KITCHEN - BANANA YOSHIMOTO
Kitchen is a book all about grief, belonging, finding oneself, community, love, the individual and the collective. It is genuinely a very beautifully written book. In my opinion I think the book addresses three key themes. It talks self discovery and the benefits of it. It talks about grief and guilt and two are kind of intertwined. Finally it talks about trans identify, in a way that is surprisingly progressive even for the times we live in.
There’s not actually a lot known about Banana Yoshimoto, she's been very good at keeping her life very private. Yoshimoto come from a progressive family, at the very least for Japanese standards, something you can see in her writing, particularly the way she talks about trans individuals and relationships.. Her father was a famous cartoonist and both her mother and sister both worked in the arts and entertainment sector as well. Although Yoshimoto doesn't talk so much about her politics and her personal life, we can build an image of the sort of person she is from this novel.
Let’s talk about the handing of trans identity first. To be frank, if you took this plot out of the 80s and plopped it into 2025 it wouldn’t seem out of place, well actually it would feel very progressive even for the time we live in. We have one trans character named ‘Eriko’ and the beauty of Eriko’s character is how respectfully she is treated. Yes there are instances where Eriko is confronted or undermined due to her identity but it is never done by the narrator, it is always from a third party and is used as a way to show Eriko’s humanity and reality. Even when it comes to Eriko’s transition it is handled expertly. She is never described as confused or mentally ill, as some more conservative aspects of our society would describe her as, but her story of transition is explained in depth and shows the difficulties she has had to overcome. I’m blown away that in the 1980s an author was able to handle such a delicate subject so deftly.
In terms of self discovery, I feel the biggest theme of this novel is the self discovery aspect. Our main character Mikage undergoes a radical transformation as an indivudal when she discovers who she truly is. She goes from a lost and depressed young adult, weighed down by the loss of her grandmother, to a bubbly, self confident and happy chef by the end of the novel. What if find most interesting is the weight Yoshimoto places on community when it comes to this transformation. The support of Eriko, Yuichi and even Mikage’s ex-boyfriend is what helps push her to the place she is at the end of the novel. To find ones-self, you need to be open to help and support along the way. A very collectivist ideal indeed. In my opinion this aspect of the novel is likely Yoshimoto’s self reflection on support. In the foreword to the novel Yoshimoto speaks about how whilst working as a waitress the support of her colleagues and family is what enabled her to acheive her dream of writing and publishing Kitchen, so it seems obvious that sort of experience would shine through in this novel.
Finally let’s talk about grief and guilt. I’ll ry not to spoil the big twist of the novel in this section so I want to focus on how Yoshimoto goes about handling the grief. Much like self discovery there is a real focus on community. It takes multiple character supporting those experiencing grief to allow them to start their healing process. Not only that but each character provides a different method of helping. From being a soundboard for the individual to providing a space for the person to feel safe and secure, Yoshimoto really hammers home the different ways we as a community can come together to help one another, no matter how we do it. Thats what I think the true beauty of this novel is, the focus on how the collective can improve the life of the individual and how the two are intertwined.
I think Kitchen is an absolutely must read and I am blown away that Yoshimoto’s debut could be so impactful and relevent all these years later. If you are interested you can pick up the book from both Waterstones and Bookshop.
