John C Adams

I really enjoyed this book. My edition had a short novella, Moonlight Shadow, as well so there was quite a bit of variety. I bought it because I was intrigued by the description which mentioned transsexuality as one of the themes. There was a trans character, which in a book from 1987 was very unusual. However, Eriko wasn't the main character and was never the point-of-view character. I'm still taking her inclusion as a win given when Kitchen was published. There was so much sadness here that I was touched deeply as I read both Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow. The author was very open about loss, both its physical effect on your body and on your emotional outlook. Grief and the impermanence lie at the heart of these two wonderful stories.