Thrush
Tags
Summary
Maria grew up close to her cousins Tsugumi and Yoko, and the three share a deep bond. That summer, Maria, now a university student in Tokyo, returns to the seaside town for a holiday. A cheerful, sunny-natured boy named Kyoichi suddenly bursts into the three girls' quiet lives, and a pure young love blossoms between Tsugumi and Kyoichi. A group of delinquent boys who secretly harbor crushes on Tsugumi ambush and beat Kyoichi, then kill Tsugumi's beloved dog. To get revenge, Tsugumi hides it from everyone and expends all her strength digging a huge pit—and ends up ill and in the hospital.
With her signature rhythm and language, Banana Yoshimoto portrays the girls' one and only, never-to-return brilliant season, composing a radiant, endlessly translucent prelude to a summer romance.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who love Japanese literature, especially those who prefer delicate psychological portrayal and everyday philosophical reflection
- People in a transitional period of life or confused about the meaning of life, seeking spiritual comfort
- Fans of Banana Yoshimoto who want a deeper understanding of her "healing" style
- Readers interested in literary exploration of youth, growth, illness, and life-and-death themes
Not a good fit for
- Readers who seek strong plots, fast pacing, or intense dramatic conflict
- Readers impatient with quiet everyday narratives and inward-looking psychological description
Reading tips
- Best read alone on a quiet afternoon or evening, letting yourself sink into the atmosphere of the prose
- Pay attention to the descriptions of natural light and shadow, smells, and sounds—they are important carriers of emotion
- Don't rush toward plot developments; try to feel the emotions and reflections flowing between the lines
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- Digital Lab简介
- 妖怪信箱
- 春天、山本家的姐妹
- 人生
- 异乡人
- 夜晚的缘故
- 和父亲游泳
- 夏日的狂欢
- 发怒
- 身影
- 鸫的来信
- 后记
- 文库版后记
FAQ
Is Tsugumi an early work by Banana Yoshimoto? Where does it stand in her career?
What symbolic meaning does the character "Tsugumi" have in the book?
Is the tone of this book very sad?
Comments
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About the author
Banana Yoshimoto, whose real name is Mahoko Yoshimoto, was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964. She is a contemporary Japanese novelist and a graduate of the College of Art at Nihon University. In 1987, her debut work Kitchen won the Kaien Newcomer Literature Prize, and the following year she received the Izumi Kyoka Literature Prize; she has since also won the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize. Her writing, light and pure in tone, explores loneliness, death, and healing. Her representative works include Kitchen, Shirakawa Yofune, Honeymoon, Daisy Life, Rainbow, and Memories at the End, among others. The library holds 28 of her works, commonly classified as foreign literature. Her writing has been translated into many languages and has reached readers abroad.
Mi Tiejuan is a Chinese author about whom little public information is currently available; her English name, nationality, and dates of birth and death have not been reliably recorded. Judging from the five works held in the collection, her writing falls under the category of foreign literature, and her representative titles include Daisies, Hello Shimokitazawa, Thrush, Hey Hey Shimokitazawa, and Daisies. These titles carry a distinct Japanese flavor of everyday life and youthful narrative, often centering on ordinary scenes, characters' inner states, and experiences of growing up. Her style tends toward the delicate and plain, with attention to mood and detail. Because verifiable biographical material is so limited, a full account of her creative background and overall trajectory remains difficult, and readers mainly encounter her writing through these works and translations.
