N.P. is a story about a young woman called Kazami and how-- in the span of one summer-- her life gets tangled up with the people and events surrounding a book of the same title that seemed to be cursed. It follows her as she interacts with different people whose lives are also connected to N.P., and how they all try to make sense of it. It's hard to summarize properly without spoiling it. I saw this book recommended in passing on Pinterest and picked it up from the library the next time I was there, and I almost finished it before we had even left the library. This book definitely drags you into the story from the start and has you hanging on. The characters are just so fascinating, and the story itself borders on supernatural in a unique way. It touches on a lot of difficult and thought-provoking topics that you wouldn't always expect from works written at the time. The writing itself is simple but evocative; it paints a very clear picture without making you have to look up every other word. I really enjoyed reading this! My only itch is that the pace of the story itself is a little difficult to follow at times. As most of the characters in the novel are translators by hobby or profession, it does talk in depth about the work, challenges, and emotional baggage of being a translator, and I loved the insight that each of the characters provide in this regard.

I don't have the book in front of me anymore since I just returned it to the library, but the back of book blurb from the author said something along the lines of "This book contains many subjects that I enjoy writing about, such as incenst, lesbianism, death, the occult, and fate". Which is a fantastic summary of some of the bigger topics that this book covers. Right from the first page, it's revealed that the (fictional) author of N.P., Sarao Takase, had committed suicide, and it later reveals that those who have attempted to translate the work into Japanese have met the same fate-- including the narrator's (much older) boyfriend, Shoji. Later, she is reintroduced to the two children of the author, Otohiko and Saki, who she had met at an event previously with Shoji. Both siblings are haunted by the book and their father's passing, but in different ways. We also later meet Sui. I realized later after reading that some of the English translations of the book contain a minor mistranslation of the relationship between two characters, Otohiko and Sui. They are called "step-siblings" but later how they are described more accurately would translate to "half siblings", as they do share a blood parent. Which is an important distinction to make, as they are also in a romantic and sexual relationship. This book covers a lot of darker topics, and while nothing is every explicitly stated to be supernatural, it has a very surreal air to it. The pacing can be a little difficult to follow, between flashbacks and other exposition, but it didn't really hinder my ability to follow along. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and can't wait to get my hands on some of Yoshimoto's other works.