Sembilan hari telah berlalu sejak saya selesai membaca The Lake, buku pertama Banana Yoshimoto yang saya baca, tapi saya masih saja mengalami book hangover karenanya.

Saat membeli buku ini saya asal membeli saja. Saya tidak membaca sinopsisnya ataupun mencari reviewnya di Goodreads. Yang saya tau adalah ini merupakan buku terbaru yang ditulis oleh Banana Yoshimoto. Karena saya sedang ingin membaca novel Jepang kontemporer, akhirnya saya membeli buku ini.

Tokoh utama (sekaligus PoV) The Lake adalah Chihiro, perempuan tiga puluhan yang tinggal sendirian di sebuah apartemen. Di awal buku, Chihiro menceritakan tentang latar belakangnya sebagai anak di luar nikah antara seorang direktur sebuah perusahaan keluarga dan seorang Mama-san (sebutan untuk pemilik bar). Chihiro menceritakan pengalamannya menjadi anak di luar nikah yang seringkali digunjingkan oleh lingkungan sekitarnya dan bagaimana ia membenci kota tempat ia dibesarkan. Hal tersebutlah yang kemudian membuat Chihiro pergi ke Tokyo untuk tinggal sendiri di sebuah apartemen.

Chihiro menghabiskan banyak hari-harinya sendirian saja. Ia suka memandang lingkungan sekitarnya melalui jendela apartemennya. Dari situ, kemudian ia melihat seorang pria yang juga sering memandang melalui jendela apartemennya. Jarak dari apartemen Chihiro dan pria itu tidak terlalu dekat dan tidak memungkinkan mereka untuk saling bertukar sapa, tapi mereka tetap saling mengangguk dan tersenyum satu sama lain. Belakangan, akhirnya mereka bertemu di jalan dan memutuskan untuk mengobrol di sebuah kafe. Pria itu bernama Nakajima. Setelah pertemuan tersebut, Chihiro dan Nakajima pun menjadi dekat dan saling mengisi hari-hari mereka yang sebelumnya hening.

Sekilas ceritanya sederhana; wanita dan pria yang sama-sama kesepian akhirnya bertemu dan merasa bisa saling mengisi kekosongan mereka. Yang membuat berbeda adalah Banana Yoshimoto menceritakannya dengan manis tapi tetap realistis. Sebagai seorang wanita yang juga tinggal sendirian dan lebih sering menghabiskan banyak waktu sendiri (curhaaaaat), saya mampu memahami perasaan Chihiro yang pada akhirnya menemukan Nakajima yang mampu memahami rasa sepinya. Saya mampu merasakan hangatnya perasaan Chihiro ketika akhirnya bisa bersama Nakajima dan saya mampu merasakan betapa pentingnya Chihiro untuk Nakajima. Manis. Tapi sama halnya dengan cerita-cerita cinta di novel Murakami, Yoshimoto tidak membuatnya terlalu manis sampai bikin diabetes. Manisnya pas. Ibaratnya ini adalah kopi hitam yang diberi satu blok gula batu, bittersweet.

Well, anyway soal rating, saya memberi empat bintang saja. Kenapa? Karena saya merasa endingnya agak terburu-buru. Saya yang membaca buku ini semacam sedang jalan-jalan santai di perkebunan stroberi tiba-tiba terasa seperti harus mengejar-ngejar bus untuk pulang di 40 halaman terakhir. Tapi, overall, buku ini layak dimilik dan dibaca berulang-ulang.

Not much to talk about here-- I found the plot to be underwhelming and the ending felt sudden. I like Yoshimoto's writing style, which helped me finish, but there was not much depth to this book.

"Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic." p.50

"When there's a plus, there's always a minus. If there's a powerful light, the darkness that is its opposite will be just as strong." p.57-58

"The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free. The wind that gusted over the lake was chilly, and carried the faint hint of the sweetness of spring." p.81

This book is beautiful. It’s an easy read and it has a lot of quotable quotes and thoughts that I can feel when reading in a book. There’s a part that seemed kind of rush and slightly off transition when there are a few pages dedicated to Nakajima and his past, but apart from that it all flowed perfectly well. It is such a feel good read, very light but heavy at the same time. Would love to read more of the author’s books.

Mi ha emozionato, come sanno fare i libri della Yoshimoto.

If you are someone who really needs plot to enjoy a book, The Lake probably won't be for you. The story follows Chihiro and Nakajima (two people who have lived somewhat lonely lives) who come together and find solace in one another. Chihiro is dealing with the grief of losing her mother, and Nakajima is dealing with the effects of a traumatic past. Together, they try to find a way to live happily.

This book has some interesting moments, but it takes a bit to get there. I found the beginning to be very slow and repetitive, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep reading. I just couldn't see where the story was going. But I am glad I didn't put it down. The second half of the book has some beautiful scenes and it was nice to see how Chihiro and Nakajima slowly fell in love. Banana Yoshimoto has a very meditative quality to her writing, and she describes the more mundane aspects of life in a way that seems tranquil. I really liked Chihiro as a character, and I loved that we got the story from her point of view.

I think overall, The Lake is a decent book. I thought some parts were too slow, and it really does not have any solid plot that it follows. It is a meandering kind of story. But I liked the characters, and I liked the way Banana Yoshimoto described their lives. It wasn't my favorite, but it was interesting

i wish i knew how to write about the books i read. i will remember the atmosphere of this book and how it made me feel, but i wish i could put it into words. partly because these are things i enjoy looking back on, even if sometimes i cringe.
yoshimoto’s prose is so comforting to me. it feels familiar, like my own thoughts, and is easy to get swept away by. there seem to be no big pretences but there is so much precision and artistry in the simplicity of a story. it has a heavy weight to it that isn’t oppressive at all