Thoughtful ... The first half of Sisters in Yellow epitomizes what makes Kawakami’s writing so great, melding incisive social commentary with a cast of memorable, scrappy, put-upon young people. But an abrupt tonal shift late in the novel, something seemingly endemic to all Kawakami’s work, results in the protagonist evincing a rather dizzying change in temperament and the narrative meandering its way through fits and starts toward a disappointingly rote dénouement. The serialized origin of “Sisters in Yellow” gives the story a spontaneous authenticity and whimsy, yet also feels responsible for the novel’s shortcomings, namely its overly drawn-out second half and the sidelining of a major character ... An enjoyable 12-episode season that could’ve been an eight-episode masterpiece.
Sisters in Yellow is marred in places by clunky exposition and overextended scenes. In addition, Ms. Kawakami’s prose can be flat and perfunctory. But its plus-points are its well-drawn quartet of characters and its compelling plot. Once Hana gets involved in her illicit money-making scheme, the narrative changes gear, tension levels are cranked up and what started out as a straightforward study of friendship turns into a fast-paced story of survival.
Gritty, noirish, almost Richard Price-like ... The book displays a gift for confident, if rambling, storytelling, and the details pile up convincingly. Yet the novel refused to come alive in my hands ... Texture, depth and grainy intellection are absent. The sentences swim and skim like surface bugs ... Kawakami’s talent is wider than it is deep ... Despite my mixed feelings about Sisters in Yellow, I have a feeling I won’t forget Hana, perpetually running up life’s down escalator, willing to try anything to scrape together a little happiness.
