"Lean, lambent ... [Hardboiled] reads like a new-fashioned ghost story, tingling the spine while offering shimmering, stop-time glimpses into a strange, seductive world [The characters in Hard Luck] seek comfort in each other against their looming loss and find hope in the ripening of their own hearts."
--ELLE
Banana Yoshimoto’s witty and heartfelt depictions of the lives of young Japanese has changed her country’s literature and earned her international acclaim and best-seller status. In Hardboiled, the unnamed narrator is hiking in the mountains on the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death. A sense of haunting falls over her--perhaps this eerie event will help her make peace with her loss. Hard Luck is about another young woman, whose sister Kuni lies dying in a coma. Kuni’s flance 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.
