Product Description

Juxtaposes two tales about mothers, trans-sexuality, kitchens, love, tragedy, and the terms they all come to in the minds of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31506 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 158 pages

Customer Reviews

A simple modern love story
This is one of the most famous Japanese postmodern novels. The main plot about a modern young woman struggling with grief and trying to find love is very touching and delicately handled really. A female protagonist obsessed with kitchens sounds potentially annoying, but she is actually quite likeable, and it is obvious a lot of Yoshimoto's personal experiences and affections have gone into her character. The plot follows Mikage's attempts to reconstruct her life after it was shattered by the death of the last member of her family.

It is interesting and unique, introducing many daring and ununsual themes, such as obsession, bereavement, motherhood and transsexualism. The novel does not go into much depth in its discussions of these themes, mostly relying on a certain ineffable something to convey its message. The characters' personality deformities are treated as natural and even endearing, and the often bizarre nature of the themes is accepted as an inevitable part of life.

There is nothing really deep about this novel. One feels concern and affection for the fates of the characters, and an interest in the themes of the novel. However, it is very short - I read it in one sitting. I believe there could have been room to discuss in depth some of the interesting issues that Yoshimoto raises here, but I suppose that was neither her intention nor desire. Perhaps she wishes to say that it is pointless worrying about such things, that one should just accept them and carry on with life, because otherwise something wonderful might be missed in the present or just around the corner.

Life, death and the joy of kitchens.
Banana Yoshimoto's sparse style of prose evokes a serene sense of repose. It's protagonist, Mikage, is so endearing that one feels that they are reading the intimacies of a close friend. The recently bereaved Mikage finds comfort in Yuichi. Mikage's mourning is averted when Yuichi suffers his own loss. The pain of their mutual bereavement brings the couple together. Mikage and Yuichi find solace in one another, and their touching relationship is both uplifting and inspirational. Kitchen is a novel that is cast with shadows, but is tinged with rays of hope.

Incredible, a true understated masterpiece
It is this book that Banana Yoshimoto first enthralled me with. I read it in two sittings and in it she creates an incredible image of Japanese life. Though written a couple of decades ago, it is timeless, and the ordinary treatment of Mikage's strikingly different Japanese lifestyle makes this so unique to a Westerner such as myself. Though the subjects are apparently bland, there is always a slight air of the supernatural in the way the events are put forward, and the prose is enchanting - there is the very real possibility of both laughing and crying with genuine sadness within two pages of each other!

It is hard to write about a book I love so much without bias, but it is truly difficult to find any flaws in the book. Perhaps the second tale is a little contrived and the jump between them is bewildering as there is little introduction to the second tale, but this may perhaps be intentional.

The subject of food and kitchens is one that I could easily relate to, even across the continental divide and even though I am not a particular 'foodie'. It is the incredible description of a kitchen that can really make you stop reading and think, not of any particular image of a kitchen, but of the exact mood you know Mikage feels as she dreams of her old kitchen and steps into her new, foreign but friendly kitchen. The way Banana Yoshimoto elevates the kitchen to such high importance is amazing.

The whole episode of going out in the middle of the night and chancing upon an incredibly good take-away restaurant and then going hundreds of miles by taxi and climbing up the side of a hotel to deliver some food is incredibly ridiculous, but it is because the author seems to agree 'isn't this strange?' that you have to laugh even when the twisted tale gets more and more distressing.

It is a dumbfounding book.