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World Of Words: 'Lizard' Unveils The Extraordinary In The Mundane

Published March 6, 2024, 11:47 p.M., last updated March 6, 2024, 11:48 p.M.

In "World of Words," Breanna Burke reviews international books as a way to explore different cultures and perspectives on life.

Editor's Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

As I stepped onto the plane that would take me back to Stanford this winter break, the smell of recycled cabin air exacerbated the dread I felt towards the six hour ride ahead. "You think they'd give us a bit more leg space, huh," whispered the woman beside me. Before I knew it, we were sharing our life stories, and walked off the plane a little different — and a lot more hopeful — than we had entered.

Mundane yet extraordinary snippets of life like this are exactly the kinds of stories Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto tells in her short story collection "Lizard," written in 1993 and translated into English by Ann Sheriff in 1995.

Set against the beaming cityscape of Tokyo, Yoshimoto's stories capture short-spanned moments of her characters' imperfect lives that "explor[e] time, healing, karma and fate," as she writes in the collection's afterword. A newlywed unhappy in his marriage, a woman who marries the man she had an affair with, a recovering sex addict afraid that her past will impede her new love — in each story, Yoshimoto reimagines love as a healing force, capturing the poignancy and bliss of, arguably, the essence of our lives. 

The most striking thing about Yoshimoto's style of writing is how her simplistic diction complexifies the ordinary. Nothing is as it seems on the surface. In the eponymous second story of the collection (and my personal favorite), the male narrator, a therapist for emotionally disturbed young children, wants to marry his girlfriend, a physical therapist, referred to as "Lizard." Lizard is hesitant, revealing she has a secret she has been hiding from her lover.

It is amid this tension Yoshimoto creates between her characters that the narrator is "reminded of [his lover's] separateness, a being with different organs, bundled in a different sheath of skin, who has dreams at night that are nothing like [his] own."

When Yoshimoto writes the journey of her characters' lives, their imperfections aren't a sign of weakness. Rather, they are a necessity for her protagonists to experience growth and move from one stage of life to another. 

While some may find Yoshimoto's simplistic style of writing disconcerting or even boring, I was captivated by her stories. Admittedly, it was sometimes challenging to disregard the question of whether the English translation of the novel authentically conveyed Yoshimoto's words, a question that I am still grappling with as I continue to venture into the world of translated literature. 

Nevertheless, I found myself in every character she brought alive on the page. In "Newlywed," I couldn't help but relate to the narrator's fear of "encountering something much larger than myself and feeling immeasurably small and insignificant by comparison."

Likewise, in "Helix", the narrator worries about being forgotten by his lover, who is considering undergoing a spiritual seminar in which her mind is completely cleared. Their dialogues engrossed me as the characters debated the significance of memory as a potent force in our lives. 

Amid the whimsical sprinklings of magical realism in both "Helix" and "Newlywed," including characters capable of apparition, mind-reading or shape-shifting, I was grounded by the humanity of Yoshimoto's words.​​ The power she places in the sanctified phrase "And then…" and the awakenings in her plots that inspire some sort of change in her characters, forced me to reflect on the potency of the unremarkable in my own life.

The heart of "Lizard" is the warmth of heartbreak, love and healing that Yoshimoto brings to life on the page. "No one can survive childhood without being wounded," she writes in "A Strange Tale from Down by the River." This collection is Yoshimoto's invitation for us to heal by appreciating the glistening moments in our lives, whether it's our favorite song, the tranquil beauty of Lake Lag at sunset, the way our favorite person's whole face lights up when they smile or akin to the narrator in the collection's final tale, the recognition that "[the] light within [us] was something gorgeous like that."

A Colorado Man Died After A Gila Monster Bite. Opinions And Laws On Keeping The Lizard As A Pet Vary

A Gila monster is displayed at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Dec. 14, 2018. A 34-year-old Colorado man has died on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, after being bitten by his pet gila monster in a very rare occurrence. Gila monster bites are often painful to humans, but normally aren't deadly, experts say. Credit: AP/Ted S. Warren

A Colorado man who died after getting bitten by a Gila monster was hardly alone in having the gnarly looking lizard for a pet.

They're legal to own in most states, easily found through breeders and at reptile shows, and widely regarded for their striking color patterns and typically easygoing personality.

But while 34-year-old Christopher Ward's death Friday may have been the first from a Gila monster in the U.S. In almost a century, the creature's bite is well-known to be excruciating — and venomous. For that reason, some question the wisdom of keeping the species as pets.

"It's like getting your hand slammed, caught in a car door," Arizona State University professor Dale DeNardo said of the lizard's bite. "Even that initial pain is extended for an hour. Then you get the typical days of soreness, throbbing pain. It's much worse than any bee, wasp or scorpion."

