There is nothing that Banana Yoshimoto loves more than average people stuck in above-average situations. So much of her work centers on individuals who are essentially blue-collar workers trying to make their way in the world and encountering, when they least expect it, something that tries their patience and intelligence to its most precipitous degrees. Of course, it is their everydayness that Yoshimoto fashions into something extraordinary at the end of the story, her characters malleable like clay, her scenarios purple and dramatic. Dreams, lost objects and memories all enhance the protagonist’s journey.

Yoshimoto is up to her old tricks again in THE PREMONITION, which was first published in Japan in 1988 and is now available in the US. It looks like a slight volume (only 133 pages of material), but it is filled with the deepest of admissions and the strangest of circumstances.

"THE PREMONITION is a quick but effective read about allowing the secrets of the past to create a walkway into a truthful new future."

Nineteen-year-old Yayoi is looking to recover memories that come back to haunt her in tiny flashes. Living with her loving family in Tokyo, there is no reason for her to want to “escape” her circumstances. But a premonition is preoccupying her. She realizes that she has forgotten something about her childhood and who she really is. Yayoi is not sure how to discover what she is supposed to be seeking. A strange encounter with what feels like a ghost during a bubble bath leaves her with many questions, and her mother tells her something that she was never made aware of before. She has always been “extremely sensitive,” but actually she is somewhat psychic and is picking up on vibes that are out of the ordinary.

Yayoi feels an intense closeness to her brother, Tetsuo, which is reciprocal. But she cannot talk about the feelings she’s having to those she loves --- at least not at home. So she decides to move in with her eccentric aunt Yukino. Yukino is somewhat of a hermit and lives a decidedly distinctive life on her own. She has some information that Yayoi now demands to know.

Asa Yoneda’s translation upends the grace of Yoshimoto’s well-plotted reveals with its almost childlike language. As Yayoi grows closer to the realization that she has been nudged spiritually to find, Yoshimoto’s prose seems to repeat itself --- memories of night skies and the smell of clean air become constant discussions. But then she gives us a point that deepens the intricate balance beams that the characters are walking on as they try to sort out what Yayoi is struggling to uncover about her own life. Everyone has a part, and the revelations change their relationships completely. No one is left out of the transformations, including Yukino and Tetsuo. Eventually, the prosaic writing makes sense and, upon a second reading, gives way to some delightfully simple yet energetic imagery.

While not the most dynamic of Yoshimoto’s work, THE PREMONITION is a quick but effective read about allowing the secrets of the past to create a walkway into a truthful new future.