Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

    This week, I began to read Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto.The book follows Mikage, a young woman trying to juggle adulthood, her love for cooking, and the endless amounts of deaths that seem to haunt her.
 The story takes place in Tokyo during the 1980s. Mikage, after losing her last blood relative, her grandmother, moves in with Yuichi and his mother, Eriko (who was once his father), a kind family that also seems to be haunted by death. Over the summer, Mikage pursues her love of cooking, finds a part time job where she can exercise her devotion to kitchens, and moves out in the fall. A few months pass when suddenly on a night in january, she gets a call from Yuichi telling her Eriko died, 3 months ago. Mikage and Yuichi seem to come to the conclusion that everywhere they go, they're followed by death. They even make jokes about becoming hit men. Although Yuchi and Mikage still make jokes and laugh with each other, the inevitable fact is that, they have nobody but themselves.
    I think that the author is trying to have death represent something. I think the overall message of the story is that death can't be avoided, which is okay. Death is something that happens to everyone and is apart of nature. And that even people like Mikage or Yuichi, who are always surrounded by death, can still be okay.