The Kitchen Book

Product Information

I really needed this. Oftentimes we read books, they touch us and we cry but after a few hours it’s completely out of mind. Sometimes though, just sometimes we encounter a book that touches us so directly that it isn’t readily manifested by external emotions. This book is one of those. I didn’t cry, but I suffered. The last paragraph is nothing but one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. It stirred something inside me and after reading I felt a deep tranquility. I felt at peace. It seemed like a heavy burden was lifted from me and after, a delicious calm radiated through me. It still does. Mikage was an orphan, raised by her grandmother: "I was always aware that my family consisted of only one other person. The space that cannot be filled, no matter how cheerfully a child and an old person live together - the deathly silence that, panting in the corner of the room, pushes its way in like a shudder." (The punctuation is a little odd, though.)

Nos presenta unos personajes desorientados por la pérdida, incapaces de olvidar, que recurren a extraños hábitos para sobreponerse, pero siempre solos, sin pedir ayuda a otros seres humanos. Casi no te crees esa excesiva frialdad, esa desafección que los convierte en piedra. 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. I'm grateful for it. Yuichi Tanabe — Son of Eriko Tanabe. Main character. His mother died of cancer when Yuichi was a very young child. He lives with his loving transgender mother and supports Mikage in her time of grieving. He eventually loses his mother, and relies on emotional support from Mikage.

By the end of the book their characters have changed a lot and made a whole different world from themselves. And as with any classic mobster movie, once they reach the top there comes a time when they must fall. It starts simple with one of the wives making rounds around the city to collect debts in her husband's place. She has no other source of income after all. Siguiendo con mi costumbre de no alejarme demasiado tiempo de la literatura japonesa, elijo Kichen (1988) la ópera prima de Banana Yosimoto (1964-) para mi lectura. El libro consta de dos novelas cortas independientes (la segunda más breve, casi un cuento), pero con un nexo común: la muerte como tema principal. La muerte y, especialmente, los efectos que ésta causa sobre las personas que rodean a los fallecidos y que sienten un gran afecto por ellos. In Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s three crooks are sent to prison for loansharking. Their wives, not knowing any other way to keep the money coming in take over the business. And they're good at it. So good in fact that it draws the attention of the big league mafioso.

Now, it's not exactly a heartwarming tale of love and redemption, but fans of those gritty crime stories might enjoy this one. Normally, I wouldn't lump myself into that group, but I'll make an exception for this story because I was the sword in the scabbard firmly attached at Mikage’s side. I was her friend, her alter ego and champion in her quest to re-find herself, in fact her soul. I would protect her at all cost. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto comprises of two stories. One is a novella (Kitchen) and the other is a short story (Moonlight Shadow). Both the stories center around two young women as protagonists and their perceptions of life and death. (Kitchen) being my favorite of the two so, I'll be talking about that one here.I'm not buying into this brand of feminism, it's kind of pissing me off. For one thing, this book was written by a man. OK. So keep that in mind. Two, ... it promotes the idea that killing others and being able to enact violence brings the women in this book onto the level of men. I'm doubtful that this is a level that they should even be on. Ollie Masters delivers an organised crime plot with a twist (well, several really!), but one that's totally in-step with the familiar mob stories we all know. I got some serious Scarface and Goodfellas vibes from this which was perfectly fitting. 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.