NP Audiobook By Banana Yoshimoto cover art

NP

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

NP

By: Banana Yoshimoto
Narrated by: Emily Zeller
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.95

Buy for $14.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

"Bananamania" has returned in an enchanting new novel of uncanny subtlety, style, magic, and mystery that Frank Ramirez of the South Bend Tribune declares is "every bit as good as Yoskimoto's first book...perhaps better".

A celebrated Japanese writer has committed suicide, leaving behind a collection of stories written in English, NP. But the book may never be published in his native Japan: Each translator who takes up the 98th story chooses death too - including Kazami Kano's boyfriend, Shoji. Haunted by Shoji's death, Kazami is inexorably drawn to three young people whose lives are intimately bound to the late writer and his work. Over the course of an astonishing summer, she will discover the truth behind the 98th story - and she will come to believe that "everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful enough to make you crazy".

©1988 Banana Yoshimoto. English translation Fukutake Publishing Co., Ltd., through the Japan Foreign-Rights Centre. Translation 1993 by Megan Backus. (P)2015 Audible Inc. Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Feel-Good

Featured Article: 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear


Thanks to the work of translators and publishers, Japanese literature is now more accessible than ever to English-speaking audiences. If you've ever wanted to learn more about Japanese culture and literature, you cannot go wrong with listening to audiobooks from Japan. We've compiled a list of the most famous Japanese authors who have helped define Japanese literature, and their notable works across genres and time periods.

Featured Article 10 Famous Japanese Authors You Have to Hear

People who viewed this also viewed...

Lizard Audiobook By Banana Yoshimoto cover art
Lizard By: Banana Yoshimoto
Asleep Audiobook By Banana Yoshimoto cover art
Asleep By: Banana Yoshimoto
All stars
Most relevant  
The female protagonist had a sexual relationship with her 24(?) year old adult boyfriend, Shoji, at the age of 17 when there was an evident imbalance in power within their relationship. The inappropriateness of this was never addressed at any point in the book, and their relationship was viewed with rose coloured glasses by both the protagonist and other people looking back on her relationship. It also depicts the incestuous relationship of two half siblings in a similar, romanticised light. This would make most readers feel mildly

Romanticises pedophilia and Incest

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story was on the side of melodramatic - maybe even slightly contrived to my western ears. Not sure how much of that is a 90s thing, Japanese thing, or a 90s Japanese thing. But beautiful and poetic. Sometimes hard to tell which character the narrator is narrating, but it's a good performance overall.

Interesting ... ish?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.