Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto

ISBN-13: 9780802139917
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 2002
186 pgs
(Translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich)



If you read my last Teaser Tuesday post, you might have remember I had posted two sentences about a girl being wilful and sneaky. She is none other than Tsugumi, the cousin of the narrator, Maria in this story.

Maria Shirakawa is raised from a single family; her mother is never married as she is mistress to Maria's father. Despite the circumstances, Maria is actually a thoughtful and matured young lady. She has grown up at the seaside with her cousin, Tsugumi Yamamoto, whose parents owned a small inn and both Maria and her mother live with them.

Since young, Tsugumi developed an unnamed illness and this has caused her to be mean and getting away from whatever things she has done. Fearing for her illness, her parents gave in to her wilfulness but it is only Maria that is able to see through and tolerate her behaviour. Though sometimes Maria is resentful of Tsugumi, there are times that she actually admires her younger cousin's outrageous attitude and staying true to herself.

Thereafter, Maria's mother reunited with Maria's father and they have to leave the inn and move to Tokyo. Maria attended a university there and it is only through her visit to the Yamamoto Inn during summer before its closure that begins this bittersweet, nostalgic story between the two cousins and how everything that happened has somewhat changed Maria's view on Tsugumi and life in general.

Goodbye Tsugumi is one excellent story about bonding and friendship between two teenaged girls. Once again, I find myself being swept away by Yoshimoto's prose because her writing is simply lyrical and beautiful. Her stories always ignite a feeling in me, be it happy or sad and this will often lead me pondering about the issues she had put into her books. In this case, it made me think about one's inner strength (Tsugumi's strong attitude despite her sickness) and the old saying about how one never judge a person by his looks.

Goodbye Tsugumi is more than saying goodbyes as the title suggests, it is also about finding love and seeing through the changes in one's life. If you are looking for a well written character-oriented story, this book is for you.


Other blogs reviews:
Biblio File
Katrina's Reads
Ready When You Are
Things Mean A Lot
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