"Maria is the only daughter of an unmarried woman. She has grown uo at the seaside alongside her cousin Tsugumi, a lifelong invalid, charismatic, spoiled, and occasionaly cruel. Now Maria´s father is finally able to bring Maria and her mother to Tokyo, ushering Maria into the world of impending adulthood. When Tsugumi invites Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love, and Maria learns the true meaning of home and family."

I first discovered this book as an tempting cover on the side of the bookcrossing-page, but it took me some more hunting to actually find it in real to read. It is finally bought used from a great bookstore and cafe in Prague, Shakespeare & Synove, where they send it from another sweet czech town, Cesky Krumlov, from my special request.
My expectations were high, maybe too much so, as I didn´t enjoy this quite as much as some other "Bananas", but still it is a nice and fast read. And a very nice book as an object to hold - with that tempting cover of course.

As Yoshimoto´s books seem to appear in wishlists in Finland, I will first try this as a bookring there. Then let´s see what´s more to come for this book...


Participants of the Tsugumi-ring:

ruzena
polenka
thy
erpax

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Goodbye Tsugumi! Have a nice travel and good ring, be back one day. Sent to Ruzena today.

Tsugumi arrived!

This was my first Banana, and having expected "something", I was a bit disappointed.

The friendship of the cousins was beautiful indeed, and the Haunted Mailbox episode that made Maria understand Tsugumi's behavior was genious. The author also succeeded in contradicting the slow and silent seaside milieu to the fiery temper of Tsugumi.
In the beginning, as Tsugumi was introduced as such a weird person, I expected some surprising plot. Soon I realized that more than a story line, this is a psychological novel. That's okay. Yet I didn't get enough insight into these persons.
I also found it annoying that the congenital and fatal disease Tsugumi was suffering was never given a name. Perhaps it was not important, but as it was never named, it became important. And was it really the illness that made the young girl act out her misery? And what about the stunning end?

I see the book raised thoughts after all :) Thank you for sharing, AgdaAgulina.
Travelling soon.

-ruzena

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Bookring book sent to polenka by post.

Thanks for the book, it arrived here safely :)

Unlike AgdaAGulina, I didn't find this book fast to read. Yoshimoto's language is very beautiful and she/he describes people, memories and landscapes with care and skill, and because of that I couldn't rush through pages, and usually I read only chapter or two in a day; the book felt someway heavy to me. I didn't really get into the characters, but all in all, the book left me little feeling little bit sad and bittersweet. Although the book told about summer, I think I would have enjoyd it more if I read it in winter.

Sending to thy next week.

Tsugumi arrived, thanks!

I don't know what to think about the book (which is probably a good thing). I can't say that I liked it but I finished reading it last weekend and find myself still thinking about it. I liked the writing style, not much of the characters, especially Tsugumi. And what was that boy in the hole..., remainded me of Murakami's books.
btw, I had the same feeling as polenka, I also thought that the book could be enjoyed more if read in winter.

Sent to erpax today

Tsugumi has probably arrived already at last week when I was away. Looks interesting. Many thanks, AgdaAgulina and thy!

It is almost two weeks since I read this book and asked for the address to close this book ring.

Well, I still don’t have the address because we are waiting if there will be new readers in the ring. And moreover, I still don’t know what should be written about this book. :)

At least, I enjoyed reading this book a lot. Not because of the psychological tension in the complicated friendship between Maria and Tsugumi but because of the beautiful, figurative language that once and while took a center stage. Especially, the way how ocean was present all the time was pleasant. I would really have enjoyed walking by the ocean shore through heavy rain to the biggest bookstore in the town: “ I took a road parallel to the shore on my way to the bookstore. The beach had been dyed completely black by the rain, and it was as still and peaceful as a graveyard – it felt weird to see it like that. The rain falling on the water broke into the roaring waves, sending out thousands upon thousands of ripples. “ Maria’s intuition that in towns near the sea the rain falls in a more hushed, lonely way than in other places, was fascinating. She thought that perhaps the ocean absorbs the sound. Anyway, novel was just as beautiful as the illustration on the front cover.

Many thanks, AgdaAgulina! :)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Goodbye Tsugumi! Have a safe trip back to home.

And so Tsugumi returned home. Thank you very much for all the readers!!