The acclaimed debut of Japan's "master storyteller" (Chicago Tribune).

With the publication of Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut that is still her best-loved book, the literary world realized that Banana 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.

"Lucid, earnest and disarming... [It] seizes hold of the reader's sympathy and refuses to let go." -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

• We started tracking this book on November 24, 2018.
• This book was $15.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 164 times in the past 2,200 days.
• The current price of this book is $3.99 last checked 2 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past six months is $2.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
• The lowest price to date was $1.20 last reached on July 5, 2021.
• This book has been $1.20 4 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $15.99 last reached on November 24, 2018.
• This book has been $15.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionContemporary FictionLiterary
• Literature & FictionGenre FictionFamily Life

• Publication Date: September 15, 2015
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 164 Pages
• File Size: 2,290 KB