Some months ago, a girl I knew recommended this book. It was one of our late night conversations - I didn’t quite know she actively read until then so this was quite the surprise. She read it in Korean, in an edition with a lovely cover. She isn’t in my life anymore but this one conversation pushed me to start reading again (admittedly after an unreasonably long dormancy). We never spoke about books after. This isn’t relevant to my review, but I think I’d probably forget it happened if I didn’t write it down somewhere.
Kitchen is a story about loss, but more crucially healing. It asks of the reader how we deal with loved ones and death - but no doubt still an inevitable part of life. Crucially also it dares to ask what we do when we have nothing - how we rebuild our lives after we lose everything and everyone around us. It’s in this context that the story progresses. Our protagonist suffers the loss of loved ones, and is burdened with the task of rebuilding her life from nothing. The reader, of course, wants to root for the protagonist and the people around her, so the way we watch the characters pick themselves up is so captivating. Yoshimoto’s prose isn’t shining, but she builds a distinctive voice nonetheless that never quite fails in its tenderness. Kitchen’s so, so short, so the time we spend with these characters is short as well - but is sufficient enough to tell their story.
Moonlight Shadow is a story about loss. Half the length of Kitchen, it asks similar questions of the reader, but isn’t the star of the book. I think this story is more explicit in its exploration of grief, and more directly explores how we cope with grief and how our lives must continue. A lovely read in its own way.
Kitchen as an entire work is short. Like I said I think this time spent is enough to explore our characters with care and depth. Common to both stories are their simpler prose. I don’t think this was a drawback here - but I acknowledge the book is largely what the reader makes of it. It can be as tender or careful as the reader considers it. Worth a read either way!
Recommended by Daone; Kitchen, 4/5; Moonlight Shadow, 3.5/5
Written 25 December 2022
Adapted from my review on Goodreads.