one of my most beloved books of my college years) and b) Melville House (my favorite publisher).
There is a phrase in the discussion questions at the end of this book that I just can't get away from. Yoshimoto's writing has been described
Calling her characters quirky is dismissive to the point of rudeness. If they are odd, it is in their rare capacity to own and be honest about their woundedness, and in their respectful care of each other. Quirky if bravery and gentleness are quirks.
Not your ordinary love story. More lovely than that.
There is a phrase in the discussion questions at the end of this book that I just can't get away from. Yoshimoto's writing has been described
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as "deceptively simple," and I think that's exactly right. Reading her prose is kind of like looking at pictures through the melancholic soft focus filters so popular on Instagram, but then, the actual subject matter is so incredibly sharp: losing a parent, classism, the commodification of the arts, and the central mystery of the book -- just what happened to Nakajima as a child?Calling her characters quirky is dismissive to the point of rudeness. If they are odd, it is in their rare capacity to own and be honest about their woundedness, and in their respectful care of each other. Quirky if bravery and gentleness are quirks.
Not your ordinary love story. More lovely than that.
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LibraryThing member Calavari
The Lake was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I didn't really know what to expect. As usual, I read the description when I first chose to put the book on my TBR and didn't bother looking at it again when I sat down to read it. What's the point, I already knew I was interested. I have
The book is about two broken young people and the barriers they've built around themselves. It's one of those books that really makes me appreciate WIT Month and the new points of view that it has been bringing with it. Had the book been written by an author in the US, it probably would have involved one broken person with barriers and one broken person with no barriers and the no-barrier person smashing everything the barrier person has until they relent. US books are kind of violent that way sometimes. But not this book. These barriers are in place and they aren't downright smashed. Instead, the method with which they are tried is more subtle. This was also not yet another story about a manic pixie dream girl (or boy) coaxing a member of the opposite sex out of their depression or any other form of extrovert convincing an introvert that there's something wrong with their introversion.
It's a beautiful story that I have fallen in love with for it's quiet little moments and realizations. I appreciated the way that Chihiro and Nakajima come together and the way they respect each other's boundaries, the way both entreated the other to come out of their shells without actually asking for it. I liked their comfortable discomfort, if that makes sense. It's in their brokenness. There was something about the way their embraced their brokenness rather than ran away from it, although some might say they were running. I never felt that way about them. They just knew who they were and who they weren't.
The idea behind the lake itself was interesting, and I won't spoil it. I'll just say that I spent some time wondering when we were going to get to where the title came from and it came in increments. The first time I saw the lake, I didn't get it's significance. Eventually it was made clear.
All together, I loved The Lake and look forward to checking out more work from Banana Yoshimoto. Every time I think about the characters in the days since I finished it, I get a wispy nostalgic feeling already. It was just adorable.
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to say that I truly enjoy the surprises that has been giving me.The book is about two broken young people and the barriers they've built around themselves. It's one of those books that really makes me appreciate WIT Month and the new points of view that it has been bringing with it. Had the book been written by an author in the US, it probably would have involved one broken person with barriers and one broken person with no barriers and the no-barrier person smashing everything the barrier person has until they relent. US books are kind of violent that way sometimes. But not this book. These barriers are in place and they aren't downright smashed. Instead, the method with which they are tried is more subtle. This was also not yet another story about a manic pixie dream girl (or boy) coaxing a member of the opposite sex out of their depression or any other form of extrovert convincing an introvert that there's something wrong with their introversion.
It's a beautiful story that I have fallen in love with for it's quiet little moments and realizations. I appreciated the way that Chihiro and Nakajima come together and the way they respect each other's boundaries, the way both entreated the other to come out of their shells without actually asking for it. I liked their comfortable discomfort, if that makes sense. It's in their brokenness. There was something about the way their embraced their brokenness rather than ran away from it, although some might say they were running. I never felt that way about them. They just knew who they were and who they weren't.
The idea behind the lake itself was interesting, and I won't spoil it. I'll just say that I spent some time wondering when we were going to get to where the title came from and it came in increments. The first time I saw the lake, I didn't get it's significance. Eventually it was made clear.
All together, I loved The Lake and look forward to checking out more work from Banana Yoshimoto. Every time I think about the characters in the days since I finished it, I get a wispy nostalgic feeling already. It was just adorable.
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LibraryThing member cdyankeefan
An unexpected romance blooms between two unlikely people in this endearing novel. Set in Japan Nakajima and Chikiros relationship begins in a rather unusual fashion. Both come from unorthodox backgrounds and the major part of the novel addresses how they both deal with their pasts. This is a sweet
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engaging novel that under 200 pages is a quick enjoyable read. Show Less
LibraryThing member christina.h
'The Lake' is one of my favorite books in recent years.
I paged through the book in order to write a more concise review, but without writing a long-winded ramble, all I can say is that I find immense charm in the way that Yoshimoto allows her narrator to tell not only her own story, but that of her
I love the recognition of personal flaws that has been rounded out by a will to move forward. I love that Chihiro and Nakajima have found each other in such a way, and that they do not pity or necessarily humor one another, so much as allow the other to exist where they are. Everything about their bond feels simultaneously bulletproof and delicate. There's a feeling of healing and promise, but there's still a fear that the bleaker aspects of humanity could bring all of it crashing down.
'The Lake' is one of those books where I'll sit down and read it cover-to-cover, but also enjoy just casually leafing through. It's such lovely prose, and full of raw, but not overdramatic emotion.
I paged through the book in order to write a more concise review, but without writing a long-winded ramble, all I can say is that I find immense charm in the way that Yoshimoto allows her narrator to tell not only her own story, but that of her
Show More
lover. In this case, I cannot offer critique so much as a list of everything about 'The Lake' that I love.I love the recognition of personal flaws that has been rounded out by a will to move forward. I love that Chihiro and Nakajima have found each other in such a way, and that they do not pity or necessarily humor one another, so much as allow the other to exist where they are. Everything about their bond feels simultaneously bulletproof and delicate. There's a feeling of healing and promise, but there's still a fear that the bleaker aspects of humanity could bring all of it crashing down.
'The Lake' is one of those books where I'll sit down and read it cover-to-cover, but also enjoy just casually leafing through. It's such lovely prose, and full of raw, but not overdramatic emotion.
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LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
Book No 7 in my Japanese foray.
An interesting love story but maybe more than that too. Like all the rest that I have read, it is very poetic and landscape/surrounds/environment almost becomes another character.
A story that hints at something but does not reveal it until the very end. I did not
Low key, soft and gentle and surprising.
An interesting love story but maybe more than that too. Like all the rest that I have read, it is very poetic and landscape/surrounds/environment almost becomes another character.
A story that hints at something but does not reveal it until the very end. I did not
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think it would ever be revealed and was surprised when it was. I won't spoil it for you. But if you read this then read the book, the book is not about what is revealed or hidden, that it a facet but not the main picture, the book is about what unfolds naturally along the way.Low key, soft and gentle and surprising.
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Awards
Man Asian Literary Prize (Shortlist — 2011)
Language
Original publication date
2005 (original Japanese)
2011 (English: Emmerich)
Physical description
192 p.; 8.6 inches
ISBN
1933633778 / 9781933633770