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clovetra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
i have such varying thoughts on both of the novellas included inside this book, so i'm going to separate my thoughts;
kitchen was.. alright! i got quite bored and felt there was no underlying story or message. none of the characters appeared interesting to me except eriko. i understood there was supposed to be a message or theme to grasp, but i couldn't. sure grief was there, but it felt almost secondary, and there was just no overarching purpose to the story, and i found it such a slog. i enjoyed some parts, such as when mikage is at work or as she converses with eriko, but other than that, i did not enjoy this story. on its own this story is a strong 1/5 for me.
i loved moonlight shadow. i would've much preferred if this was the longer one out of the two novellas. it felt like everyone was character was well-written, and i thoroughly enjoyed the story and the voice employed. the theme of grief and holding on was very prominent here, and written wonderfully. the ending was sweet, and i enjoyed how grief was portrayed here. i also love the presence of urara, she was a great addition to this story, as well as hiiragi. solid 3/5
honestly, even though i quite enjoyed moonlight shadow, it's only 40 pages out of a 150 page book. kitchen took up way too much of this novel to rate this book highly.
overall i think my issue was how kitchen felt lacklustre, vague, and said nothing about the themes i could see it was trying to portray. moonlight shadow came and brought my overall opinion of the book up, but because it was less than half of the book, i still would say i didn't enjoy myself here, which is a shame because i was looking forward to this read. oh well! lets hope the next banana yoshimoto book i read is one i enjoy </3
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Hate crime, Death, and Transphobia
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Blood, Stalking, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
edgaranjapoe's review against another edition
- 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
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
spookily's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Transphobia
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Hate crime, and Alcohol
Minor: Stalking, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Terminal illness
nabila99's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Grief, Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Hate crime, Murder, and Car accident
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, and Stalking
rieviolet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Also, I did not connect with most of the characters, so many times while a character or another was going on and on with a monologue I found myself thinking "What is this person talking about? Should I care? I'm just bored".
I do not like the way transness was handled in the main story (and in the attached bonus short story), I should maybe be a little less harsh in my judgement given that the book was published in the 80s but, still, it was not pleasant to read, especially seeing how it ended.
Also, I listened to the audiobook and it made the reading experience even worse. I have to accept that audio format is not for me; I was already not much taken by the story, but by having to listen to it instead of focusing on a written page, my mind wandered time and time again.
Graphic: Transphobia, Grief, Murder, Hate crime, Deadnaming, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Outing, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Car accident, and Fatphobia
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
freckled_frog_boi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Graphic: Stalking, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia
Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism