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Hardboiled and Hard Luck

by Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (Translator)

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 · rating details · 1,532 ratings · 149 reviews

A collection of two novellas, Hardboiled & Hard Luck concerns two young women making sense of the past. In "Hardboiled," the narrator is hiking in the mountains, reminiscing about an old lover-the only lesbian relationship the narrator ever had-who is now dead. In a dream, she is visited by her ex-lover, who berates her for forgetting the anniversary of her death. Late...more

Paperback, 160 pages

Published September 14th 2006 by Grove Press (first published September 24th 2001)

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Mar 19, 2013 Praj rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: j-lit

Ms. Lizzie D’souza used to make the most decadent marzipan Easter eggs a palate has ever savored. Nestled oh so cozily among the delicate weaves of satin cradles, unwearyingly waiting for enthusiastic strangers through the glass casement, somehow brought ephemeral magic to the quaint bakery down the leafy street; evermore dazzling with Lizzie’s welcoming smile. Easter is still a month away, but the commencing of Lent has brought in an inventory of pre-orders of the sugary almond confectionery. “...more

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Jun 03, 2010 oriana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2007, read-2010

My totally unsubstantiated theory on 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. That's less true in this book than in some of her others, but still. I mean, she is really in the same class as Haruki Murakami, working with so many of the same themes, like aching loneliness, and the This Side / The Other Side dichotomy, wit...more

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Jun 01, 2010 Nilam Suri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lifesoothing, literature, japanese

I've never been a big fan of ghost stories, no matter how beautiful they were. So the first story, Hardboiled didn't do too well for me. It crept me though, especially in the hotel room scene.

But the second story, Hard Luck, i really love it. It made me remember why I insisted on finding another book by Ms. Yoshimoto after I read Kitchen.

The story was about a girl whose sister was dying because of cerebral hemisphere, or brain damage. While the sister was lying there, like a vegetable, the rest...more

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May 27, 2011 Katya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, box-of-chocolates, don-t-need-a-phd, horror, japanese, silently-contemplating, lgbtq

Is it just me, or is Banana Yoshimoto the cutest name you can imagine?

Confession: While I profess to love all things Japanese, I have a very limited knowledge of Japanese books. The most I've read by Japanese authors is by Haruki Murakami and Yasunari Kawabata, as well as several anthologies of haiku and tanka. I even got along well enough with hiragana and katagana, but as these things go, you must use it or lose it, and in my case, I lost it.

Not that I can't find it again.

Carry on... I learne...more Is it just me, or is Banana Yoshimoto the cutest name you can imagine?

Confession: While I profess to love all things Japanese, I have a very limited knowledge of Japanese books. The most I've read by Japanese authors is by Haruki Murakami and Yasunari Kawabata, as well as several anthologies of haiku and tanka. I even got along well enough with hiragana and katagana, but as these things go, you must use it or lose it, and in my case, I lost it.

Not that I can't find it again.

Carry on... I learned of Banana Yoshimoto thanks to a recent countdown of the 10 most influential Japanese contemporary writers, and right away, the name hooked me. I read that she chose it after the banana flower, and I think that is gorgeous, even if I've only seen google pics of it.

Onto the book: This is actually a collection of two short stories, regarding two different women. The heroine of "Hardboiled" spends a night at a haunted village inn, where her interactions with the ghosts cause her to reflect on her previous relationship with a woman. In "Hard Luck", the heroine and her family are shown, coping as her comatose sister dies.

The first thing you notice when you read this book is the atmosphere. The descriptions, while simple, plunge the reader into a world that is both foreign and familiar, safe, but also creepy, a world that is a blend of modernity and antiquity. Though short (the copy of this book I read was barely 150 pages), these stories carry a strong atmosphere, and the reader can't help but be pulled in.

Another thing about this book is that both stories are introspective. Yes, stuff happens all around the heroines, but the point is to show their internal journey, not the external circumstances. The stories focus heavily on the story worthy problem, which makes them fantastic character studies.

In both cases, we have stories about growing up. About giving up the childish fantasies and becoming an adult, of your own right and your own standing. It's not quite about the loss of innocence, although that motif is also there, but more about the loss of ignorance and the actions which we take to establish ourselves as adults in our own heads. They're really beautiful stories.

