SOURCE: "Top Banana," in Harper's Bazaar, No. 3388, March, 1994, p. 170.

In the following review, Cohen offers praise for NP.

When Banana Yoshimoto's novella Kitchen arrived on the American literary scene last year, many readers discovered a new soul mate. First published in Japan in 1987, it was praised for its artful simplicity and whimsical style; Yoshimoto proved to be a master storyteller with a lot of heart. And with the publication of her new book, NP, she has ventured out of the familiar confines of the kitchen and into a more restless, but no less magical, world.

Set in Japan, NP takes its title from a collection of 97 stories penned—in English—by a celebrated Japanese writer living in Boston. When a 98th story surfaces after the author's death, so does a distressing pattern: Anyone who tries to translate it into Japanese dies inexplicably. Kazami Kano, the novel's central character...