Moonlight Shadow

by Banana Yoshimoto, Giorgio Amitrano (Translator)

C'è un giorno, un giorno soltanto, in cui in condizioni particolari è possibile rivedere i propri cari defunti. Dicono che qualcuno è pure in grado di sentirli e parlar loro. Che sia possibile per Satsuki, che non riesce in alcun modo a scordare il ragazzo perduto, e Hiiragi, che per ricordare Yumiko ne indossa tutti i giorni la divisa alla marinara? La misteriosa Urara, che intuisce i numeri di telefono delle persone al primo sguardo, ne sembra convinta.

Genres: Fiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Short Stories, Contemporary, Asian Literature, Magical Realism

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Banana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな or 吉本 ばなな) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).)

Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age.

She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."

Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."

Reviews

[Ankit Garg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moonlight Shadow was part of my copy of Kitchen, and I am so glad I got introduced to this novella. It revolves around the themes of loss, mourning, and grief - same topics that were covered in Kitchen.

The story stresses on the importance of closure in any relationship. A proper goodbye is a must for all the sides if you expect them to move on with their lives. This is a perfect book to recommend to those who have ghosted you in life at some point in time.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

[Nurul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yoshimoto's writing is so spot on in describing the feeling of longing and grief. There are details in mourning and during loneliness that we feel strongly but rarely solidify with words, and Yoshimoto does this effortlessly. As if I was relieving my own experience with each paragraph, in the short time that I read this, I became the narrator and I was the one who lost my lover and has a lifetime ahead of me, a lifetime without him. The morning after I finished, I woke up with a heartache and smiled in between pain and gratitude to have known the life of Satsuki. I love this story and the characters with all my heart.

[Hoda Marmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella speaks of the healing power of saying a proper goodbye. I believe it to be an essential life skill that we were not taught. Saying goodbye, moving on, accepting that things end (through death or other), and welcoming other people or places or dreams etc... It may take us years to do it and sometimes we might be unable of letting go. But, we should. To me, this was greater than words could describe. I felt relief once the main characters were able to bid their deceased lovers goodbye. Yoshimoto strikes again!

[AiK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Этот рассказ о любящих, разлученных смертью с любимыми, и посвящен феномену "ткачихи и пастуха", который может случиться раз в сто лет при совпадении удачных обстоятельств, и тогда оставшиеся скорбные мысли умершего человека и печаль оставшегося в живых вступают в перекличку, и тогда появляется мираж – умерший человек прощается с любящим его живым.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A free novella that was included with my version of Kitchen. It was a nice short story, but overall I preferred the more fleshed out Kitchen. But if your copy contains both, read this one too, both cover themes of love and loss.

[Bidisha Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

an astute book addressing the breadth and depth of grief and death felt by young people. when we're young and untouched by various forms of loss, death and parting ways, unaccustomed to the severity of pain, the demands of pain on the body, mind and soul become all consuming and a sort of wisdom is bestowed upon us, as if an award for enduring the suffering. The brevity of this book holds a grand volume of such wisdom.
Perhaps brevity is a metaphor. We attempt to make grief become smaller so we can contain it.

[Amal -book flavors · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is way much better that Kitchen .

[Apoorvaa Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story tore me to pieces.
I read these lines through a constant film of tears and I will cry unabashedly every single time I re read them...

"I'll never be able to be here again.
One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I have yet to meet, others I'll never see again."

...for we have all loved and lost someone.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, I cried more than I care to admit.

[SilverF · Rating 5 out of 5]

45 pagine di meraviglia.

[Becs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought Banana Yoshimoto's portrayal of the nuances of grief was really thought provoking and original. I thought Moonlight Shadow failed to capture the same charm. Whilst Kitchen was really quite obscure, it still made perfect sense in its obscurity. Moonlight Shadow was also an unusual story about grief, set very far apart from the typical approach to such stories, but I'm not sure it worked anywhere near as well.

In the midst of a four year relationship, Satsuki's boyfriend dies in a tragic car accident. She spends the majority of the story adjusting to her loss, sharing her grief with his brother Hiiragi who is also grieving. Once again Yoshimoto perfectly captures the varying, often unexpected, ways in which people deal with loss and the ways in which their grief manifests. This part of the story I really appreciated.

Satsuki puts all of her focus into keeping busy, distracted from her pain, and introduces running into her daily routine. She meets a strange girl called Urara whilst running. Urara then begins to pop up everywhere unexpectedly. She calls Satsuki, turns up at her house and offers her vitamin-c sweets when she happens to notice she's sick. I see so many problems with this. How does Urara known Satsuki's phone number and address? Because her explanation that she "just sees things in her mind" is way too fantastical to fit into a story like this. Equally, why isn't Satsuki freaked out by her strange behaviour? Who accepts random drinks and tablets from strangers? It just didn't really add up to me.

Putting this aside, the point is that the story is supposed to be hopeful and Urara certainly personifies that. The blurb will tell you that on very special occassions it is possible to see a deceased loved one and Urara helps make this happen for Satsuki. I think for people who are grieving this would be a seriously beautiful message, perhaps that little bit of hope they need to keep their heads above water, and for that the author should be commended. I'm just not sure I really understand the overall delivery of such a message when it has been spread so thinly across multiple genres like this; it honestly just left me feeling a bit confused.

[Nicole-Anne Keyton (Hint of Library) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Parting and death are both terribly painful. But to keep nursing the memory of a love so great you can't believe you'll ever love again is a useless drain on a woman's energies." Of all the prose that came from this little novella, this quote struck me the most. We become so devoted to our human attachments that we lose sight of ourselves, of our progress, and that is what I challenge myself with every day. This story shows us how to care about others as well as our own well-being.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

a devastating amount of love and grief in so short of a story. i personally was not fond of the way urara was used to drive the story, but still lovely in its own healing way

[saz · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To say it would mean to suffer from it. To suffer terribly. That thing was, 'I want her to come back.'"

