Banana Yoshimoto

"With a cold"--she spoke evenly, lowering her eyes a little--"now is the hardest time. Maybe even harder than dying. But this is probably as bad as it can get. You might come to fear the next time you get a cold; it will be as bad as this, but if you just hold steady, it won't be. For the rest of your life. That's how it works. You could take the negative view and live in fear: Will it happen again? But it won't hurt so much if you just accept it as a part of life." With that she looked up at me, smiling."

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Source: Banana Yoshimoto (2006). “Kitchen”, p.139, Grove Press

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Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto

Novelist

Banana Yoshimoto is a contemporary Japanese author known for her poignant explorations of love and loss, particularly in her novel 'Kitchen'.

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Banana Yoshimoto Novelist

"As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed."

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