Eternal comfort of the spotless kitchen

Lizard and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

The Lizard is a collection of short stories, which I picked up similarly to ‘The Firm’ at Lady Elliot during a storm. I don’t read enough short stories and I also don’t read poetry, poetry even less than short stories. I need to rectify that. I enjoyed reading this collection and the one that stood out was ‘Helix’ and the familiarity it brought as I quickly picked the similarities to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. I checked the writers of the movie and Banana Yoshimoto is not one of them so it is just one big coincidence.

‘The Kitchen’ is the story of a young woman losing her grandmother and finding comfort in unexpected places. As her life changes, there is one source of continuous peace and that is the kitchen. I really liked this aspect of the book. The idea that either with happiness or sorrow, there is one constant place of peace is beautiful. And when that place is the kitchen it brings back many memories. My grandmother was a brilliant cook and I remember so many things about her around the kitchen. Even the way I used to help her wash dishes is still at times very familiar. My mom is a good cook and now Chris is a good cook so I surround myself with people who love food and find it as an excuse to bring joy and happiness to their lives and mine.

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