Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

2 reviews

rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional 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

2.5

I think that the book was really not for me. I did not get along with the writing style, it was too sentimental for me. 
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. 

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freckled_frog_boi's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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

I loved the writing style and how she described simple moments was absolutely delicious to read. However, as a trans person, the writing surrounding trans characters was horrible and openly transphobic. The characters love their friends who are trans women but out them, and call them men, make jokes about them being masculine, and are constantly reminding themselves and others that they are still men. The trans characters themselves are beautiful and I wished they were treated better. Also, there is a weird phenomenon where transness is treated like mental decline when faced with grief(?) which was weird and unsettling. 

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