So why did I not give this a raving five stars, you may ask? Well, honestly, it was because of the writing. As I read along, I stopped noticing it, but at the beginning I often caught myself rearranging the sentences and replacing words with synonims or pronouns. However, it's something I notice often when I read works by Japanese authors, so I suspect that this is a characteristic of those novels. Mind you, I'm not saying it's the translator's fault - I have learned translation when I was in high school and I'm aware there are some pretty strict rules about the liberties which one can make with the original text (all the more reasons why I like to read stuff in original, only I don't know Japanese, so I guess there was no point in that rant).

At any rate, it's a fabulous book, not too heavy intelectually, but certainly not a mindless beach read. I think it's a fantastic read, and highly encourage anyone to pick it up.(less)

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Apr 06, 2011 Tim Lepczyk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: japanese-writers, surreal

I always feel a lack when I read translations. The words, so lovingly put in place, feel out of place. Sentences strung across the page, at times, fall short. They have communicated a message, transferred their intent, but lost some beauty along the way. It is as if once the writing is outside it's natural language, it is all business, focused on the task. Hardboiled and Hard Luck, two novellas by Japanese writer, Banana Yoshimoto, are two works of fiction that slide into the group of translatio...more I always feel a lack when I read translations. The words, so lovingly put in place, feel out of place. Sentences strung across the page, at times, fall short. They have communicated a message, transferred their intent, but lost some beauty along the way. It is as if once the writing is outside it's natural language, it is all business, focused on the task. Hardboiled and Hard Luck, two novellas by Japanese writer, Banana Yoshimoto, are two works of fiction that slide into the group of translations which may not do the writer justice.

Both of the novellas revolve around loss and death. Each one has a young woman as the narrator who is reminiscing and saying goodbye to a loved one who has died. In "Hardboiled," the narrator remembers a former love, Chizuru, with whom she had a falling out, and whom later died. It takes place in the span of one night, in which the narrator is visited by a forlorn ghost in an old, countryside hotel. Through this encounter, the narrator learns of the ghost's story from the hotel manager. It's a sad tale of love and suicide. The ghost of Chizuru also visits the narrator and protects her.

In "Hard Luck," a family is grieving the passing of their daughter, Kuni. Kuni has minimum brain function and is being kept alive through machines. Eventually, her brain shuts down and the family makes the decision to disconnect the machines. The family, and more specifically the narrator, fears their own connection with Kuni will be severed when she goes off life support. They spend hours visiting her in the hospital, because it feels as if part of her is still there. Kuni is a young woman who had everything before her, she was cheerful, in love, and to be married soon. Unable to work through the grief in a public manner, her fiancée retreats to his parent's home while she's dying. This action brings the narrator into contact with the fiancée's brother, Sakai, who visits the hospital in his brother's absence. A love, of sorts, begins. Sakai is an outsider; he teaches Tai-Chi, has a long hair, and is quiet in an inward way. The combination of death and love is too much though, and the characters resolve to explore the feelings in the future, after the pain of Kuni's death has diminished. The narrator will move to Italy for her studies, and Sakai vows to stay true to this feeling.

In exploring loss, the novellas also play with time. How do we remember people? What makes us forget moments? Time bends and intertwines with memories as the narrators slip in and out of the present. The novellas go well together, because they act as before and after images of grief. In "Hardboiled," the narrator has moved on and forgotten about Chizuru, even though Chizuru was so important to her. "Hard Luck" though occurs while the pain is at its sharpest. The narrator is locked in her grief. Toward the end of the novella, after Kuni has died, the narrator is able to glimpse into the future. She can see that grief will not always dominate her life. There will be a point when her family can share in laughter again. There will be a time when she can fall into love. She will never be as tough as the narrator in "Hardboiled," but she will move on. We all will.(less)

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Feb 14, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: japanese-literature-in-english, creepy, heartbreaker, inspirational

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
So, this is my first book by Yoshimoto-san. I have no idea who she is and for that I did my authorial research. She’s a contemporary Japanese author and that Hardboiled & Hard Luck was published sometime during 1999 and it was translated to English on 2005.

