Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (translated by Megan Backus)

Banana Yoshimoto has this magical minimalistic writing style that has the ability to transform mundanity into something transcendent. Her writing is pervasively melancholic, littered with stunning vignettes which lends itself to its transformative quality. The kitchen itself could be translated to our titular character, as it breathes life into the action and emotion in this novella, all whilst maintaining its mundane circadian rhythm; a striking parallel for the reality of everyday life. ‘Kitchen’ grapples with the most intimate and painful of experiences, often through the most simplistic of lenses, creating a haunting style of storytelling that renders the reader (or me, anyway) enamoured. Dealing with loss and loneliness through the lenses of everyday, trite situations, Yoshimoto creates a sense of almost magical realism: the kitchen subsumed in grief.

It’s incredible that our protagonist Mikage is painted in such an unflinching light, but is mainly built through straightforward almost schematic language, but I think this is part of Yoshimoto’s magic. She gathers the most meticulous of human experiences and embeds them in real substance - death, sexuality, hope, coming of age, all portrayed in the arms of everyday existence. Absence is the most prominent character in this novella, yet its counterpart is just as important - there is a quiet joy, a sense of hope that protrudes from the despair, ‘Alone, with a crowd of people, with one other person - in all the many places I live. I know that there will be so many more.’