is an award-winning novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto

is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto , a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana.-Biography:Yoshimoto, daughter of Takaaki Yoshimoto, was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964...

, partly inspired by Mike Oldfield's song

Moonlight Shadow

"Moonlight Shadow" is a pop song written and performed by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, released as a single in May 1983 and included in the album Crises of the same year. The vocals were performed by Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly, who had joined Mike Oldfield in 1980...

 with the same title. The novella is included in most editions of Yoshimoto's novel Kitchen

Kitchen (novel)

Kitchen （キッチン）is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto Kitchen （キッチン）is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto Kitchen （キッチン）is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto (吉本ばなな）in 1988 and translated into English in 1993 by Megan Backus.Although one may notice a...

.

Synopsis

The novella tells the story of a young woman, Satsuki, coming to terms with the death of her boyfriend, Hitoshi, in a car accident and her friendship with her boyfriend's brother, Hiiragi, whose girlfriend, Yumiko, also died in the same accident. With Japanese cultural and surrealistic

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

themes, it is an example of Yoshimoto's clean writing style that portrays the emotions of grief, loss, and hope.