The book contain two stories and are irrelevant of each other.

So the first story is entitled Hardboiled.

“The story started vaguely for our unnamed character who is traveling the desolate and silent mountain of nowhere. She is on her way...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Katsumi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: unsorted

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Yoshitmoto's book (actually composed of two short stories) is about the human reaction when death comes along. It reveals our weakness to reject it and the urge for bravery and perspective to deal with it, as a living human being.

In the first short story, 'Hardboiled', the narrator went to stay in a country hotel on the anniversary of her ex-girlfriend's death. The narrative is interesting as the living and the dead are all woven together in the plot. Perhaps, it is really hard to distinguish w...more

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Aug 21, 2008 Jennifer Tatroe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary, 2008

This edition of 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, something very special and delicate.

That's a good metaphor for the book, as well. Everything Banana Yoshimoto writes is delicate. She holds human emotion in the palm of her hand and is so very care...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Cristina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved the way that Banana Yoshimoto writes about a dark theme as is death. But the most delightful is the manner that she includes the feelings of those around the dead or the terminally ill, because they really are not tales about the end of a life, but about sensations of those still living.
Hardboiled was the tale i liked most, despite that the ghostly stories are not my favourites, because the character has a mixed of strong feelings all together (for instance guilt, freedom, love, fear, et...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Anastasia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Hard-boiled" is a read of one sitting simply because it's simple poetic lure does not allow it to be set down. I fell in love with the ghostly elements and elegant telling of a story that is at heart about a girl coming to terms with the people she has lost--particularly one former lover/roommate, the girl who haunts her dreams. The series of "coincidental" events linked by unassuming river stones and a significant date is spellbinding, and the narrator is a fully developed character with an at...more

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Mar 28, 2010 Dini rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, lendable

Sad and gloomy just like any other Yoshimoto's books, these two novellas can be finished very quickly. I really enjoyed the first story, Hardboiled, but the second one, Hard Luck, falls a bit short for me. I think the story doesn't flow too well, the same formula is repeated in the endings of each chapter. I keep expecting a twist somewhere in the plot or the relationships of the characters, but it didn't happen. Props for Hardboiled though, it offers a lot of surprises up to the bittersweet end...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Lenna rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Hardboiled" is something of a ghost story. The main narrator is hiking when she comes to a shrine that she described as a bit eerie and when she continued on her way, she found one of the stones from the shrine had somehow made its way into her pocket. Memories of her past relationship with her female partner weave in and out of the main narration on her trip across the mountains to a small hotel with an onsen, or Japanese bathhouse. She experiences a couple of strange happenings including a vi...more "Hardboiled" is something of a ghost story. The main narrator is hiking when she comes to a shrine that she described as a bit eerie and when she continued on her way, she found one of the stones from the shrine had somehow made its way into her pocket. Memories of her past relationship with her female partner weave in and out of the main narration on her trip across the mountains to a small hotel with an onsen, or Japanese bathhouse. She experiences a couple of strange happenings including a visit from her former partner in one of her dreams and she attributes it to the cause of something supernatural. Her night continues when she is visited by a strange woman at her hotel who claims to have been locked out of her room. We learn that the hotel comes with a myth of a couple who went to the hotel in order to perform a lover's suicide. Both ghost stories and lover's suicides are big parts of Japan's cultural history in their belief of spirits that hang around due to unfinished businesses, as well as the idea that by committing suicide together, two lovers could reunite in heaven; in a different world than the present. The way Yoshimoto Banana intertwined these different ideas about Japanese ghosts and love was interesting, and the result was this haunting novella.

