Goodbye Tsugumi

 

Goodbye Tsugumi / Banana Yoshimoto
trans. from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich
NY: Grove, 2002, c1989.
186 p.

This is another classic example of the nostalgic prose that Banana Yoshimoto is known for. In this book, the main character Maria lives with her mother at a seaside inn; her mother is waiting for her father to get a divorce so that they can marry. In the meantime, she works at her sister's inn. This means that Maria grows up in a small town, close to her two cousins, Yoko and Tsugumi. 

Tsugumi is the pivot of the story. She was born with an unspecified condition, making her sickly and invalid a lot of the time, physically at least. She makes up for it with an extremely strong personality -- she's egocentric, obnoxious, rude, sometimes vulgar, mean -- all of it. Especially to those closest to her, like Maria, Yoko, and her own mother. Tsugumi's family seems to indulge her in this behaviour, as a kind of right because of her illness. I found her truly awful, the things she said and got away with were pretty outrageous but everyone seems to just go along with it. 

Maria's father finally gets his divorce, she and her mother move to Tokyo to live with him, and so Maria can go to college. But then she's invited to spend one last summer at the inn, since her aunt & uncle are selling it. This is the last third of the book and it is steeped in nostalgia. Everything Maria looks at, she realizes it will be the last time -- their routines, friendships, and so on -- everything ending. But Tsugumi creates drama and event throughout what could have been a dreamy and quiet summer, as usual. She falls in love for the first time, and takes revenge on some local boys who have wronged her new boyfriend, ending in hospital and just about dying. The book ends with her letter to Maria that she wrote in hospital when she thought she was dying, and basically explains her feelings and reasons for behaving like she does. 

But before the letter, Maria has left the inn for the last time, returning to Tokyo where her mother meets her at the train, and in Maria's head there's a shift, feeling like she has finally left her childhood behind her. As she settles in to her family home in Tokyo, she thinks "this is where I live now." The book is really a long, drawn-out emotional arc that reveals the state of Maria's childhood years, and her transition into independent adulthood, no longer so enmeshed with Tsugumi. 

I liked this one, as it was a bit longer and had a more definitive story than some of Yoshimoto's other work. Also, if you enjoy Yoshimoto's writing style and her distinct ability to evoke nostalgia (which I do) then this is a great example. The soft focus image on the cover reflects the storyline very well. 

I did find Tsugumi an awful person and couldn't quite get why people around her still engaged with her and seemed to like her, but that's the whole story so I guess it was necessary! The translator has done a lot of Yoshimoto's novels so knows the style well, and the story is very smooth to read in English, as always. If you're a fan, definitely read this one as well.