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 religious cult. . . .

Sending as part of the Summer Gift Giving RABCK to ApoloniaX. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for your SGG package, lauraloo29. I've read other books by Banana Yoshimoto, but not this one, great!

A quick worthwhile read (less than 200 pages) - it's all about loss, with a very introspective tone, and well-drawn-out characters.
Reserved for sakirmo, for the wishlist tag game.

Hope you enjoy it too!

This wishlist book arrived yesterday, thanks! I've read a couple of books from Yoshimoto before and have really enjoyed them, so I'm looking forward to starting this one too :)

Quite enjoyed this one! Will leave it at Little Britannia store (not in Kauppahalli anymore though, but in Hansa's Kultatalo) tomorrow.

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Osallistun tällä myös 52 viikkoa -vapautushaasteeseen. Lauantaina on Valon päivä, joka on samalla myös masennuksen vastainen päivä, ja tässä kirjassa molemmat päähenkilöt ponnistelevat omista traumoistaan/masennuksestaan valoa kohti.