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Title details for The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto - Available

The Premonition

A Novel

by Banana Yoshimoto
Kathleen Li
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Yayoi, a nineteen-year-old woman from a seemingly loving middle-class family, has lately been haunted by the feeling that she has forgotten something important from her childhood. Her premonition grows stronger day by day and, as if led by it, she decides to move in with her mysterious aunt, Yukino. No one understands her aunt's unusual lifestyle. For as long as Yayoi can remember, Yukino has lived alone in an old gloomy single-family home, quietly, almost as though asleep. When she is not working, Yukino spends all day in her pajamas, clipping her nails and trimming her split ends. She eats only when she feels like it, and she often falls asleep lying on her side in the hallway. She sometimes wakes Yayoi at 2:00 a.m. to be her drinking companion, sometimes serves flan in a huge mixing bowl for dinner, and watches Friday the 13th over and over to comfort herself. A child study desk, old stuffed animals-things Yukino wants to forget-are piled up in her backyard like a graveyard of her memories. An instant bestseller in Japan when first published in 1988, The Premonition is finally available in English, translated by the celebrated Asa Yoneda.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 21, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696613682
      • File size: 100503 KB
      • Duration: 03:29:22

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 21, 2023
      This brisk 1988 novel from Yoshimoto (The Lake) appears in English for the first time in an adroit translation from Yoneda. The story centers on Yayoi, a precocious 19-year-old who displayed clairvoyant traits as a child. Her mother tells her that when she was a little girl, she would answer the phone and say who was calling (“Even people you didn’t know, and you were almost always right”). Yayoi feels inexplicably drawn to her eccentric aunt who lives in a large dilapidated house and teaches at a music college, and has a nagging sense that she’s forgotten something important from her childhood. Slowly, her premonitions become revelations, through dreams and visions, as she begins to piece together all she has forgotten, and the truth of her childhood is confirmed by her aunt and her brother, Tetsuo. Yoshimoto builds a satisfying narrative of a young girl figuring out who she is, and how her family may be more than she realized. While much of the plot hinges on Yayoi’s preternatural intuitions, each step is carefully plotted to slowly unearth the secrets of the past. No word is misspent in Yoshimoto’s taut tale.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This moody coming-of-age novella was a bestseller when it appeared in Japan decades ago. Now it is newly translated and appears in the audio format, narrated by Kathleen Li. She convincingly delivers 19-year-old Yayol's angst, feelings of dislocation, and vulnerability as she seeks answers about her past by trying to uncover lost memories. Li's narration is often precise and restrained. The romances featured in the story involve a love affair between adopted siblings and another between a high school student and a teacher. While they may seem inappropriate, the story suggests that love doesn't always follow the traditional pathway. This listening experience is like a Japanese watercolor--an evocative celebration of grace, love, color, and style. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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