Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

I finished Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto quite some time ago, but for some reason haven't felt compelled to post about it.  It was my second read for the JLC4 (Japanese Literature Challenge 4 hosted by Bellezza) and one that I am glad I finally read.  However, its not exactly a book that I can truly be effusive about.  Don't get me wrong, its very well written, quite interesting and orginal, but there is just something slightly off kilter about it that makes me feel rather disconnected from it for some reason.  So, I'll be making this rather brief.

Comprised of two short stories (Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow), Kitchen by Yoshimoto is a quirky read that deals with loss, friendship, love, mother-child relationships, and so much more in such a short space that you can't help but be impressed by Yoshimoto's talent of the written word.  The characters are interesting and easily relatable, but at the same time there is something a bit off putting about them, which makes you feel as if you never truly get to know them.  As for the stories themselves, well, their titles are rather revealing as to the nature of each plotline. 

Kitchen:

In Kitchen we have Mikage who has just lost her grandmother and has been sleeping in the kitchen of their apartment.  She befriends a boy  named Yuichi and his mother Eriko and soon finds herself living with them - sleeping on their gigantic sofa facing their kitchen.  The kitchen is the only place where Mikage feels at peace.  They separate for a bit, but after Eriko dies, Yuichi eventually gets ahold of Mikage and reconnects with her and soon their friendship deepens into a partnership that involves, love, insecurities, and hope - basically everything involved in a romantic relationship.  

Moonlight Shadow:

As for the next story, Moonlight Shadow, we have the loss of a brother and lover.  Unable to move forward after the deaths of Hitoshi and Yumiko, Satsuki and Hiiragi must come to grips with their lives and the ways in which they are dealing with their joint and separate losses.  Under the moonlight shadow, both characters are able to have one last encounter with their respective loved ones and are finally able to let go of a past that is both memorable and heartbreaking. 

My thoughts:

As I've already mentioned, I don't really have much to say about either story, except that even now, weeks after reading this book, I am still left with a sense of longing for more.  Ending each story as quickly as she created each character and their tales of loss, Yoshimoto has left me in awe of her ability to touch upon a variety of issues within a few sentences and also her penchant for evoking emotional connections that border on sadness, despair, hope and love within such a short time frame.  She leaves her readers wondering about each character and what, if anything they have gained from these pages of words, words, words.  And let me just say, that though I felt a disconnection with the characters, at times I did feel an emotional pull toward them and as for what I gained from each story, well that is still to be determined.  What I do know, is that Yoshimoto is a powerful writer who has written a great book of short stories that leaves a lasting impression on whoever reads it. 

The Unit: A Novel by Ninni Holmqvist

Last night I decided to put an end to my reading rut.  I picked up the first book I saw on my shelf and started to read. The book was Ninni Holmqvist's novel, The Unit. 

From inside book flap:

One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material.  She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state-of-the-art recreation facilities, and live the remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her.  Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty - single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries - are sequestered for their final years; they are considered outsiders.  In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation.  Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions; well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended.  She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful.  But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable.  Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and...well, then what?

My Thoughts:

This is one of my new favorite books! I truly enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book. From the first page I was captivated by Dorrit and this new environment she found herself living in.  The Unit is the place where she will spend her remaining years;  a place where everything is taken care of (housing, food, entertainment, etc), but at a price (organ donations and participation in scientific studies).  Society, or the community as it is referred to, has decided that childless singletons of a certain age (who have no job security) are dispensable.  They provide no real function or value within the community, that it is best they go and live in the Unit, where their bodies can contribute to the community.  It angered me to read how easily accepted this idea of the Unit was and how the community assigned value to people/humanity based on their additions to the population. How crazy is that? These people had done nothing wrong, they weren't criminals, they weren't draining the economy, they were simply existing, and yet, that was reason enough to place them in the Unit.  Poor Dorrit - subjected to live her remaining years in a place that has no real views of the outside and that monitors every minute of her day with cameras installed everywhere and pointing every which way - talk about lack of privacy.  Dorrit who has not experienced love, has no friends and doesn't even know where her siblings live anymore. I befriended Dorrit and found myself saddened by her loneliness. She truly wanted to experience love, marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, and everything else that was considered indispensable.  Yet, somehow, she never found the right person to share her life with (Nils was married, so he was never going to truly share his life with Dorrit) and so, she shared her loneliness with Jock, her dog.   And so, Dorrit readily accepted this fate of life at the Unit and in a twisted way believed that she would be contributing to the community and would have found meaning in/for her life.  Talk about gloomy, eh? But then, Dorrit blossomed. She found friends, developed a routine, began to work on a book and eventually she found love.  Dorrit and Johannes found each other and fell in love at the Unit.  Her loneliness died at the Unit and it was replaced by love, companionship, sex, and everything that Dorrit ever wanted/imagined a relationship to consist of.  She felt at peace.  Of course there were the tests that she and her friends had to partake in, which resulted in sickness and loss.  Dorrit lost friends and shared memories of them with remaining friends.  She was reminded of the fact that life in the Unit was finite.  And then one day she found herself with child.  Yes, Dorrit and Johannes were going to have a baby. Talk about bad timing. While, Dorrit was ecstatic over the fact that her and Johannes would no longer be dispensable, she did not understand the reality of the situation.  Dorrit had two options: abortion or adoption.  The community did not think it wise of Dorrit to keep the baby, because of her age.  According to them, the child would be ridiculed, possibly bullied because of the fact that it's parents were elderly.  Plus, Dorrit and Johannes would not be around long enough to meet their grandchildren and truly see their child grow up.  Dorrit scoffed at these ideas and told the Unit that Johannes and she would raise their child no matter what. And then came the news: Johannes was making his final donation at that very moment.  Blindsided by this news Dorrit got up and ran from the room. She now had to deal with the death of her lover on top of the fact that she was pregnant.  What was she to do? Well, the answer came in the form of a key card and code: escape from the Unit.  She could leave and be free to raise her baby and experience motherhood.  She wouldn't have to make a final donation.  Hmmmm. What would Dorrit do? Well, definitely not what I wanted her to do. I wanted her to be happy and free, but I suppose in a way, Dorrit found her happiness and freedom within the confines of the Unit.  So, she chose adoption (with some specific conditions).  She chose her life in the Unit.  And I chose to weep with sadness at the end, because I wanted more for Dorrit. I wanted to read about her baby and the life she would create for them.  I wanted a happy ending. Of course, thinking about it all, I suppose it couldn't have ended any other way.  A happy ending would have ruined the flow of the story and would not have made the story what it is - a fantastic dystopian novel.  With a book like this, I wish I belonged to a book club, because there are so many themes within the text that are ripe for discussion:  we have feminism, science, the body, creativity/creation, the concept of life and its meaning, society's influence on humanity, economics, privacy, etc.  This is a book that I will be recommending to everyone, because it is a book that will not only create discussion, but it is also an extremely well written text that tells such a refreshing and engaging story about characters that will haunt you for quite some time.  I found a friend in Dorrit and lost her at the same time, which to me demonstrated the brilliance and strength of the book.  I don't have anything else to write at the moment. I suppose considering the fact that I just finished this last night, I have yet to fully digest it all.  All I do know for sure is that this a must read book. It is a book that I will be keeping in my mind for quite some time.  It is also a book that inspired me to continue reading - I am now in the middle of Banana Yoshimoto's, Kitchen.  So, until my next post, Happy Reading!!!