"Hard Luck" focuses more on the Japanese family. When the narrator's sister is in a vegetative state at the hospital, her family has kind of been thrown into turmoil. The sister's fiancee has gone back to his hometown and called off the engagement, but his brother, Sakai, visits everyday. The narrator's mother starts to feel ill, and most of the family with the exception of our narrator is angry at the fiancee for fleeing back home. Of course the narrator is not unaffected though. Her experience is more of an emotional one as she looks around and observes at how many lives her sister touched. This acts as a catalyst for realizing that life doesn't have to stand still and time has not stopped. The family that is a bit estranged can move forward and create new moments of happiness. The focus on family dynamic was done a couple of ways: in the interactions between the narrator and her family, specifically her father and comatose sister, as well as the implications of familial honor and one's "face". The moments which tell us how close our narrator and her sister were, and how the relationship between her and her father got better with time give hints as to how their household was structured. In addition, the fiancee had his character questioned when he left and did not make an appearance until the sister's final moments. While alluding to characteristics of the Japanese mentality, "Hard Luck" is a story about finding a light when things are grey.

Yoshimoto Banana shows a knack for writing stories interlaced with a view into Japanese culture and melancholy undertones. While this two-novella collection reads with a sad tone, the sentences are careful, and I found both novellas to be well written. (less)

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Aug 28, 2012 Ileen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, scrittori-giapponesi

Non mi è facile rimanere impassibile ai libri di Banana. Quando comprai questo libro forse avevo 17/18 anni (incoraggiata da un amico che aveva letto tutto di lei). Non che la capissi molto, non mi trasmetteva granchè. A distanza di quasi 10 anni mi rendo conto che quello che scrive mi coinvolge e mi sconvolge emotivamente. Al punto che in certi passaggi devo chiudere, respirare profondamente e poi posso andare avanti. Trovo che Banana mi aiuti molto nel mio training autogeno di autocontrollo de...more

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Jun 21, 2012 annik rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jap-lit, read-in-russian

Году эдак в 2009, по совету Женечки я скачала себе в кпк пару книг Бананы, и даже прочитала полторы. Спустя три года не могу вспомнить названия, но там точно было про озера и смерть.
У нее потрясающе получается рассказывать о смерти, не касаясь ее.

Недавний налет на библиотеку после нескольких месяцев воздержания (аргумент «мы стали тратить на книги в два раза больше» сработал) предоставил мне возможность познакомиться с Бананой заново. Причем параллельно с моим Ежичком, который питает симпатию к...more Году эдак в 2009, по совету Женечки я скачала себе в кпк пару книг Бананы, и даже прочитала полторы. Спустя три года не могу вспомнить названия, но там точно было про озера и смерть.
У нее потрясающе получается рассказывать о смерти, не касаясь ее.

Недавний налет на библиотеку после нескольких месяцев воздержания (аргумент «мы стали тратить на книги в два раза больше» сработал) предоставил мне возможность познакомиться с Бананой заново. Причем параллельно с моим Ежичком, который питает симпатию к японцам.

И что могу сказать... Это было коротко, до неприличия коротко. Я понимаю головой, что больше и нельзя – будет колоссальный передоз. Но все равно мало, и следующая на очереди – ее «Кухня». Поймала себя на мысли, что мне было трудно настроиться на книгу. Обычно мне не мешают футбольные матчи, улица, метро, музыка и прочие шумы; я даже на своем проходном дворе (читай = работа) умудряюсь читать. Но тут.. эх. Хотелось забраться куда-нибудь в тишину и покой, чтобы слова струились и звенели, надолго оставляя послевкусие.

И да, с ней надо попасть в струю. У меня сейчас настолько насыщенный период жизни, что на Ёсимото с ее необъяснимой грустью меня просто не хватило. Я могу оценить ее изысканность, но впитывать – не хочу. Может, это и хорошо.(less)

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Mar 03, 2012 Siminel rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen so I decided to read her other books as well. I had a feeling when reading Hardboiled and Hard Luck that she wrote these stories in one single try without revising and changing its original flow. Some will find it raw with sharp edges in need of editing, but that's what I loved about it. I don't blame the translator because from what I understand Michael Emmerich is good at what he does. I belive that's how she wrote it. In one go.
I'm a fan of ghost sto...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Timur Aliev rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japan, yoshimoto

