Kitchen – Banana Yoshimoto | Translated by Megan Backus

Her first book, a thin affair showcasing nice, tightly constructed prose, contains two short stories. Two overriding details which appeared in each story, men who like to wear women's clothing and the recent death of loved ones, made it easy to see why these stories were linked together. Unfortunately, because of these strong parallels, the book, as a whole, felt very melodramatic and also very Japanese. In these terms, it might sound a little morbid or perverse, but I enjoyed it.

The first story, Kitchen, revolves around a woman, Mikage, and how she faces her life after all of her relatives die and she is left alone. Through the kindness of friends, a boy and his transvestite mother, she learns to give her life some meaning or direction as she becomes a part of their fractured family. I particularly liked how sight (color) and sound, as well as the other senses, were brought into the story from the beginning, as this example demonstrates, taken from the end of the story's opening paragraph:

White tile catching the light (ting! ting!)

These kinds of details give the writing a nice dimension and also demonstrate Mikage's enhanced perception as she reasons with her grief. It's as if the reader is being toasted before a fine meal.

The second story, Moonlight Shadow, documents a high school girl's attempts to come to grips with the sudden death of her boyfriend. Satsuki tries to keep herself busy as a way to avoid thinking about her grief, and meets a strange, almost ghostly, woman one morning while she is running. It shows the heightened perceptions of the protagonist which, as in "Kitchen," demonstrates how the characters began to see the world in a new way.

There are people I have yet to meet, other I'll never see again. People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes.

This passage, taken from the end of Moonlight Shadow, shows how Satsuki has accepted her grief. Grief is simply a part of the cycle of our lives.