A mix of two novellas if you will dealing with tales of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Kitchen tales the story of a women whose family gradually passes away, leaving here increasingly along in the world. The only place she feels safe is in a kitchen. She meets a young man and her transsexual father and through them, finds a connection to herself and her future. The second half of the book is a story called “moonlight Shadow”. It is the story of loss and redemption. A woman has lost her boyfriend and soul mate in an accident. She attempts to reason why and find her way emotional and physically in the world without him. The boyfriend’s brother lost his girlfriend in the same accident and he too takes a path towards coping. They meet a strange woman who guides them deftly to a path to recovery. With most of Yoshimoto’s work, it is constant shift between adept and witty writing and tedious, overreaching prose. Her fame comes largely from being a woman writer, dealing with somewhat serious issues. The issues are uniquely Japanese and not all that strongly oriented to a woman’s point of view. This might be the greatest tragedy, since she has an opportunity. The length and style of her writing prevent her from concocting complicated, longer stories with more background. Has a bit of work to do, but as this was one of her early books, there is room for improvement and the foundation is there. ( )

This is one of my favorite books. More than the story that the book is titled for, I love the second short story at the end of the book. "Moonlight Shadow" captures my imagination every time I read it. Yoshimoto writes about this theme of loss so often and each time she captures a new aspect of the emotions that come with loosing someone. ( )

Kitchen contains both the novella, Kitchen and the short story, Moonlight Shadow. Both are minimalist stories of women experiencing different forms of grief and loss and the eventual ways they're able to move on from these periods. These are not sappy tales that one might find in bad movie-of-the-week films. Banana instead manages to take the ingredients found in those tales and weave together something all together different, magical and yet vaguely familiar at the same time. Perhaps it's the minimalist approach, it could be the focus on the grief with a decided lack of focus on back story or the gory details, or maybe it's how she lets go just in time - either way, these stories manage to work in a very lyrical way. ( )

Both of these stories are beautifully told, and although the translation is a bit choppy I can tell Yoshimoto is a great writer. I did have a hard time connecting to the characters. Their motives, speech, and even personalities seemed rather monotonous and indistinct. Compared to the strange events of their lives, the characters themselves were pretty uninspired.

It was a fine way to spend an evening, but this probably won’t be a book I come back to. ( )

I know I’m not the only one who wasn’t prepared for the format of novella and short story but I think it bears mentioning again because I really wish publishers would disclose this stuff on the cover.

Both stories deal with death, its aftermath and love in two unique, compelling ways. The writing is exceptional. ( )