Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

33 reviews

afternoondreamer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, and Stalking

Minor: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts

yumaa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Blood

kenrya's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Child death, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

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

chiara_dose's review

challenging emotional lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Murder, and Stalking

chellyfishing's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-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

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

Minor: Murder and Car accident

cibani's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Grief, and Death

lidia7's review against another edition

hopeful reflective 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

Spoilers throughout:
This book was a mixed bag for me. 

I can see that the author had good intentions but parts of this book did not age well, one of the main characters who is trans is othered, misgendered and her deadname is shared. Her coworker gets a similar treatment. Given that in the second novella (Moonlight Shadow) there's a similar character who is a man grieving for his girlfriend and wearing her clothes, the fact that Eriko transitioned after her wife's death strikes me as odd because it's almost as if it's suggested that Eriko is still a woman because she couldn't let go of her dead wife while Hiiragi stops wearing his girlfriend's clothes once he gets the chance to say goodbye and it's implied he moves on. There's also Eriko's murder, how lgbt characters's lives are often portrayed as tragic and are brutalized in order to move the plot forward? Still, violence against trans women is a real societal issue and it's good to bring awareness to it. I just don't think Banana Yoshimoto was educated enough on trans issues and possibly didn't even know the difference between a trans woman and a drag queen... 

Everything I mentioned before *really* took me out of the story so I couldn't connect. I wish the story would be revised at least a little. 

The message overall is hopeful even though we follow grieving and lonely characters who are understandably depressed. Kind of reminded me of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room or Kafka's Metamorphosis - both books and authors that I love but I couldn't love this book. I haven't read a lot of Japanese books but there's a recognizable style. Very hard-hitting, getting to the core of feelings but from a somewhat detached perspective and at times "cheesy". 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Deadnaming

Minor: Stalking, Murder, Car accident, and Alcohol

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

very surprised to find that i actually prefer the english version to this thai version. the language is def beautiful at times and it's more detailed than the english ver overall, but somehow i bafflingly find it less impactful. yoshimoto's stories still ring true w/ their melancholic yet hopeful tone, tho kitchen is markedly better than moonlight shadow imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Murder, Cancer, and Car accident

timedothwasteme's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Car accident