Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

115 reviews

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Progressive for it’s time. Seen through a mordent lens, it could be better in its representation. Great examination of grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Medical content, Bullying, Grief, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, and Hate crime

chikin's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Hate crime

lynxpardinus's review

emotional reflective sad

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Death, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Deadnaming, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Violence, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking and Animal death

bookedbymadeline's review

relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

Read this as part of my book club’s March pick. It wasn’t on my TBR before and I didn’t know much about it going in. 

What I liked:
•Short and quick read

•Interesting looks at loss and grief

•I enjoyed the second story much more which is why I gave it 3 ⭐️s

•Even though “Moonlight Shadow” was shorter I somehow felt more emotion and connection with those characters than with the characters of the “Kitchen” novella
•I finished it 😂

What I didn’t like:
•Characters felt one dimensional and writing was just okay; I felt bored at times and found myself speed reading the last 30 pages of Kitchen
•Transphobic af-lots of misgendering and deadnaming-
Eriko is a trans woman and her son described her life story by saying that after her wife died she asked herself “what do I do now?I want to be cheerfully uplifted so I’ll become a woman” as if that’s something you just decide on a whim?!
•Also her son outed her to the MC upon the first time they meet. Throughout the book they make jokes at Eriko’s expense where they continue to misgender her. I’m not sure if this was intentional by the author or if it’s a translation issue but the trans rep is poorly portrayed.

•Won’t be a memorable read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Hate crime, Outing, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism and Body shaming

Minor: Deadnaming

livd1200's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, and Transphobia

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Car accident, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Body shaming

samkcs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Transphobia

transphobia specific warnings:

death of a trans woman

and generally really outdated and transphobic ways of talking about trans women, not in an overtly hateful way, more in a “wow I can’t believe how beautiful she is, I can’t believe she’s really a man” way. Some of the outdated language is related to transvestitism-era stuff.

thisthat100's review

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Transphobia, and Grief

americattt's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“While what happened was utterly amazing, it didn’t seem so out of the ordinary, really. It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world. 
I held the feeling in my heart; the urge to discuss it died out. There was all the time in the world. In the endless repetition of other nights, other mornings, this moment, too, might become a dream.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Grief

l0bke's review

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent