Lizard

Rating:
Summary: Short and Simple Deeper Meanings
Review: Having conquered the novella (Kitchen, two novellas published together), and the novel (N.P.), it was only natural for Banana Yoshimoto to move on to the short story form.

Driving succinct prose that hides as much between the lines as it places amazingly in front of us with the surface levels of the stories. Yoshimoto's writing is to Japanese literature as Feng-Shui is to Chinese decorating: simple, spiritual, deep and insightful.

Six separate stories (including "Lizard") all speak about passion, intensity, confusion and desperation. Yoshimoto's characters embody the lost Generation X philosophy. Deep thinkers unable to figure out the world around them: this common thread runs throughout each of these tales that somehow uplift and manage to celebrate life.

Short stories in a small book that doesn't even reach 200 pages, yet with a Hemingway like brilliance, Yoshimoto forced 800 pages worth of depth into these stories. We begin with an apparently simple read that becomes a stark yet hopeful look into the human condition and the lives of people in their twenties, living in this mind blowing world.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic empathic display
Review: I became a Banana fan upon reading the first chapter of her novel NP. I bought "Lizard" immediately after I finished NP, resisting the temptation to set high hopes that my second look at Yoshimoto's work would cast the same spell at me. To my surprise, "Lizard" has become one of my favorite short story compilations. I find myself reading many of the tales repeatedly; the last time a short story collection gave me a similar buzz was nearly twenty years ago, when I discovered JD Salinger's "Nine Stories." What strikes me most about Banana Yoshimoto is her empathic voice when she writes from a male viewpoint in the first person. When I read these tales, I feel like Ms. Yoshimoto tries to understand what goes through the minds and emotions of contemporary men. The only other female author who rings my bell (so far) in this respect is Willa Cather. I believe it's a tricky balancing act to write from the perspective of the opposite sex and have it ring true. All stories in this book are vivid and thoughtful, but the title story is the strongest of all. A young man shows us both the gentle strength and fragile secrets inside the girlfriend he nicknames "Lizard." In the same beat he shows us his strength and vulnerability, yet never loses focus on Lizard. I have become a great admirer of Banana Yoshimoto over the past three years. This collection is a great introduction for any reader who wants to give her work a read.

Rating:
Summary: Certainly the work of a talented author, but...
Review: If you're in the mood for a classic, Lizard will disappoint. But if you'd like something that won't demand much mental energy but isn't too fluffy, Lizard might just be the ticket. (One of her stories was even serialized in the Tokyo subway system.)

Banana Yoshimoto is certainly a talented writer, and it shows in Lizard. There are many passages that grab you in this collection of short stories. These passages are artfully written: they capture the moment, deceptively simple-sounding yet profoundly resonant. Very easy to read, but not very easy to truly understand. You'll want to savor them over and over.

Yet most of her characters are rather two-dimensional. She brings up a lot of issues about living in today's world, with all of its loneliness and moral ambiguities, yet never fully explores all the issues that she brings up. Each of these short stories could be extended into a novella or a novel, and in my opinion, Yoshimoto should have done so. She often answers complicating issues with cop-out plot twists or well-written but overly brief assessments, instead of more fully examining their implications; thus she compromises the plausibility of her stories.

The genre of magic realism -- which I'd define as works that are basically of the often-gritty realist tradition, but include some elements borrowed from science fiction, fantasy, and mythology -- has much potential, and Yoshimoto has certainly scratched its surface in Lizard.

Yoshimoto has a clean, simple writing style and sensitivity towards things of beauty and truth. If you can overlook plot and character flaws, and appreciate these stories for their beautiful moments, you might like Lizard. Otherwise, look elsewhere.