Margin Notes

What I Was Reading:

Japanese fiction seems to be having a bit of a moment, and I finally found a copy of the beloved novella Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, first published in 1988 and translated to English five years later. I often find translated works of literature to be more approachable – more direct, with fewer flourishes – and they have the added benefit of exposing readers to new and diverse perspectives.

The book opens with an engaging description of kitchens:

The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s fine with me. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and immaculate. White tile catching the light (ting! ting!).

I love even incredibly dirty kitchens to distraction – vegetable droppings all over the floor, so dirty your slippers turn black on the bottom. Strangely, it’s better if this kind of kitchen is large. I lean up against the silver door of a towering, giant refrigerator stocked with enough food to get through a winter. When I raise my eyes from the oil-splattered gas burner and the rusty kitchen knife, outside the window stars are glittering, lonely.

Now only the kitchen and I are left. It’s just a little nicer than being all alone.

When I’m dead worn out, in a reverie, I often think that when it comes time to die, I want to breathe my last in a kitchen. Whether it’s cold and I’m all alone, or somebody’s there and it’s warm, I’ll stare death fearlessly in the eye. If it’s a kitchen, I’ll think, “How good.”

What Moves I Notice the Author Making:

• Lots of great subject-specific vocabulary and descriptive language: immaculate tea towels, vegetable droppings, towering refrigerator stocked with food, oil-splattered gas burner, rusty knife
• Contrasting imagery (e.g. from pristine towels and bright white tiles to filthy floors) catches the reader’s attention
• Short sentences maintain a steady pace
• Use of sentence fragments or a dash when describing/listing the characteristics of certain kinds of kitchens, rather than a colon
• Personification: “Now only the kitchen and I are left”
• Blending the general with the specific: the narrator starts by talking about kitchens in general (i.e. as a kind of space), but then moves into a more detailed description of a particular kitchen (i.e. an actual place)

Possibilities for Writers:

• Think of the ‘space’ that you like best in the world: rinks, beds, living rooms, restaurants, movie theatres, etc. and describe the general characteristics/qualities that make it your favourite. Then imagine it as a particular (yet fictional) ‘place’ and use descriptive language and sensory imagery to make it come to life (i.e. make it seem like you’re talking about a real place that you’ve experienced firsthand).
• Try a couple of the craft moves Banana Yoshimoto uses in your own piece of writing.