Ms. Yoshimoto's writing is lucid, earnest and disarming. ... [It]
seizes hold of the reader's sympathy and refuses to let go. -Michiko
Kakutani, The New York Times
With the publication of Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut
that is still her best-loved book, the literary world realized that
Yoshimoto was a young writer of enduring talent whose work has quickly
earned a place among the best of contemporary Japanese literature.
Kitchen is an enchantingly original book that juxtaposes two tales
about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in
the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan.
Mikage, the heroine, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has
passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his
mother (who is really his cross-dressing father) Eriko. As the three of
them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses,
Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the
comforts of home at its heart.
In a whimsical style that recalls the early Marguerite Duras, Kitchen
and its companion story, Moonlight Shadow, are elegant tales whose
seeming simplicity is the ruse of a very special writer whose voice
echoes in the mind and the soul.
