Goodbye Tsugumi

Banana Yoshimoto

Sep 2015 · Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

A really sweet, nostalgic story. The only reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars is because there were typos throughout the text. It looks like they scanned real pages and the scanner misinterpreted some of the text and wrote gibberish. If you're going to charge people for the digital copy, you should proofread and then publish it.

About the author

Banana Yoshimoto was born in 1964. She is the author of Kitchen, Lizard, N.P., Amrita and Asleep. Her stories, novels and essays have won numerous prizes both in Japan and abroad. She lives in Tokyo.