Kitchen (novel)
 First edition (Japanese) | |
| Author | Banana Yoshimoto |
|---|---|
| Original title | キッチン |
| Translator | Megan Backus |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Publisher | Fukutake Shoten |
Publication date | 1988 |
Published in English | 1993 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 226 |
| ISBN | 4-8288-2252-6 |
| OCLC | 25676042 |
| 895.6/35 20 | |
| LC Class | PL865.O7138 K5813 1993 |
| Preceded by | None |
| Followed by | English: NP (novel) |
Kitchen （キッチン）is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto (吉本ばなな）in 1988 and translated into English in 1993 by Megan Backus.
Although one may notice a certain Western influence in Yoshimoto's style, Kitchen is still critically recognized as an example of contemporary Japanese literature; The Independent, The Times and The New Yorker have all reviewed the novel favorably.
Most editions also include a novella entitled Moonlight Shadow, which is also a tragedy dealing with loss and love.
There have been two films made of the story, a Japanese TV movie in 1989 and a more widely released version produced in Hong Kong by Yim Ho in 1997.
Plot
In Kitchen, a young Japanese woman named Mikage Sakurai struggles to overcome the death of her grandmother. She gradually grows close to one of her grandmother's friends, Yuichi, from a flower shop and ends up staying with him and his transgender mother, Eriko.
From Mikage's love of kitchens to her job as a culinary teacher's assistant to the multiple scenes in which food is merely present, Kitchen is a short window into the life of a young Japanese woman and her discoveries about food and love amongst a background of tragedy.
In Moonlight Shadow, a woman named Satsuki loses her boyfriend Hitoshi in an accident and tells us: "The night he died my soul went away to some other place and I couldn't bring it back". She becomes friendly with his brother Hiiragi, whose girlfriend died in the same crash. On one insomniac night out walking she meets a strange woman called Urara who has also lost someone. Urara introduces her to the mystical experience of The Weaver Festival Phenomenon, which she hopes will cauterize their collective grief.
The novel takes a dramatic turn when Satsuki develops a meaningless communication with a new neighbor, Drexel. The two exchange a series of letters some suggesting sex, although the two are asexual and establish no plans to act out on the communications. The purpose of the communication is to distract Satsuki from her recent grievances, throughout the story the communications becomes deeper but Drexel loses motivation forcing Satsuki the face the realization of her recent loss.
Awards
Book information
Kitchen (English edition) by Banana Yoshimoto
- Hardcover – ISBN 0-8021-1516-0 published by Grove Press
- Paperback – ISBN 0-671-88018-7 published by Washington Square Press
References
External links
- New York Times review
- Kitchen (1989 Japan) at the Internet Movie Database
- Kitchen (1997 Hong Kong) at the Internet Movie Database