The Kitchen Book

Product Information

Mikage and Yuichi's lives are brought together by death. They are on the cusp of falling in love or living as strangers.

Charming, ephemeral and semi-absurd. It's an appealing story in which the darkness is belied by a soft quirkiness. Such interesting characters are to be found in this rather philosophical work, individuals in fact who I continued to think about after I finished the book. John Ota was a man on a mission–to put together the perfect kitchen. He and his wife had been making do with a room that was frankly no great advertisement for John’s architectural expertise. It just about did the job but for a room that’s supposed to be the beating heart of a home and a joy to cook in, the Otas’ left a lot to be desired. And so John set out on a quest across North America, exploring examples of excellent designs throughout history, to learn from them and apply their lessons to his own restoration. Along the way, he learned about the origins and evolution of the kitchen, its architecture and its appliances. He cooked, with expert instruction. And he learned too about the homes and their occupants, who range from pilgrims to President Thomas Jefferson, from turn of the century tenement dwellers to 21st century Vancouver idealists, from Julia Child to Georgia O’Keeffe, and from Elvis Presley to Louis Armstrong.The tension of the story seems legit. The main characters try to continue business as usual for their incarcerated husbands' turf in Hell's Kitchen, but solving each problem brings a greater obstacle. You just know something is going to blow up in their face eventually, but the trip is still entertaining. Spoiler: pretty much everybody dies at the end. It's beautiful how the author didn't leave any loose threads, so there likely won't be a sequel. It's a story about 3 ladies who take over running the family business for their mob(ish) husbands when the men get sent to the pokey. As criminals do... She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous." Kitchen es un libro de personajes rotos descritos con elegancia. Es un libro que habla de la muerte como lo que es, totalmente natural e irremediable. Morirán personas amadas de tu vida así como el río fluye, encontrarás con quien tomar un té después y buscarás la forma de que ese dolor desaparezca, o de hacerte creer que ha desaparecido.

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 Told from the first person's POV, the main theme of the book revolves around dealing with loss and suffering in life. Yoshimoto beautifully takes the story of ordinary people leading ordinary lives coming out to discover the extraordinary realizations of important aspects of life. 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. In addition, there are innumerable turns of phrase that are unforgettable but I particularly liked: The treatment of transgender issues in the novel is a little of its time and place (deadnaming, misgendering and confusion between transgender and transvestite all feature), although rather less cringeworthy now than another translated novel I read recently, Ruth. See Yuri Stargirl's blog for a well balanced take on this aspect.

U osam nastavaka koncipiran "The Kitchen" objavljivan u sklopu "pmetne" DC-eve edicije "Vertigo" crtežom priziva neka prošla vremena. Njegove su ženske junakinje, Kath, Angie i Raven, fizički u mnogočemu nalik prekrasnoj Diani Lombard, priležnicama Dylana Doga ili Dijabolikovoj Evi. Za razliku od njih, trojka iz njujorškog Hell's Kitchena zaslužila je vlastiti strip. Jer su prekrasno opake i opako zle, one su prave "očajne kućanice", prepuštene same sebi nakon što njihovi muževi, vođe irske mafije, završe u zatvoru. Pritisnute neimaštinom, odlučuju, bez znanja i dopuštenja svojih supruga, preuzeti njihove poslove, a ono što je započelo kao kranja nužda pretvorit će se u utaživanje gladne potrebe za moći.

While sleeping on the sofa, Mikage has a dream about Yuichi being a princess and talks about how he wants ramen. In the morning, Yuichi also talks about the dream and they realize they had the same dream and the same kitchen. 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. El mundo no existe sólo para mí. El porcentaje de cosas amargas que me sucedan no variará. Yo no puedo decidirlo. Por eso, comprendí que es mejor ser alegre. I realized that the world did not exist for my benefit,’ Eriko tells Mikage, ‘ It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me.’ Life will always be hard, but finding love and happiness must still go on and we must always get up and keep going. ‘ Why is it we have so little choice? We live like the lowliest worms. Always defeated - defeated we make dinner, we eat, we sleep. Everyone we love is dying. Sill, to cease living is unacceptable.’

Become a Member

All this said, the handling of Eriko in the book is rather frustrating and almost lead me to abandon it. Eriko is trans, and Yoshimoto seems to constantly remind you ‘ she used to be a man’. Which is just uncool. Granted this was 1988 and was probably progressive at the time, though other novels have approached trans identity. If it was just at the beginning I wouldn’t be as bothered, but it is relentless. And this is about the character that is the emotional centerpiece of the novel. Yoichi frequently reminds Mikage of her dead name and the level of passing the women at the club have is remarked upon as if their most defining trait. Granted, the discourse we have now wasn’t around at the time, but it still seems worth mentioning as it will definitely offend some. Eriko being trans is passed off as she simply decided she didn’t want to be a man, which seems to sidestep a lot of emotional aspects that would have fit really well into the novel. While it was nice to see a trans character be openly embraced, the handling left so much to be desired and irked me. I really like the story beats, the plausibly different way that The Life affects the three female protagonists, their determination to maintain their independence once they've experienced it, the astronomical costs of doing so. I will start by saying that I have not seen the movie adaptation of The Kitchen. I've heard it's mediocre at best. Which is disappointing because I really enjoyed the book. But since I haven't seen the movie please don't ask me to compare them or answer any questions about it!