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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Once, just once, I met the most incredible person on the train. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mediocre collection of short stories,
By
This review is from: Lizard (Paperback)
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto is a mediocre collection of six short stories, each of which discuss the turning point of the main characters' lives. None of the stories was exceptional, since the stories can hardly be recalled even though I have just competed the novel. But if I had to choose the best one, it would be Dreaming Of Kimchee. Lizard can be completed within about 3.5 hours. If you are starting to read Yoshimoto's works, I would suggest reading Kitchen first, as it is her best novel that I have read thus far.After reading Kitchen, Yoshimoto's other novel, I feel that she has the potential to write a good story, but sadly usually manages to write short stories, most of which feel incomplete. I am glad that Lizard was not about the loss of a loved one. I have read three novels by Yoshimoto, all of which were about loss, and I don't think I could have read another. May contain spoilers: Newlywed: A 28-years-old man that has been married for one month is unwilling to leave the train and go home to his wife. He meets an odd fell that makes him think and realize. Lizard: Is about 29-years-old male counsellor and therapist for emotionally disturbed children. Lizard is what he calls the woman he's been seeing with a lizard tattoo on her thigh has a secret to tell him. Helix: About a writer and his girlfriend. The writer comes to a realization about people. Dreaming of Kimchee: A woman is having difficulty coping with her relationship which first started off as an affair with a married man. Blood and Water: Chikaka, a girl that fled to Tokyo at the age of 18, after getting fed up of living in the village for 12 years. A Strange Tale from Down by the River: Akemi's hobby was sex, until one day she gave it up. She found love, but her old life is coming back to haunt her. "It amazed me how utterly different things can look, just with a change of heart." (173) 3/5
3.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly the work of a talented author, but...,
By "sir_graeme" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lizard (Paperback)
If you're in the mood for a classic, Lizard will disappoint. But if you'd like something that won't demand much mental energy but isn't too fluffy, Lizard might just be the ticket. (One of her stories was even serialized in the Tokyo subway system.)Banana Yoshimoto is certainly a talented writer, and it shows in Lizard. There are many passages that grab you in this collection of short stories. These passages are artfully written: they capture the moment, deceptively simple-sounding yet profoundly resonant. Very easy to read, but not very easy to truly understand. You'll want to savor them over and over. Yet most of her characters are rather two-dimensional. She brings up a lot of issues about living in today's world, with all of its loneliness and moral ambiguities, yet never fully explores all the issues that she brings up. Each of these short stories could be extended into a novella or a novel, and in my opinion, Yoshimoto should have done so. She often answers complicating issues with cop-out plot twists or well-written but overly brief assessments, instead of more fully examining their implications; thus she compromises the plausibility of her stories. The genre of magic realism -- which I'd define as works that are basically of the often-gritty realist tradition, but include some elements borrowed from science fiction, fantasy, and mythology -- has much potential, and Yoshimoto has certainly scratched its surface in Lizard. Yoshimoto has a clean, simple writing style and sensitivity towards things of beauty and truth. If you can overlook plot and character flaws, and appreciate these stories for their beautiful moments, you might like Lizard. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hope.. there is hope,
By Dian Wahyu Utami (Queensland, AU) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lizard (Paperback)
Personally, the book is not as gripping as I would like to be.But if you're looking only for light reading, then this book is good. A collection of 7 short stories with an underlying theme of Hope. Each of the character was presented in a situation and a conflict that separates them from their dreams. They put in the struggle and in the end they realized that one step further in their struggle is worth the effort because it changed the outcome of the situation and brought them closer to the realization of their dreams. Although perhaps each of the stories in this book doesn't really stand out by itself, together they send a powerful message of Hope.
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