Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto

While published in Japan in 1987, gaining immediate popularity and winning two of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes, I only first heard of this book when I received a review from my daily Powell's email. I assumed from the title that it would be a fun little story about a woman growing up in the kitchen - much like something by Ruth Reichl (though I suppose, her stories aren't exactly "fun"). Well, I had it sort-of right. The main character - Mikage - finds comfort in the kitchen, and has a comfort relationship with food. But while Mikage's connections with food remind her of her family and of certain events in her life, it is not truly central to the story. The bigger story is how Mikage deals with her grandmother's death - and her blossoming relationship with an old friend of her grandmother's and his mother - who is actually his transsexual father. There are a million themes present in this short 105-page story - the most obvious of which are identity and love. Yoshimoto's writing is very familiar in terms of modern Japanese novels - like Haruki Murakami and Kenzaburo Oe in terms of the depiction of awkward relationships through lyrical prose. Yoshimoto is not as fanciful as Murakami, nor as tragic as Oe, but her story is filled with similar odd interactions that constantly border on the uncomfortable. I felt this could have been developed into a much more involved (longer) novel with a more in-depth exploration of Mikage. As is, plot-wise, it left me a bit disappointed. In terms of writing style, however, I found it strangely comforting.