Banana Yoshimoto, Banana Yoshimoto: Kitchen (2015, Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated)
English language
Published Dec. 18, 2015 by Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated.
Escribe Yoshimoto dun xeito casual, como se a protagonista estivese ao teu carón compartindo un té (chá), contándoche o que ceou onte e o soa que se sinte ( e está).
O sentimento de perda e vacío recorren os tres relatos, onde uns personaxes solitarios se dan forzas, unhas forzas que nin eles saben de onde saen.
Uh... hmm.
There are things I liked about these two stories. She has some good turns of phrase and a very spare-but-evocative style that reminds me of Murakami.
But. The trans character(s?). Ye gods.
Eriko. I think every mention of her made me cringe. Pretty sure Yoshimoto doesn't actually know the difference between a trans woman, a drag queen and a gay man. And also, hey, what do I know, but also pretty sure that most trans women don't "decide to become a woman" after their wife dies and they realize they will never love another woman or that they are too emotional to continue living as a man. And that's not even getting into the fact that literally every time Eriko comes up in conversation someone has to say "And that's hilarious because you're really a man, hahaha!"
Here's an actual example of dialog from the book:
"There …
Uh... hmm.
There are things I liked about these two stories. She has some good turns of phrase and a very spare-but-evocative style that reminds me of Murakami.
But. The trans character(s?). Ye gods.
Eriko. I think every mention of her made me cringe. Pretty sure Yoshimoto doesn't actually know the difference between a trans woman, a drag queen and a gay man. And also, hey, what do I know, but also pretty sure that most trans women don't "decide to become a woman" after their wife dies and they realize they will never love another woman or that they are too emotional to continue living as a man. And that's not even getting into the fact that literally every time Eriko comes up in conversation someone has to say "And that's hilarious because you're really a man, hahaha!"
Here's an actual example of dialog from the book:
"There aren't many men who will open a car door for a woman. I think it's really great."
"Eriko raised me that way," he said, laughing, "If I didn't open the door for her, she'd get mad and refuse to get in the car."
"Even though she was a man!" I said, laughing.
"Right, right, even though she was a man."
BARF BARF BARF
Oh and plus she gets brutally murdered in a hate-crime, because that's not what happens to every trans character ever. ("A crazy man became obsessed with her... Shocked to find out that this beautiful woman was a man... screaming that he had been made a fool of, he lunged at her with a knife.")
(I'm not going to talk about the other "trans" character, because he was actually just a cross-dresser, and that only sort of (he wore his girlfriend's clothes to feel closer to her after she died, or something like that, it's not really clear).)
OK so I get that this was written in 1988 and maybe I'm missing some cultural context, but still, massive ugh. I think if it wasn't for that I would probably have enjoyed the vague emotional writing and the fill-in-the-details-for-yourself style of storytelling and the weird uncommunicative romantic relationship between a couple of dysfunctional people, but the horrible caricatured trans stuff was just too distracting.
