"Bananamania" has returned in an enchanting 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."