Летом 2010 года Женя писал о прочитанных книжках Ёсимото(смотреть тут), и меня заинтересовал этот автор. В конце концов я добрался до её произведений, краем глаза уцепившись за знакомый корешок на одной из полок в библиотеке. Отказавшись читать по хронологии, я взялся за самую тонкую книжку(я крайне редко берусь сражу же читать книжку толще 300-400 страниц, если с автором вообще не знаком), и ею оказалась "Hardboiled/Hard Luck"("Чистая совесть. Доля").
О чем эта маленькая книжка? Любовь и скорбь,...more Летом 2010 года Женя писал о прочитанных книжках Ёсимото (смотреть тут), и меня заинтересовал этот автор. В конце концов я добрался до её произведений, краем глаза уцепившись за знакомый корешок на одной из полок в библиотеке. Отказавшись читать по хронологии, я взялся за самую тонкую книжку (я крайне редко берусь сражу же читать книжку толще 300-400 страниц, если с автором вообще не знаком), и ею оказалась "Hardboiled/Hard Luck" ("Чистая совесть. Доля").
О чем эта маленькая книжка? Любовь и скорбь, минимум погружения в судьбы героев вследствие необычайной лаконичности повествования и максимум нежной грусти, от которой становится чуточку теплее внутри.
Автор раскрывает прекрасную атмосферу происходящего, где-то необыкновенно мистическую, а где-то пугающе похожую на нашу действительность. И сквозь каждую страничку струится тема смерти, а именно то, как люди живут и чувствуют в мире, где их сопровождают горечь утраты и боль потери. Ёсимото не кричит о том, что герои в истерике и панике бросаются на "встречную полосу". Она лишь немного приоткрывает завесу внутреннего мира главных героев с помощью непринужденного изложения и.. да не знаю, чего ещё, но что-то определенно есть в этих японцах.(less)

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Mar 13, 2012 Rin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Banana Yoshimoto is my most favorite author. Her stories always has a light sense of sadness, nostalgia and bitterness. Banana Yoshimoto's writing is slow,and addictive. Hard-boiled and Hard-luck are my favorite stories. They are really deep, and sad to some extent. However, I have to minus one star because Hard-boiled and Hard luck stories remind me of another novel of Banana "Asleep". Both stories in this book are about the characters dealing with the loss of their loved ones. The first is abo...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Annabeth Leong rated it 5 of 5 stars

Banana Yoshimoto's style is spare, which can make for a fast read, but it's a mistake to accelerate through it too rapidly. A lot of profundity and poetry lie in her clear, clean words.

Hardboiled is taut with the sort of atmospheric tension that bleeds into the reader's world, so that after I put the book down and walked out into the world, the air around me felt different than it had before. It's part mystery and part ghost story, and filled with a sense of wonder that seems strangely hopeful...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Kakihara rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Young lovers

Recommended to Kakihara by: BBiux

Both tales were really fascinating to me, first time I read Banana Yoshimoto and I enjoy the way she can easily take the reader to imagine somehow how we all would like to be remembered once we die... little bit of sadness she shows but this is what death is all about... one thing I am glad is that love will always be above the end of life.

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Feb 20, 2012 Ian Roditi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Todavía no sé decidir cual de los dos cuentos me gustó más, cada uno tiene cosas que me gustaron mucho. Lo que me gustó mucho es con la facilidad que trata temas súper difíciles en cuestión emocional y los entiendes tan bien y te encariñas tanto con las dos protagonistas.
Es irónico que los dos cuentos traten sobre no saber dejar ir el recuerdo de una persona querida que murió, pero a la vez saber que tienen que continuar, y que no quieras soltar los renglones al leer, para estar con ellas el ti...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scambio

Il libro è diviso in due racconti lunghi: Hard-Bolied e Hard-Luck.

Una caratteristica degli autori giapponesi da me incontrati è costituita da aspetti surreali, fantastici, a volte astratti.

I sogni, le visioni, il sesto senso ed altre percezioni, sono all’ordine del giorno nei loro racconti.

Spesso le sensazioni hanno più valore degli avvenimenti veri e propri, dunque il fatto che un certo evento si sia verificato veramente oppure sia solamente il frutto di un pensiero astratto, di un sogno o di u...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: color-blue, japan, short-stories, contemporary, library-books, read-in-2013

Hardboiled 5*

"just what i need right now" was the thought that crossed my mind when I picked up that little book. And I was right about that. The story eased my mind. I found it easy to relate to the story either because I like to be in the nature or because I like japanese ghost stories. I really enjoyed the story.

