Kitchen (stories)

Kitchen was written by Banana Yoshimoto in 1988 and translated into English in 1993. The narrative follows a main protagonist struggling to overcome the death of her grandmother, whilst falling in love with a close friend, whose own transexual mother/father also dies. Although a certain Western influence in Yoshimoto's style is recognisable, Kitchen is still critically recognised as an example of contemporary Japanese literature; the Independent on Sunday, The Times and the New Yorker have all reviewed the novel favourably.

Most editions also include a short story entitled 'Moonlight Shadow', which is also a tragedy dealing with loss and love.