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/5(). Kitchen Summary. Mikage’s grandmother has just died, and Mikage is in a haze of grief, unable to sleep. Mikage’s mother and father died when Mikage was very young, so Mikage’s grandmother raised her. Now that her grandmother is dead, Mikage has nobody in the world and feels utterly alone in the dark universe. The only place Mikage can. · Kitchen, the novel that made Banana Yoshimoto an international success with the English translation by Megan Backus, examines hard times and the ways we realize our growth in retrospect, learning the hard truths about life and embracing their difficult realities in order to press on/5(59K).

Banana Yoshimoto has and deserves much praise — but the translation of "Kitchen" simply failed to express the full power of her writing. The English version, is of course, still worth a read. But possibly because of that same translation, Yoshimoto is an international literary icon that nearly was. Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen is an enchantingly original and deeply affecting 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 of "Kitchen," is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Kitchen (キッチン) is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto (吉本ばなな）in and translated into English in by Megan Backus.. Although one may notice a certain Western influence in Yoshimoto's style, Kitchen is still critically recognized as an example of contemporary Japanese literature; The Independent, The Times, and The New Yorker have all reviewed the.

"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. 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 “Banana Yoshimoto is a master storyteller The sensuality is subtle, masked, and extraordinarily powerful. The language is deceptively simple.” —Chicago Tribune. Kitchen By Banana Yoshimoto Analysis. In “Kitchen”, Yoshimoto explores how the kitchen becomes an integral part of Mikage’s family. Banana Yoshimoto novella, “Kitchen”, tells the of a girl who is all alone, because every one of her family members have died. However, Mikage soon realizes a new family with Yukichi and Eriko his mother.