Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

134 reviews

cryscries's review

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved the writing style of this book, it was short but definitely worth the read. The first two parts is the story kitchen and then another short story at the end called moonlight shadow. Both have a theme about death and grief and overcoming it with the love of friends, family, and found family.
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h4ppycupcake's review

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emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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afternoondreamer's review against another edition

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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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yumaa's review against another edition

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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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saomah5566's review

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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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adelus21's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked the beginning of the book but the ending was a struggle, I almost DNFed it.
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bethanwx's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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annabella's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

There is so much death!!! It’s a book about peace and loneliness. And the warm hug and comfort that kitchens and food from or with others can offer. And dreams. I felt the love story was written beautiful and not overly graphic or sentimental which made it kinda more intimate and personal to these characters, not for us as readers? As in it wasn’t a love story about two characters really and I liked that. The amount of joy that the character got from seeing a kitchen or eating delicious ramen was very wholesome and lovely and joyful too. But then the darker bits were also like hugs - as as they became lonelier they also forged connections with more people who supported them. The last bit made me cry:

Hitoshi:
I'll never be able to be here again. As the minutes slide by, I move on. The flow of time is something I cannot stop. I haven't a choice. I go.
One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I have yet to meet, others I'll never see again.
People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes.
I earnestly pray that a trace of my girl-child self will always be with you.
For waving good-bye, I thank you. 

It’s a short read and I thought the final section was less engaging, maybe as less food was involved, but the mystery of the river drew it forward. I have a lot of love for Hitoshi and the other characters. I couldn’t really place them in the social world though like their school background and stuff, but I didn’t feel I needed to. 

Edit: omg reading reviews I realised that in my stunted reading journey of this book it’s in fact two different stories with two sets of characters ngl I was confused why I didn’t recognise the names and stuff but put it down to my own tiredness 😭 well hey I think I preferred Kitchen. But liked both!
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chellyfishing's review against another edition

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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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srishtij's review

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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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