It's been awhile since I've picked up Kitchen, and I'd nearly forgotten the extra novella at the end. The first time I read this story I had gained so much appreciation for Banana's outlook on relationships and love and lost.
Reading it now, after going through something similar as the mc, I felt like my heart was going to explode. Her trying to distract herself constantly so she doesn't have to think about what she's lost, trying not to break down in public when a memory suddenly pops into her brain. I'm literally fucking sobbing right now I love u Banana

[Hikari · Rating 5 out of 5]

" things are just things , they can't bring back the dead .It just makes me feel better" - Hiiragi
This novel should be separated from Kitchen because that way makes me feel that the novel is not important .
I liked it more than Kitchen . A masterpiece illustrating how we feel when we lose a special person . Hiiragi's story touched me the most. may be because he is too loyal, careful and kind or may be because I felt I have met him before. his character was the nearest to my heart .

[Antonella Cladera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó más que Kitchen. Simplemente hermoso y desgarrador al mismo tiempo. Es seguro que lo releeré en algún momento de mí vida

[Vanja Šušnjar Čanković · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ovo je zapravo pripovijetka koja je bila sastavni dio Kuhinje u lijepom Tanesijevom izdanju, a i smatra se svojevrsnom pretečom, uvertirom ili tek podstrekom za nastavkom. Moonlight Shadow je naziv poznate pjesme Majka Oldfilda koja je istovremeno i tužna, sjetna, nostalgična, ali i pozitivna, ulijeva nadu i optimizam jer život se nastavlja i uz gubitak voljene osobe. Takva je i ova priča. Ono što mi je uvijek zanimljivo kad čitam nešto iz pera japanskih autora je veliki naglasak koji pisci stavljaju na autentičnost kao osobini likova.

[Nila Revchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Маленька важлива історія про ніжне втрачене кохання і проживання цієї втрати людиною.

Люблю цю авторку за те, що вона завжди закидає тебе у життя свого героя на короткий час і...все закінчується.

В оповіданні є конкретний опис того, що сталося, але назагал я згадала себе у найвразливіші моменти, коли втрачала щось сама. Унікальне відчуття і сльози, досить несподівано зустріти це у творі на 40 сторінок.

Дуже люблю короткий фактичний стиль письма Йошімото, і тут він збережений.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as a part of Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen.

[Reeta Yrtti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tää novelli löyty sen kitchen kirjan painoksen lopusta omana kertomuksena niin tuli luettua samalla.
Ja tykkäsin

[Girl and Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A lover should die after a long lifetime. I lost Hitoshi at the age of twenty, and I suffered from it so much that I felt as if my own life had stopped. The night he died, my soul went away to some other place and I couldn't bring it back. It was impossible to see the world as I had before. My brain ebbed and flowed, unstable, and I passed the days in a relentless state of dull oppression.”

Moonlight Shadow is a companion novella to Kitchen in terms of mutual themes. It is by the same author as Kitchen, so you can find it included in copies of Kitchen, as did I. A girl gets a chance for goodbye and closure with her deceased lover in a soul-moving 50 or so pages.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

The style is clean and clear. The flow of emotions is more important than the plot itself. You can almost feel the sensations and thoughts of the protagonist. In a story about coping a tragic death Banana is one of the best writer.

[Karl Stark di Grande Inverno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un racconto onirico, una storia d'amore. Un tremendo lutto ed il doloroso cammino verso la rinascita, declinato con la proverbiale sensibilità e dolcezza della Yoshimoto.
Una manciata di pagine dense di emozioni, stati d'animo, suggestioni, amore e morte. Veramento bello.

[Nirupama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this short story (if I can call it that). It felt very real and magical at the same time. And though it was a heartbreaking premise, it left me warm and happy at the end of it. Banana yoshimoto is an excellent author and this book is an easy read. I would definitely recommend it.

[سلطان · Rating 3 out of 5]

على الرغم من قصرها، إلا أنها أفضل من رواية مطبخ للكاتبة نفسها.
وتبقى -في رأيي- المجموعة القصصية الوحيدة المترجمة للكاتبة تحت اسم العظاءة، هي من أفضل ما وصلنا عنها باللغة العربية

[hafsa ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

woowww, speechless. i'm still processing

[Niamh · Rating 3 out of 5]

teeny weeny bite sized reads are what u need sometimes

▪️this was included within the copy of kitchen that i read and i honestly preferred this shorter story over kitchen i'm sorry!!
▪️this was such a fascinating take on grief and loss and was much better equipped at telling that story than i feel kitchen was
▪️ unfortunately for me yoshimoto just does not hit the spot the same as other japanese authors have done for me and i'm a tad disappointed

a good quick read if u fancy one but unfortunately not anything special

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes hand in hand with "kitchen", albeit this feels more like a side-story that happens in the same universe. Stronger fantastic vibes, it ties in with the japanese folkloric symbolism related to rites of passage into the spiritual realm. Another heart-warming short story about dealing with loss and the process of healing.

[Derek Driggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banana Yoshimoto is superb, and this novella captures a surprising depth of emotion in very little time. The magical realism element was a little absurd for my taste, but other than that this was excellent.

[lele.klsg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irgendwo zwischen 3 und 4 Sterne. Aber grade eher 3, weil mich kitchen viel mehr bewegt hat. Diese Kurzgeschichte handelt auch von Liebe, Tod und Trauer, nur dass sie einen kleinen mystischen Flair hat, was ich eigentlich an sich sehr schön finde. Irgendwas hat mir gefehlt, ich kann aber nicht sagen was genau.