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Dead-end memories : stories
2022
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Published for the first time in the United States, a collection of short stories by the popular, master Japanese storyteller depict the lives of five women immediately following sudden and painful events and highlights their roads back to recovery. - (Baker & Taylor)

"First published in Japan in 2003 and never before published in the United States, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery. Among the women we meet in Dead-End Memories is one betrayed by her fiancâe who finds a perfect refuge in an apartment above her uncle's bar while seeking the real meaning of happiness. In "House of Ghosts," the daughter of a yoshoku restaurant owner encounters the ghosts of a sweet elderly couple who haven't yet realized that they've been dead for years. In "Tomo-chan's Happiness," an office worker who is a victim of sexual assault finally catches sight of the hope of romance. Yoshimoto's gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the "most precious work of my writing career.""-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A New York Times Notable Book

"This is a supremely hopeful book, one that feels important because it shows that happiness, while not always easy, is still a subject worthy of art." —Brandon Taylor, The New York Times Book Review

Japan’s internationally celebrated master storyteller returns with five stories of women on their way to healing that vividly portrays the blissful moments and everyday sorrows that surround us in everyday life


First published in Japan in 2003 and never before published in the United States, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery.

Among the women we meet in Dead-End Memories is one betrayed by her fiancé who finds a perfect refuge in an apartment above her uncle’s bar while seeking the real meaning of happiness. In “House of Ghosts,” the daughter of a yoshoku restaurant owner encounters the ghosts of a sweet elderly couple who haven’t yet realized that they’ve been dead for years. In “Tomo-chan’s Happiness,” an office worker who is a victim of sexual assault finally catches sight of the hope of romance.

Yoshimoto’s gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the “most precious work of my writing career.” - (Random House, Inc.)

Author Biography

BANANA YOSHIMOTO is the author of the international bestseller Kitchen. She has published ten books in English translation, including Goodbye Tsugumi, Asleep, and, most recently, Moshi Moshi. Her work has been translated and published in more than thirty countries. In Italy, she won the Scanno Literary Prize in 1993, the Fendissime Literary Prize in 1996, the Maschera d’Argento Prize in 1999, and the Capri Award in 2011. She lives in Tokyo.
 
ASA YONEDA was born in Osaka and studied language, literature, and translation at the University of Oxford and SOAS University of London. Her translation works include Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto and The Lonesome Bodybuilder by Yukiko Motoya. She lives in Bristol, U.K. - (Random House, Inc.)

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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Once upon a time, Yoshimoto (born 1964) debuted as one of Japan's youngest literary phenoms. In the decades since, she continues to produce brilliantly relevant fiction, notable for an open, accessible simplicity that belies revelatory observations about life, love, happiness, and more. Her latest collection contains five short stories translated again by Yoneda, who English-enabled Yoshimoto's novel Moshi Moshi (2016). Each tale features women examining significant relationships, and each involves food-related settings—restaurants, cafeterias, a bar—seeming to suggest emotional needs transformed into something achingly physical. In "House of Ghosts," spectral visitors cement the union between soul mates. A case of severe food poisoning in "Mama!" causes the victim to analyze her connection to her fiancé and her long-missing mother. In "Not Warm at All," a writer recalls her long-ago first love, an "angelic" boy whose tragic fate seems to have prevented her from having close attachments. An office worker with a five-year crush finally on the verge of reciprocation unexpectedly draws parallels with a teenage assault and her father's desertion in "Tomo-chan's Happiness." In the titular "Dead-End Memories," a woman's discovery of her fiancé's infidelity leads to, well, moments of sheer joy. Bittersweet yet radiant, poignant yet promising, Yoshimoto once again showcases her dazzling appeal. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

A debut author at 80, Campbell resists stereotyping as she explores the lives and desires of women aged 60 to 90 in Cat Brushing. From public school teacher and NYU MFA graduate Fofana, the eight linked portraits in Stories from The Tenants Downstairs plumb the lives of tenants in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high rise in Harlem threatened by gentrification (150,000-copy first printing). The author of five books of poetry and winner of F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story and Robert Bausch Fiction awards, combat veteran Glose tells what it was like to fight the "forever" war in All the Ruined Men. First published in Japan in 2003, popular author Yoshimoto's Dead-End Memories limns women making unusual discoveries as they find ways to heal from trauma.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal.

Table of Contents

House of Ghosts
3(58)
"Mama!"
61(64)
Not Warm at All
125(22)
Tomo-chan's Happiness
147(20)
Dead-End Memories
167

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