BookReview#1 “Kitchen” by banana yoshimoto

“Kitchen” by banana yoshimoto is one of my favorite novel.
Of course, I have read it in Japanese.
Three or four times, I remember….
I read it in English for the first time.

I was moved by following lines.
It is almost at the last scene of the story.

One day I’ll have to move out, I thought as I turned back to my magazine. The thought made me woozy.But I would have to do it.
Someday, I wondered, will I be living somewhere else and look back nostalgically on my time here? Or will I return to this same kitchen someday?
But right now I am here with this powerful mother, this boy with the gentle eyes. That was all that mattered.
As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won’t let my spirit be destroyed.

The repetition of “again and again” made me feel Mikage’s strong will to live.

As I grow older, I began to notice that life is full of unpredictable events.
However, as Mikage says, “I won’t let my spirits be destroyed.”

おまけ。
ちなみに、日本語版。
みかげのように、強くありたい。

「もっともっと大きくなり、いろんなことがあって、何度も底まで沈み込む。何度も苦しみ何度でもカムバックする。負けはしない。力は抜かない。」