キッチン: Week 13 Discussion [END]

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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キッチン Home Thread

Week 13

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Start Date: Dec 28th
Previous Part: Week 12

Reading:

End Page End % End Phrase Page Count
193 96% The End 17

Word lists - Learn the vocabulary for キッチン

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

Read-along Sessions

Come and read from the previous week’s section, join in the chat about this book (also the previous book, possible future books, WK reviews, all things Japan-related, what else you did on the weekend, etc) or just lurk and listen. Readers of all speeds and abilities welcome - we are here to help each other out. Reading sessions will be held every Sunday at 9:30pm JST.

Week 13 session (in your timezone): Sunday, January 5, 2020 12:30 PM TZ

Participants

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I’m just gonna write down some thoughts now the reading’s officially over~

Overall I’m really happy with this pick for the book club - the language itself was of a good level for the intermediate club, with the added challenge of flowers and metaphors. That took some getting used to after the straightforward that was コンビニ. :white_flower:

I really like the tone set by 吉本ばなな and, same as when I finished コンビニ, I want to explore that further and read other books she wrote. Since ムーンライト felt especially rewarding to read because it was so short, I’m thinking that short story collection of hers might be a good choice.

Yep, that’s it. I probably said more than this in discord, but しょうがない. :man_shrugging:

Please share some thoughts? :sunflower:

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Goddamit I forgot about this book, I’m incredibly behind oops.

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I really enjoyed this book, particularly the main story. It was probably my favorite of the books that I read last year.

The two stories seemed pretty similar thematically. Both were about people dealing with grief (at least by my reading). I felt like キッチン was the better story though and more complex than Moonlight Shadow which seemed a bit more shallow I guess (not sure how put it better than that). It almost felt like Moonlight Shadow was the first attempt at telling the story the author wanted to tell and キッチン was the final version.

I felt like I didn’t really understand what was going on in the story on a deeper level while I was reading it and would definitely like to go back and read it again someday.

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Gaah, I always forget to post. Every time I am reminded about this book, I think “oh, yeah, I should write a review” but then I always start to think how to make it PERFECT^{\small \text{TM}}, then I get other things to do and I forget again.
Well, not today, disregard quality, brain, get typing.

So, first I want to say I really liked the themes of the two stories, in particular dealing with loss and grief (as @brrricane said). I also really liked the characters introduced, which were very different from the stereotypes I see in the books I am usually reading.

I liked Moonlight Shadow better than Kitchen, actually, as it included elements of fantastique, which is my favorite literary genre. (Interestingly, trying to look up the English name of that genre, I got to its wikipedia page which stated:

The fantastique is a substantial genre within French literature.

Well, I guess that’s why I can’t seem to find a good equivalent in English.)

In terms of difficulty, I found Kitchen moderately difficult to follow. I have completely stopped using a dictionary while reading in general, but had to check a few things here and there to make sure I was properly understanding. The general “flowery-ness” of the metaphors did not help understand from context :stuck_out_tongue:
In that sense, Moonlight Shadow was also much more straightforward to read. I guess that was a factor in liking that story better as well. I still feel like both falls pretty squarely in the difficulty level of this book club, so both a good and relevant pick. It’s a little bit sad to see that only a few people made it all the way to the end (well, we still had 13 at the end of the main story, so not that bad, though).

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Late to the party obviously, but thanks to all those who came before and gave me interesting questions and discussions to read about.

This isn’t the typical sort of book I read, but I liked it a lot. I’m amazed at how 吉本ばなな is able to bring to life her characters and story in what would otherwise be a mundane slice of life world. One moment I’m reading about doing lunch with some character, and beofe long I’m swept up in a swirling overnight taxi cab ride on a whim. I’ll catch up with you all soon!

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