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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"Blood ties seemed unrelated to how we were living," Sakumi, the young narrator of Amrita, begins portentously. The "we" of the family comprises a strange blend--Sakumi's mother, twice married (widowed and divorced); a telepathic younger brother; a cousin; and her mother's childhood friend. Grief over the tragic death of Mayu, Sakumi's flamboyant younger sister, binds them together. But this family tragedy is not the only obstacle to happiness and wholeness for Sakumi, who loses her memory in a fall. Her troubles lead to awareness, though, as memories gradually return, leading Sakumi to discover her own identity and move towards acceptance of her sister's death.
Banana Yoshimoto's first novel, Kitchen (1991), traversed the territory of love and loss. Its fabulous success in Japan and the U.S. had to do with her distinct sensibility, a contemporary voice arising from a tradition-conscious culture. Amrita also ventures through the minefield of familial loss, but with a style less driven by the bizarre interface of tradition and pop culture.
Product Description
A celebrated actress who has died in mysterious and shocking circumstances leaves behind an unconventional extended family that includes an older sister, a woman in her twenties through whose eyes the story unfolds; a young brother who possesses mystical powers; and a fiancé who is writing a novel with uncanny parallels to his own story.
'Her novels can have the effect of addictive drugs . . . Pathos, nostalgia, the sense of exquisite sadness at the fleetingness of life are key elements of beauty in Japanese aesthetics, and all are themes central to Yoshimoto's books.' The Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A charming and haunting story of a young woman with a scrambled memory as a result of an accident. This novel combines eastern mysticism, contemporary Japanese culture and family values as the main protagonist deals with the problems in her life. Mystical, poetic and beautifully written, but it is painfully slow at times and often too mysterious for its own good. Nonetheless this is an enjoyable read, you'll miss the characters long after you've read the last page.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A beautful story that I have read many times. It is of love, regret, pain and awareness of one's life. The island they visit is magical and full of beauty and the woman who unfolds the story manages to touch various spiritual aspects. The same feeling throughout can be found in all her books, i eagerly await the next novel.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book to re-read as it had remained in my mind for a few years since I first read it. That doesn't often happen.
It somehow manages to be calming, almost hypnotic yet unsettling at the same time and the story pulls you in and trips you up as you follow it through. The story could appear overly complex but it follows the process of grief which is a long and complex process. It's a remarkably fresh and different book and didn't disappoint in the slightest on a second read.
It somehow manages to be calming, almost hypnotic yet unsettling at the same time and the story pulls you in and trips you up as you follow it through. The story could appear overly complex but it follows the process of grief which is a long and complex process. It's a remarkably fresh and different book and didn't disappoint in the slightest on a second read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poetic
Banana Yoshimoto's book Amrita is a very surreal yet beautiful novel. After the death of a young actress her family struggle to come to terms with her death. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2009 by Miss C. Valcin
Cute, like cotton candy, but ethnocentric and shallow
Banana tries very hard to seem deep, but in her attempts, she reveals a great deal of ethnocentrism. Read more
Published on 13 April 2007 by Angela Covalt
Magical Japan Life
A magic and mysterious atmosphere in the crowded Japan of these days, where a girl is tryin' to keep going after a bad accident, having herself drawn by the tide of lives, not... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2003
Charming but infuriating
This novel does 'get inside the mind of modern Japan' as it says it does in the opening blurb. However, what this mind offers leaves the reader wanting less of its madness,... Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2001 by darrenbeckett@dazal.swinternet.co.uk
An enjoyable book, which disappointed due to lack of depth.
Amrita catologues the effect of a young womans death on the lives that she leaves behind. The story is told by her sister, whose perspective is made all the more complex as she is... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2000
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