People aren’t overcome by situations or outside forces defeat invades from within. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends. Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. For if responsible for some of its flaws, Megan Backus is surely equally responsible for many of its wonderful passages. Whether the variable prose quality should be attributed to Yoshimoto or her English translator Megan Backus was difficult to determine. It just seems in such stark contrast to a profound and moving reflection by the narrator immediately prior as though you are soaring powerfully into the sky onboard a hulking aeroplane and then experiencing intermittent turbulence or a drop in altitude. In a couple of instances, it is just plain confusing. The dialogue in both Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow is at times twee/demotic. That is because Kitchen has easily identifiable weaknesses. What I do know, is why I am finding it hard to develop an objective argument for its quality. My overriding response to this title is one of deep appreciation, but oddly I find it hard to explain precisely why. So I think a novella titled Kitchen with a bonus short story called Moonlight Shadow is a better description of this literary parcel. The second title, Kitchen 2, is quite predictably a continuation of the first, Kitchen 1. The story collection Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto contains 3 titles.
Translated from the original Japanese by Megan Backus In a whimsical style that recalls the early Marguerite Duras, “ Kitchen” and its companion story, “ Moonlight Shadow,” are elegant tales whose seeming simplicity is the ruse of a very special writer whose voice echoes in the mind and the soul. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father) Eriko. Mikage, the heroine, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Kitchen is an enchantingly original book that juxtaposes two tales about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Disclosure: If you click a link in this post and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.
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