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A review by xengisa
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
5.0
Ramble, rather than a review. Read on Libby.
There were two segments to the book: Kitchen, and Moonlight Shadow. Personally, I preferred Moonlight Shadow.
As a whole, the characters were written amazingly well. The things they went through, and how likeable, they were, and so I did get very attached to them, for both Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow. I found Moonlight Shadow easier to read, prose-wise, while for Kitchen, I had to reread the same paragraph again and again, but that could have been the afternoon heat getting to me. In any case, I enjoyed reading both novels, although when reading I felt this overwhelming sense of, I wish these people didn't have to suffer so, but at the same time, it was perhaps their suffering that made them more sympathetic characters. In particular, I liked Yuichiro, Eriko, and Urara.
I grew sad at the way Mikage described Eriko's letter, her statement that eventually the scent of her perfume would disappear after a while. As well as the way she described the sounds and sensations she experienced when Eriko came back, but she would never experience it again.
Kitchen:
Eriko: "But if a person hasn't ever experienced true despair, she grows old never knowing how to evaluate where she is in life; never understanding what joy really is."
Mikage: As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rok bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.
Eriko's letter: ...People who purposely do abhorrent things, just for the attention it draws to them, until they themselves are trapped. I cannot understand it, and no matter how much they suffer I cannot feel pity for them. But I have cheerfully chosen to make my body my fortune. I am beautiful! I am dazzling!
Mikage: Everyone we love is dying. Still, to cease living is unacceptable.
There were two segments to the book: Kitchen, and Moonlight Shadow. Personally, I preferred Moonlight Shadow.
As a whole, the characters were written amazingly well. The things they went through, and how likeable, they were, and so I did get very attached to them, for both Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow. I found Moonlight Shadow easier to read, prose-wise, while for Kitchen, I had to reread the same paragraph again and again, but that could have been the afternoon heat getting to me. In any case, I enjoyed reading both novels, although when reading I felt this overwhelming sense of, I wish these people didn't have to suffer so, but at the same time, it was perhaps their suffering that made them more sympathetic characters. In particular, I liked Yuichiro, Eriko, and Urara.
I grew sad at the way Mikage described Eriko's letter, her statement that eventually the scent of her perfume would disappear after a while. As well as the way she described the sounds and sensations she experienced when Eriko came back, but she would never experience it again.
Kitchen:
Eriko: "But if a person hasn't ever experienced true despair, she grows old never knowing how to evaluate where she is in life; never understanding what joy really is."
Mikage: As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rok bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.
Eriko's letter: ...People who purposely do abhorrent things, just for the attention it draws to them, until they themselves are trapped. I cannot understand it, and no matter how much they suffer I cannot feel pity for them. But I have cheerfully chosen to make my body my fortune. I am beautiful! I am dazzling!
Mikage: Everyone we love is dying. Still, to cease living is unacceptable.