Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

5 reviews

srishtij's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

Read this on the first trip with my girlfriends to Uttarakhand.  Kinda sombre for a travel read but quite memorable. Love the way grief has been described in this book. Though it did get sort of clichéd in the second half and with the abrupt end. Still enjoyed my first Yoshimoto and can't wait to dive into some more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Self harm

adawada's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

2.75

The first story in this book has started off very strong for me. I loved the main character’s relationship with kitchens but thought that it wasn’t developed far enough. 

The themes of grief in this book have been written very well, especially in the second story. What I couldn’t believe was

Mikage’s grief for Eriko being much deeper than for her recently deceased grandmother, despite only knowing Eriko for a very short amount of time.

I thought that the ways of grieving, both alone and collectively were interesting. 

What I didn’t like was that most of these characters, in both stories, felt very one dimensional and just blended into each other too much. 

Now, what I absolutely hated about this book is the transphobia. There was so much misgendering in the first story which was also at the heart of jokes between the main characters. There was trans shaming in the second story. The idea that both characters just seemed to decide on a whim to either “become women” or “cross-dress” is so appalling. I get that the book was first published in the 80s and that was predominantly the thinking of the time (one could argue that it still is in some cases) but what I don’t get then is that the book still gets so much praise despite the transphobic language. 

It wasn’t the worst book. It was my first time reading Yoshimoto’s work and I must say that it didn’t inspire me enough to pick up anything else by her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Outing, and Transphobia

Minor: Self harm

lolaloupiotte's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Transphobia

Minor: Outing and Self harm

spookily's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

8bitlapras's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Car accident

Minor: Self harm