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A review by nhdiary
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
4.0
"People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces; defeat invades from within, I thought. I had lost my last ounce of strength. Before my eyes something was coming to an end, something I didn't want to end, but for which I lacked the energy to suffer, much less fight. There was only a leaden hopelessness in me."
Despite having some trouble with the writing/translation style at the beginning, I definitely grew to enjoy its lightness and metaphors. "Kitchen" and "Moonlight Shadow" (which was included in this edition) were both equally lovely stories about love, life, and death. Overall, it was quite beautiful to see these eccentric characters, who are deeply shattered by grief, give each other warmth and words of comfort in such a cold time of their life. How they each decide how to deal with a tragic and sudden loss, and how it connects them. I also really loved how blurry the line between reality and the implausible would get at times. It added a mystifying touch to the story.
I usually avoid reading, once more, the summary of a book right before reading it, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a transgender character in it; as well as characters who didn't (or chose not to) fit society's gender stereotypes. I mean, for an Asian book released in 1988, it sounded ahead of its time. Now, I can only speak from an outsider's perspective and I do not claim to be an expert in how progressive Japan was back in the days, although I can get somewhat of an idea. But there were things that seemed off in the protrayal of Eriko and mostly in the way her son and Mikage referred to her at times. They both loved her very much, there's no doubt about that. But, now and then, they would unecessarily "correct" themselves in their appelations of her. I'm curious to see how she was written in the original version's narration, since pronouns can very often be ommited in Japanese. Something that is harder to do in English, or at least in the 1990s, when "they/them" pronouns were not as widely used as they are today.
I have to say that I expected the kitchen to be a little more present in the story, rather than just a way of saying "meals bring people together" and "somebody's kitchen says a lot about them." Cooking is somewhat of a recurring theme, but not any more than any other Japanese book. I didn't want to be too harsh on the rating, because I do think these are very moving stories that are worth your time, but my final rate is more of a 3,5/5.
Despite having some trouble with the writing/translation style at the beginning, I definitely grew to enjoy its lightness and metaphors. "Kitchen" and "Moonlight Shadow" (which was included in this edition) were both equally lovely stories about love, life, and death. Overall, it was quite beautiful to see these eccentric characters, who are deeply shattered by grief, give each other warmth and words of comfort in such a cold time of their life. How they each decide how to deal with a tragic and sudden loss, and how it connects them. I also really loved how blurry the line between reality and the implausible would get at times. It added a mystifying touch to the story.
I usually avoid reading, once more, the summary of a book right before reading it, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a transgender character in it; as well as characters who didn't (or chose not to) fit society's gender stereotypes. I mean, for an Asian book released in 1988, it sounded ahead of its time. Now, I can only speak from an outsider's perspective and I do not claim to be an expert in how progressive Japan was back in the days, although I can get somewhat of an idea. But there were things that seemed off in the protrayal of Eriko and mostly in the way her son and Mikage referred to her at times. They both loved her very much, there's no doubt about that. But, now and then, they would unecessarily "correct" themselves in their appelations of her. I'm curious to see how she was written in the original version's narration, since pronouns can very often be ommited in Japanese. Something that is harder to do in English, or at least in the 1990s, when "they/them" pronouns were not as widely used as they are today.
I have to say that I expected the kitchen to be a little more present in the story, rather than just a way of saying "meals bring people together" and "somebody's kitchen says a lot about them." Cooking is somewhat of a recurring theme, but not any more than any other Japanese book. I didn't want to be too harsh on the rating, because I do think these are very moving stories that are worth your time, but my final rate is more of a 3,5/5.