A Gila monster enthusiast who has studied the reptiles for decades, DeNardo said even he wouldn't want to have one in his house.

Within minutes of Ward's pet lizard named Winston biting down on his hand without letting go, Ward was vomiting and couldn't breathe, according to a report by the animal control officer who interviewed his girlfriend.

He was put on life support but didn't pull through, dying less than four days after the bite.

Ward's girlfriend told animal control they bought Winston at a reptile exhibition in Denver in October and another Gila monster named Potato from a breeder in Arizona in November. She relinquished the lizards to be taken to a South Dakota reptile sanctuary after the bite.

Colorado requires a permit to keep a Gila (pronounced HE-la) monster. Only zoological-type facilities are issued such permits, however, and Ward apparently didn't have one for his lizards, said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose.

By being sold at a reptile show, Winston may have slipped through the cracks of state enforcement. Colorado Department of Natural Resources agents sometimes attend shows to make sure illegal animals aren't for sale.

"It does happen from time to time," Van Hoose said. "We've confiscated some from those."

Online, breeders sell Gila monsters for $1,200 and up after hatchlings emerge in the fall. While it's possible that some people catch wild Gila monsters to keep as pets, DeNardo said roads and habitat loss to home construction are the reptiles' biggest threats.

The lizards' natural habitat ranges from northern Mexico across Arizona and into parts of California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. While declining population is sometimes considered a concern — perhaps down to several thousand in the wild — Gila monsters are not protected as a threatened or endangered species.

States such as Maine and Kentucky prohibit keeping Gila monsters as pets, while others such as Montana don't even require permits for them. Many states fall in between, requiring a permit to have the animals.

One such permit-holder is Colorado Gators, a reptile sanctuary and tourist attraction not far from Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in rural southern Colorado. The facility with a source of naturally warm groundwater takes in alligators and other rescued, confiscated and abandoned reptiles, including a Gila monster after the death of a pet store owner.

Owner Jay Young counts himself among Gila monster fans.

"Only certain people, of course, should have them and in places where they can legally have them," Young said. "But they're just adorable. Just look at that little face. One of the cutest lizards, for sure."

They can live at least 20 years on a diet of small rodents and quail eggs, living in a smallish aquarium of 15-20 gallons (57-76 liters), Young said.

In the wild, Gila monsters spend as much as 95% of the time underground to conserve water in hot, dry weather, coming out more frequently in wet weather, DeNardo said.

For their size, up to 22 inches (56 centimeters), Gila monsters travel widely, ranging over an area as big as 100 or more U.S. Football fields in pursuit of prey including bird eggs in nests high up in cactuses. To get there, they conserve energy, maintaining a slow but steady pace for a lizard.

Because they're slow, they rely on their painful venom for defense, often giving a warning hiss before their strike.

"It's never accidental," DeNardo said. "You've got to be messing with them."

Before Ward, the last person to die of a Gila monster bite, around 1930, may have had cirrhosis of the liver, DeNardo said. A yet-to-be released autopsy report may show if the venom from Ward's lizard killed him outright or whether an underlying condition, such as an allergy, was a factor.

"I highly suspect that this one is going to be similar," DeNardo said, "that this person had some underlying cause that made him more susceptible."

North Texas Man Offering Cash Reward For Return Of Missing Monitor Lizard

A man in North Texas and a radio station are offering a cash reward and two tickets to a Dave Matthews concert to anyone who finds his missing large reptilian pet.

Trey Smoak of Crowley is still searching for his roughneck monitor lizard Dino, who disappeared outside his home on Friday, Feb. 9.

"I set him up in a kennel right outside my front door, not 10 feet from where I was sitting in the house," Smoak said in a Facebook post.

"He was fine there for a couple hours, and then the front door got shut for like 10 min, and he disappeared. I'm pretty sure he was snatched, but there's the chance he slipped out somehow. I just don't see how. He was big, and the kennel was locked up tight.

Smoak said he spent nearly $1,000 in equipment, substrate, lights, building supplies, and a 500-gallon aquarium for the exotic creature's new enclosure.

"This sucks. There's not going to be to many of this species of monitors in the area. If you live in the Crowley area and hear of anything in regards to a roughneck monitor lizard, please let me know," said Smoak.

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The pet owner posted that he was offering $300, and after speaking with 97.1 The Freak, the radio station added $200 plus the pair of concert tickets.

According to Smoak, Dino requires a lot of specialized equipment and proper care. He also shared that the lizard has a healthy appetite and needs a variety of expensive foods daily.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Dino is urged to contact Trey at Josephsmoak1@gmail.Com, call 97.1 The Freak, or Crowley Animal Control.

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