Kitchen

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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 certain Western influence in Yoshimoto's style, Kitchen is still critically recognized as an example of contemporary Japanese literature; The Independent, The Times and The New Yorker have all reviewed the novel favorably. Most editions also include a novella entitled Moonlight Shadow, which is also a tragedy dealing with loss and love. There have been two films made of the story, a Japanese TV movie in 1989 and a more widely released version produced in Hong Kong by Yim Ho in 1997. In Kitchen, a young Japanese woman named Mikage Sakurai struggles to overcome the death of her grandmother. She gradually grows close to one of her grandmother's friends, Yuichi, from a flower shop and ends up staying with him and his transgender mother, Eriko. From Mikage's love of kitchens to her job as a culinary teacher...

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Kitchen
  • Nodley Nodley
    Nodley
    6 months ago
    Saved!
    Got a serious leek under the kitchen sink in my new kitchen https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q9KPbKDa8ZZxCsQY8
  • Wrl6199 Wrl6199
    Wrl6199 wrote his opinion about Kitchen
    9 years ago
    Saved!
    I think it would be a mistake to write of Kitchen or Yoshimoto as a literary lightweight, a common knock against her. Mikage and Yuichi's struggles in the aftermath of shocking and devastating deaths was incredibly moving. Their need to create a brighter, happier life together in a death-filled world, to discover how to continue to live in a cruel and uncaring environment ... isn't that what we all are trying to do to some degree or another? Kitchen is a 4.5/5 star book in my opinion. If you liked Kitchen, I'd recommend Haruki Murakami ... especially "Dance, Dance, Dance" which touches on some similar themes but deals with them in very different ways.
    Moonlight Shadow was a little whimsical for my tastes. The characters deal with the same issues as Mikage and Yuichi, but with a science fiction touch. Yoshimoto seemed to be trying too hard to make her point about moving on after death, rather than developing a good short story. It was a disappointing follow-up to Kitchen.
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Authors

Banana Yoshimoto
Banana Yoshimoto

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Created 2014-02-12 12:46 pm
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