It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOIt was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOBut I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOI spent most of my time thinking, because I didn’t have enough energy to do anything else.
BANANA YOSHIMOTORecognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who’ve been through something traumatic.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOWhen things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOAgain and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOI realized that the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn’t up to me. It was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOI had been walking in silence for so long,I had almost forgotten what my own voice sounded like.My knees were tired;my toes were beginning to ache.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOTo the extent that I had come to understand that despair does not necessarily result in annihilation, that one can go on as usual in spite of it, I had become hardened. Was this what it means to be an adult, to live with ugly ambiguities? I didn’t like it, but it made it easier to go on.
BANANA YOSHIMOTONothing exists in this world but me and my bed…” (p. 141).
BANANA YOSHIMOTOI held the feeling in my heart; the urge to discuss it died out. There was all the time in the world. In the endless repetition of other nights, other mornings, this moment, too, might become a dream.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOThis world of ours is piled high with farewells and goodbyes of so many different kinds, like the evening sky renewing itself again and again from one instant to the next-and I didn’t want to forget a single one.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOI wonder what it felt to move to a country where you didn’t grow up. I had thought about that often since my sister got married. Do you become a character in a story native to that land, or do you, somewhere in your heart, want to return to your homeland.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOOver and over, we begin again.
BANANA YOSHIMOTOIt occurred to me that if I were a ghost, this ambiance was what I’d miss most: the ordinary, day-to-day bustle of the living. Ghosts long, I’m sure, for the stupidest, most unremarkable things.
BANANA YOSHIMOTONo matter what, I want to continue living with the awareness that I will die. Without that, I am not alive.
BANANA YOSHIMOTO