Hard Luck

A sad story that made me happy.

fav quotes

p116
"Death isn't sad. What hurts is being drowned by these emotions".

"I want to run away, I thought - to escape this distant autumn...more

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Sep 11, 2010 Deana Pittman rated it 1 of 5 stars

I guess this was just not my kind of book....too depressing.

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Jul 28, 2011 Amélie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, japon

Je suis toujours surprise de trouver autant de réconfort dans les histoire de Banana Yoshimoto, dans ses livre qui toujours finissent par parler de la mort, & des fantômes des gens qu'on a aimés, & du temps qui passe. Ce sont des histoires qui devraient être inquiétantes mais qui ne le sont jamais tout à fait, que l'auteure réussit à faire couler doucement, tranquillement, en tissant de ces atmosphères brumeuses qui engourdissent les pensées. Alors moi je pense à Banana Yoshimoto comme à...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Rhapsody rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian-literature, fiction, short-stories

Loved it. Hardboiled was about a woman who goes hiking on holiday; she starts walking on a beautiful rural trail but is immersed with a sense of dread and eventually realizes it's the anniversary of her lover's death. The night never seems to end as she has to deal with bad dreams, freak accidents, and visits from ghosts, and her own sense of loss and guilt.

Hard Luck was about a young woman whose sister is slowly dying after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage. She has to accept that her sister...more

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Jan 29, 2009 piraterie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read2009

Two lovely, delicate stories about death and life and moving on. I read 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 death. And it's a ghost story that I loved (this is saying a lot, as ghost stories aren't normally my favorite thing ever)! My favorite of the two stories, actually, although my love for the other story was almost...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Rosie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed these two short stories although not as much as Yoshimoto's novel Goodbye Tsugumi. Hard Boiled dealing with a hiker having a strange night on the anniversary of a dead lover and Hard Luck dealing with a sister who is losing her sister but also at the same time meeting an interesting man. I liked the second one more although it was also pretty depressing to read. I think it would make an interesting and good full novel. Both well written stories but I really do prefer novels in the end.

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Nov 06, 2012 Bb rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have a place for this book in my mind, the strange idea, the forest, the stones, the ghost... But I wouldn't say it is something I loved. I felt like I missed something. Both stories awfully depressing- which I like( is it strange to say such a thing?)- but well, I don't even know what to say. As I read this I wanted to just get it over with but at the same time enjoy reading a new author- try to click with the writer's mind. I just didn't fall in love with it like I did with NP or murakami's...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Caryn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: pdx-mamas

I needed a quick read that was easy, but not too light. Banana's books are always simply written in terms of language, but her stories do not lack depth. The characters experience emotional and personal growth that is clearly described.

Comparisons are often made to Murakami, but to me their works are completely different. Murakami's work are so complex and potent. He likes to test a reader's comfort-level. What he does not say is as important and as powerful as what he does describe.

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Apr 06, 2013 valerie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know what to think about this book. [...] It was like a journey through death and how to deal with the past of course, but all the answers have been left unanswered. However, the only thing that I liked refers to the phrases that are written here and there through the book that really make you wonder because, I don't know if it was the same for others, but I found myself in some of them and this is one of the aspects that I like about a book, or else that they contain a piece of me which...more

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About Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto (よしもとばなな ) (born July 24, 1964[1], in Tokyo) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本真秀子 Yoshimoto Mahoko), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana.

Yoshimoto, daughter of Takaaki Yoshimoto, was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964. Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growi...more

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Quotes from Hardboiled and Hard Luck

“She was still there inside me now, just as she always was: a life put on hold, a memory I didn't know how to handle.” — 8 people liked it

“Time expands and contracts. When it expands, it’s like pitch: it folds people in its arms and holds them forever in its embrace. It doesn’t let us go so easily. Sometimes you go back again to the place you’ve just come from, stop and close your eyes, and realize that not a second has passed, and time just leaves you there, stranded, in the darkness” — 5 people liked it

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