Ratings10
Average rating4.3
In this “witty, perceptive novel”, a young woman moves to Tokyo and encounters the world of university enrollment and impending adulthood (Elle). Banana Yoshimoto’s novels of young life in Japan have made her an international sensation. Goodbye Tsugumi is an offbeat story of a deep and complicated friendship between two female cousins that ranks among her best work. Maria is the only daughter of an unmarried woman. She has grown up at the seaside alongside her cousin Tsugumi, a lifelong invalid, charismatic, spoiled, and occasionally cruel. Now Maria’s father is finally able to bring Maria and her mother to Tokyo, ushering Maria into a world of university, impending adulthood, and a “normal” family. When Tsugumi invites Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love and Maria learns the true meaning of home and family. She also has to confront both Tsugumi’s inner strength and the real possibility of losing her. Goodbye Tsugumi is a beguiling, resonant novel from one of the world’s finest young writers.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was wonderful, possibly my favourite (although that might be a tough call) Banana Yoshimoto book.
5:
Short and sweet, but it took me a month to finish it. Man, January sucked major ass. This was all, of course, because of my general state of mind and being, and not a fault of the story.
Even over a year after reading, it won't leave my soul. This little book lingers at the back of my mind at all times when I'm in need of comfort.
(There was an unspeakable act of animal cruelty that broke my heart, I feel that I must mention. Yikes!).
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84 booksI'm at 42/52 and I'm trying to really make a push to finish the year! I have a few longer books (18–25 hours audiobook) lined up, so I want some shorter and easier ones to fill out the list. I tend...