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Sui is also a daughter of NP's author-as well as the former mistress of translator Shoji-and the real-life inspiration for the 98th story.

But then Kazami has a startling encounter with the enigmatic but very attractive Sui. The three, who have much in common, including unhappy childhoods, become friends, and Saki and Kazami grow especially close. Yoshimoto's novel begins as Kazami, troubled by mysterious intimations of danger and still mourning her dead love, meets up with Saki and Otochiko, adult children of NP's author. Since another translator of this story has also committed suicide, the story-about a father who abandons his family, leads a wild life, then seduces a woman who turns out to be his daughter-has acquired an understandably sinister reputation. The narrator, a twentysomething translator named Kazami, was once the lover of the famous translator Shoji, who committed suicide shortly after completing his translation of the 98th story by the author of NP-the title of the volume of 97 short stories written by a middle-aged Japanese writer, Sarao Takase, who also committed suicide shortly after writing the 98th story. 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.Japan's leading pop novelist follows her successful debut (Kitchen, 1993) with an ambitious novel of darker themes-incest, suicide, and the supernatural-that recalls more classic Japanese fiction. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply.

During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous."ĭespite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).)Īlong with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. 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.