An offbeat and lovely addition to the world of short story collections, Dead-End Stories by Banana Yoshimoto is, in essence, a tribute to hope, light, and resilience. The women in each of her five stories experience episodes of emotional pain or trauma, from the extremes of abuse and murder, to the heartbreak inflicted by an inconstant lover. In Yoshimoto’s tender hands, ultimately these events will not be allowed to warp and embitter, as each character is set on a path towards acknowledgement of life’s random cruelties and a final blessing of solace and clarity.
The stand-out read of the collection is one of the lengthier stories, titled Mama. It opens in the staff cafeteria of a publishing company, where a young woman named Matsuoko is ordering vegetable curry for a working lunch. Focussing on proof-reading whilst eating causes her to ignore the strange bitterness of the food, and it’s only later, prostrate in a hospital emergency ward that Matsuoko realises she’s been poisoned. Incredibly, a disgruntled ex-employee, fired for stalking one of their star writers, has spiked the staff food.
After an initial flurry of TV crews and a bouquet of flowers from the company president, Matsuoko has to step back into everyday life. The poisoning is yesterday’s news, yet she still feels frail, lethargic and blue. Despite the loving care of her partner, Yu, Matsuoko can’t shake the feeling that she is damaged in some way.
It’s the perspicacious Yu who points her towards revelation, beginning the day he reveals a conversation held with Matsuoko’s grandparents about her past. He’s sad for her, he says, the things he learned about her past.
Rattled, Matsuoko tells him not to worry, ‘I have no hidden twists in my heart,’ she says.
But of course, she does. In her case, causing a toxicity that has been in her body for many years, and is now ‘brought to the surface by the poison in the curry’.
As in each story in this quintet, an event is revealed, its subsequent impact, and then a shifting of perspective, often facilitated by certain characters and/or the solace derived from memories. Yoshimoto draws, in particular, on the idea of cooking beloved family dishes as a form of comfort blanket, evoking such images as omurice (omelette rice), miso soup with oysters, or the fluffiest of Japanese cake rolls.
In the final analysis though, it is human connection that saves the day. The female lead in each and every story, will come to encounter an extraordinary person. The kind of person possessed of a rare glow, whose insight and empathy can change the course of a life.
In the titular story, Dead-End Memories, the cheated-on protagonist, Mimi, regains her dignity and equilibrium via a friend whose wisdom has been earned in a most dramatic way. His loyalty, demonstrated by sage advice and a final act of resolute practicality, confirms Mimi’s growing belief that ‘what you choose to pay attention to defines your world’.
Low-key, reflective, and optimistic, Yoshimoto’s latest literary offering gladdens the heart.
Dead-End Stories by Banana Yoshimoto is published by Faber & Faber, 224 pages.