“There is no image in the world where you don’t appear. You are always there.”
The book is a collection of six stories. Six stories of hearts and memories. Six wandering souls, each with a past too heavy to bear, a present to sink into and a future to draw.
Three short stories are written in the male first person, and three in the female, demonstrating the versatility of the writer and her profound humanity. A rare gift to tell the different points of view of men and women with obscene precision.
The only physical point of contact between the stories is Tokyo. A city similar to many megacities in the world, populated by silent faceless silhouettes, committed to ignoring each other, to find shelter in the wrong places, or hate each other. Only careful to wear the masks that society imposes on us, but nothing is enough to cancel appearances.
The title of the book comes from one of the most complete and incisive characters in our opinion. A small and enigmatic figure, with a secret past to be buried deep in the heart, until she is forced to reveal it and put the sentimental relationship at risk with what could be the man of her life.
As told by the same author for post scriptum, the book tells the story of six characters about to face a great change in their lives. Thus emerges the hope that accompanies each phase of transition. A feeling as old as it is underestimated. The real driving force of the world is the hope to give the strength to risk beyond measure, to put the few certainties acquired back into play, to look with confidence behind the front door.
As for the writing and the topics covered, Lizard does not differ much from the first creative season of Banana Yoshimoto. The delicacy of the dialogues and the intensity of the moods treated, have a unique descriptive force, of which there is never enough, word after word. We always like this style very much.
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Banana Yoshimoto, Lizard, Grove Press, New York, 1995
Original edition: Tokage, Shinchōsha, Tokyo, 1993
