![]() Her unmarried mother owned a bar, where she met Chihiro's father the lack of a "normal" family structure didn't prevent Chihiro from having a good childhood, but thinking of what people might be saying about her - "Sure, she’s the daughter of a prominent local figure, but c’mon-he knocked up the Mama-san of a bar, right?" - left her feeling "oppressed." Chihiro leaves for Tokyo as soon as possible to go to art school soon after moving from home her mother gets sick and ultimately dies. ![]() The novel follows Chihiro, a young artist living in Tokyo whose mother has recently passed away. It's a blend of the real and the fantastic in some parts of the story you need to be prepared to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow. However, don't let the brevity of this book fool you: in its short length, it manages to touch upon issues of grief, trauma and family, and it offers a powerful surprise that is revealed near the end. The most recent of Yoshimoto's novels to be translated into English, The Lake is a good read, one that won't take you long to finish. ![]()
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