Book snob? Check out Jane Doe's post.

I found an interesting post the other day, that really got me thinking about people and their books. How judgemental are you when it comes to other people's reading material? Do you try and push 'better' books on them, because you don't want to see them toting around the new John Grisham? As an English Lit major, I was definitely a book snob in college.  However, once I hit grad school, I allowed myself the occasional chick lit book - they were only 25p at the local charity shop, how could I resist? Plus, I needed something light to read, because all of that Foucault and Butler was bogging me down.  As a result of expanding my reading preferences, I found that I wasn't as book snobbish as I had once been. I figured that since I didn't like getting grief over my reading choices (Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella), why should I return the favor. And seriously, it wasn't like I was reading Mills and Boon, right? Not that there is anything wrong with those types of books. However,  I don't read those or Grisham or Sparks or any of that rot - it just isn't my cup of tea. Hmmm. I suppose there is still an inkling of book snobbish in me. Well sod it!  I just don't like being judged for what I read and I try not to judge others by what they read - why is that difficult? What do you all think? Are you book snobs? Does it matter to you what your friends are reading, or if they don't read? 

Here's the post by Jane Doe from Dead White Guys - Enjoy! It'll give you a think about your own book snobbery or lack of.

Commencement: A Novel by J. Courtney Sullivan

My sister told me she was reading one of my all-time favorite books: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. I couldn't believe it. My little sister, who has never shown any interest in reading for fun, was reading for fun, and was reading one of my favorite books to boot! I was happy and excited, because this meant we could finally chat about a book. And then I realized something - my sister was reading and I wasn't. AHHHH!. Yes, its true, I have not been in a reading mood lately.  The horror, the horror!  And so, in order to break this slump, I started to read the magazines on my nightstand and eventually I picked up a book. Nothing too deep, something light and fluffy.  

Written by J. Courtney Sullivan, Commencement is:

...a sparkling tale of friendship and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the opportunities in the world, but no clear idea about what to choose.

Their first year at college, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April couldn't have less in common.  Celia, a lapsed Catholic arrives with a bottle of vodka in her suitcase; Bree pines for the fiance she left behind in Savannah; preppy Sally is reeling from the loss of her mother; and April, a radical, redheaded feminist wearing a "Riot: Don't Diet" T-shirt, wants a room transfer immediately.  Commencement follows these unlikely friends through college and the years beyond, brilliantly capturing the complicated landscape facing young women today. 

My thoughts:

I liked Commencement.  It was the perfect book to get me out of my reading slump, because it was the type of book I would call a one-off (a quick pick me up book).  It was a light, fun read.  The writing was good and flowed rather nicely, making the story progress at an even speed.  Each chapter was told from the perspective of one of the four main characters which provided some insight into each individual character and their opinions about certain events and relationships.  The plot was about the rise and fall of these four women's lives and friendships.  The four friends met during their first year at Smith College, where they embraced feminism and friendship and life.  This book takes us through their time at Smith to their current place in life, which is their mid-twenties.  We have a wedding, the birth of a baby, serial dating, and a missing friend - all of which make for quite an interesting read.  The predictability of certain events and the ending did make me roll my eyes, but what did I expect from a beach read, right?  And the feminist themes that were mentioned were a bit cliched at times, but I appreciated that they were included (of course the collegiate setting was Smith, so how could feminism not be mentioned, right?).  Overall, I enjoyed reading Commencement and would recommend it to those who enjoy chick lit. 

And now I'm off to peruse my overflowing bookshelves and pick something new to read.  Hopefully something with a bit more bite to it.  Happy reading!!!