Plot ruined by bad writing

Childhood memories often have the power to transport you back in time. A conversation, a song, or a smell is all it takes for the memories to come rushing back.

Memories of the very first time you tasted ice cream and decided that it is all you’d like to eat for the rest of your life or maybe the day you decided to console a wailing classmate in third grade, only to go on and become best friends. These memories are priceless. But what if the memories didn’t exist? Who are you without the memories? This is the question that lies at the heart of The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto.

The short novel revolves around the life of Yayoi, a 19-year-old who lives with her picture-perfect family — mum, dad, and Tetsuo, her younger brother. The family of four live a blissful domestic life, existing within a space of love and compassion. But Yayoi can only assume that it has always been this way since she has no recollection of her childhood. She has no memories of her playing with her brother, no memories of family vacations, nothing she can recall. But then, on what seems to be an ordinary day, she has a vision that slowly helps her unpack her childhood. The plot thickens around this vision and Yayoi’s other premonitions throughout the book. Although sweet as saccharine at the onset, the 130-pager goes on to explore various dark themes such as death, incest, and paedophilia. Yoshimoto’s writing follows a similar pattern to her previous books, filled with twists — albeit sinister — that slowly uproot one’s idea of the blissful Japanese domestic life.

However, the style of writing fails to inject emotion into the story. Weak sentences take away the psychological intrigue. Instead of letting the reader feel the emotions, the book forces the emotions onto the reader in the form of axioms. This takes away any chance the characters had of being likeable and leaves us with a shoddy sob story of a 19-year-old.

Jimbocho is a monthly column where we sift through popular Japanese books. Often called the ‘town of books’, Jimbocho is a neighbourhood in Tokyo that celebrates Japan’s rich literary heritage. Send your feedback on X @asra_mavad