<![CDATA[Hardboiled and Hard Luck]]>

false <![CDATA[Hardboiled and Hard Luck]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170367439m/50142.jpg 50142 13 <div>In cherished novels such as <i>Kitchen</i> and <i>Goodbye Tsugumi</i>, Banana Yoshimoto’s warm, witty, and heartfelt depictions of the lives of young Japanese have earned her international acclaim and best-seller status. Her insightful, spare vision returns in two novellas possessed by the ghosts of love found and lost. In <i>Hardboiled</i>, the unnamed narrator is hiking in the mountains on an anniversary she has forgotten about, the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death. As she nears her hotel—stopping on the way at a hillside shrine and a strange soba shop—a sense of haunting falls over her. Perhaps these eerie events will help her make peace with her loss. <i>Hard Luck</i> is about another young woman, whose sister is dying and lies in a coma. Kuni’s fiancé left her after the accident, but his brother Sakai continues to visit, and the two of them gradually grow closer as they make peace with the impending loss of their loved one. Yoshimoto’s voice is clear, assured, and deeply moving, displaying again why she is one of Japan’s, and the world’s, most beloved writers.</div> 1096616 2001 Hardboiled and Hard Luck total:417|5:58|4:167|3:149|2:40|1:3| 417 1488 599 60 4 1 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 17:56:31 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 12:29:56 -0700 2008 Hardboiled & Hard Luck, which is actually two novellas (some would even call them long short stories) rather than a single novel, is adorable. It's smaller and thinner than your average trade paperback, with a matte pastel cover. Holding it feels like holding a kitten or a newborn, s...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jun 12 07:51:34 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 14:47:37 -0700 2007 Banana Yoshimoto is that she needs a better translator. Not that she's not sensational -- she definitely is -- but I feel like there's a sort of choppiness in her prose sometimes, an occasionally awkward turn of phrase. She is really in the same class as Haruki Murakami...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jul 31 17:42:03 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 17:42:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 09:31:22 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 21:19:18 -0800 2009 Hardboiled in the bath and Hard Luck curled up in bed, and this was exactly the best way to read them.

Hardboiled is a ghost story, set in the woods and a hotel on the anniversary of the narrator's roommate/lover's d...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jan 04 01:52:46 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 02:02:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Sat Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 11:10:07 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 11:14:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 20:14:44 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 21:39:06 -0800 2009 Goodbye, Tsugumi before I read this one, and didn't love it, but wanted to try her again and was completely taken with these two novellas: sparse, clean, and haunting. Very different from lots of my other most-appreciated books, but for whatever reason, I was in completely the right frame o...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 14:36:45 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 14:41:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 23:28:51 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 19:36:35 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 00:37:48 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 00:49:16 -0700 2009 In Hardboiled i found death.
I almost gave in but, the story made me pause the giving in action.
Well, now I still don't like death's topic but somehow, Banana Yoshimoto has made me see death in some unique perspectives.
I think, I need to recons...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 05:39:37 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 05:44:06 -0700 2009
Of the two short stories, I really liked "Hard Luck". "Hardboiled" was a bit too much of a Murakami knock-off (even though I like Murakami...).]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 15:30:06 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 04:19:15 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Aug 11 07:38:07 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 07:42:44 -0700 2009
Harboiled better than Hard Luck. ]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 24 10:00:11 -0800 2007 Thu Jul 03 11:04:01 -0700 2008
This also isn't really her best work in my opinion. I would like to see something different from her. So far everything has been so similar. And I f...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 06:12:04 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 06:13:20 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sat Apr 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 21:10:38 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 21:24:12 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Nov 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 18:18:28 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 18:21:32 -0800 2009 Hardboiled

I liked this book a lot]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 05:52:28 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 05:59:26 -0700 2007
Slowly paced, two stories about encountering loss of the death of a loved one. Another one is losing a sister who lapses into a coma and falling in love with someone new.

It's a re...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 17:36:35 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 05:29:43 -0700 2009 3 0 false true Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat Sep 15 17:42:58 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 18 12:15:58 -0700 2008
i lik...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=50142