- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Washington Square Press; Reprint edition (Mar 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671880187
- ISBN-13: 978-0671880187
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 12.7 x 1.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,088,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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110 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Don't underestimate Banana
1 Nov 2001
Format:Paperback
I think it would be a mistake to write of Kitchen or Yoshimoto as a literary lightweight, a common knock against her. Mikage and Yuichi's struggles in the aftermath of shocking and devastating deaths was incredibly moving. Their need to create a brighter, happier life together in a death-filled world, to discover how to continue to live in a cruel and uncaring environment ... isn't that what we all are trying to do to some degree or another? Kitchen is a 4.5/5 star book in my opinion. If you liked Kitchen, I'd recommend Haruki Murakami ... especially "Dance, Dance, Dance" which touches on some similar themes but deals with them in very different ways.
Moonlight Shadow was a little whimsical for my tastes. The characters deal with the same issues as Mikage and Yuichi, but with a science fiction touch. Yoshimoto seemed to be trying too hard to make her point about moving on after death, rather than developing a good short story. It was a disappointing follow-up to Kitchen.
This is the first book of Yoshimoto's that I've read ... thanks to Kitchen, I'll be sure it's not the last. But I can only hope that the rest of her work is as well-writen as Kitchen and not like Moonlight Shadow.
One last comment: I read the Japanese version first, and I think the translator did a good job of getting Yoshimoto's style into English. It felt like the ending of the translation was more abrubt than the Japanese version, but I'm not sure why. Not sure if I'm the only one who felt that way or not ... In any event, I would definitely recommend Kitchen- see for yourself if you like it and Yoshimoto's style.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Delicious food for thought: two courses
5 Jun 2004
Format:Paperback
Kitchen contains two stories, both of which concern a different young woman living her life in the aftermath of a terrible loss. In the title story, Mikage has just been left alone in the world after the passing of her grandmother, who was her last living relative. She is generously taken in by an acquaintance, a boy named Yuichi who knew her grandmother, and his transsexual mother Eriko. Eriko lets her stay for free as long as she promises to cook for them from time to time, and the three of them build a new family of sorts. Eventually, though, Mikage finds herself confronted with another tragedy.
The second story is called "Moonlight Shadow." Satsuki has lost a boyfriend in a car crash which also claimed the life of his younger brother's girlfriend. One day she meets a mysterious woman with a secret she wants to share. This story has a slight element of fantasy to it, a touching piece of magical realism.
The author has a deceptively simple style of writing which enables her to deal with weighty issues without them feeling oppressive. These works are deeply affecting, but they are poetic rather than doom-laden. I preferred the second story, which is tighter and has a definite resolution, whereas the first is more of a slice of life and though longer, felt a little incomplete. As always, I enjoyed the look at Japanese daily life.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
good book, bad translation
6 Feb 2007
Format:Paperback
In Japanese, "Kitchen" is not the kitsch piece of trash the English translation makes it out to be. Even so, I'd hold off reading "Kitchen" until another translation appears, unless you can read it in Japanese.
Here's why:
As others have said, the translator took some liberties and manhandled the feel of the novel. In several cases the translator (Backus) completely removed sentences (does a 100-page book need abridged?), and in other cases replaced prose, elegant in its simplicity, with cliche.
An example of the latter is the very last sentence of the second part, "Full Moon" (this isn't a spoiler). In Backus's translation: "I launched into what time I'd be in and what platform I'd be on." In Japanese, it's literally "I started to explain my arrival time and what platform I'd be on." I can't remember the last time I got so excited I fell out of my seat and "launched" into telling someone something mundane like I was going to be home at 3:20pm.
It's the gross overuse of cliche in the translation that destroys that fragile atmosphere Yoshimoto Banana created in the Japanese prose. For example, when a page is filled with a few precise words, it's like a Monet painting: hundreds of tiny strokes carefully arranged to create a greater image. But to translate those emotionally-loaded carefully chosen words into goofy cliche is to take a Monet painting and make a few strokes with a floor mop. Spare yourself of this translation.
Here's why:
As others have said, the translator took some liberties and manhandled the feel of the novel. In several cases the translator (Backus) completely removed sentences (does a 100-page book need abridged?), and in other cases replaced prose, elegant in its simplicity, with cliche.
An example of the latter is the very last sentence of the second part, "Full Moon" (this isn't a spoiler). In Backus's translation: "I launched into what time I'd be in and what platform I'd be on." In Japanese, it's literally "I started to explain my arrival time and what platform I'd be on." I can't remember the last time I got so excited I fell out of my seat and "launched" into telling someone something mundane like I was going to be home at 3:20pm.
It's the gross overuse of cliche in the translation that destroys that fragile atmosphere Yoshimoto Banana created in the Japanese prose. For example, when a page is filled with a few precise words, it's like a Monet painting: hundreds of tiny strokes carefully arranged to create a greater image. But to translate those emotionally-loaded carefully chosen words into goofy cliche is to take a Monet painting and make a few strokes with a floor mop. Spare yourself of this translation.
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