Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

15 reviews

saomah5566's review

dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Mental illness, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Car accident, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

dmellifera's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Transphobia

Moderate: Mental illness

thomasina's review

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Murder

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I was going to, and I'm so glad it was one I read on the way to Japan! The writing was so profound, and I just adored the characters, even if they were kind of hot messes lol. Both stories talked a lot about family and personal growth and change, and I basically highlighted the entire book with quotes I liked lol. Also, I know the way the trans character is written if a bit controversial, especially now, but for when this book was written it's absolutely wild that this character was even written in the first place, and she's still one of my favorites.

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Content Warnings

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

james1star's review against another edition

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

4.0

I picked this up as a ‘blind date with a book’ and was pleasantly impressed. It’s quite a strange one consisting of two short stories (the first split into two parts so three chapters in total), the first about a young woman Mikage who recently lost her sole family member, her grandmother. Yuichi who knew her grandmother asks Mikage round with the possibility of moving in wi yh him and his mother Eriko, who’s a trans woman. The second story follows Satsuki who recently lost her high school lover of four years Hitoshi as she tries to look to the future. Out running she meets a strange woman called Urara who says a once in a hundred year event will take place, Hitoshi’s you get brother Hiiragi is another strange but lovable character we meet. 

The prominent motif throughout is grief, the many forms and how it impacts oneself. This sensation is heavily explored and Yoshimoto does a great job at realising these characters and thus how they’re impacted by the death of loved ones. Her storytelling isn’t particularly imaginative but is very real and flows well. The characters are for the most part loveable but what’s done best is how we’re attached to them as a reader in an emotional way. Some sentences maybe went on too long with many passages but her nuance/craft could’ve been lost in translation. Being written in 1988, I thought the inclusion of a transgender character was rather ‘modern’ and greatly appreciated, Yoshimoto’s work was hailed as very contemporary in Japan so this is great. That being said, some parts made me a little uncomfortable where there’s an emphasis played on Eriko (and later Chika)’s ‘masculine’ features, with some outdated terms like ‘transsexual’ with deadnaming and Yuichi has a ‘she was/is a man’ ideology. But this was about it and overall I was impressed by this book. It’s not a favourite but definitely decent and one I’d recommend, the author does an amazing job at making grief a very real and important emotion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Minor: Deadnaming, Murder, Alcoholism, Car accident, Mental illness, Hate crime, Cancer, Death of parent, and Transphobia

chikin's review

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 against another edition

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

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

nabila99's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

klor's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.25

A very endearing read. Throughout Kitchen, instead of imagining people while reading, I can imagine 90s anime characters. While it tackles grief and mental health a lot, there's a lightness in the way that the author writes that it's like there's a light at the end of this tunnel. It made my heart full. Moonlight Shadow was utterly heartbreaking. For someone who dreamt of losing their partner a few months ago and woke up sobbing, this really hits hard. Like Kitchen, there's still a light at the end of the tunnel in the story and the love and support of everyone arround our narrator was very evident. Feeling my heart clench right now but in a good way.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deadnaming, Mental illness, and Murder