"Кухнята", Банана Йошимото - ревю

Трудно е да стъпиш на краката си, след като изгубиш всичките си близки на този свят.

Микаге Сакураи е японка, отгледана от баба си и дядо си, след като остава сираче още от дете. Дядо й умира с влизането на Микаге в прогимназията. Баба й го последва след няколко години и така Микаге се оказва абсолютно сама и изгубена в огромния Токио и въртележката, която е животът. За щастие, намира се кой да подаде ръка на отчаяната млада японка - добрият приятел на баба й, Юичи Танабе. Заедно с майка си, той дава покрив над главата на Микаге и тя временно заживява у тях.

"Всички ние си мислим, че имаме много пътища и можем да избираме. Сега обаче ясно разбирах нещо, което можех добре да изразя с думи. Не бях фаталистка, но бях убедена, че пътят винаги е предопределен. Всекидневното дихание, погледите, повтарящите се дни - всичко е предопределено. И тогава става така, че преди да се осъзнаеш, съвсем естествено се оказваш легнал посред зима в някаква локва на някакъв покрив в непознато място, с някакъв кацудон в раницата и с поглед, вперен в нощното небе.

О, колко е красив месецът!"  

Всеки си има една голяма страст. У главната героиня, това са кухните на хората и готварството. От там и така простичкото, очевидно заглавие на романа. За нея не е проблем да спи на пода до хладилника, хладилникът да е препълнен с продукти, да има много плочки за почистване и прочее - важното е да може да се приготвя храна и да е просторно. Именно тази любов на Микаге към кухните и кулинарията я крепи и в най-тежките ѝ моменти. Голяма част от времето си прекарва в приготвяне на закуска, обяд и вечеря на семейство Танабе, отблагодарявайки им се за стореното добро. Храната е енергия, топлина и обич и всеки детайл в процеса на сготвяне е от значение.

Но какво се крие в останалите стаи на дома извън кухнята? Какви възможности има пространството извън Токио?

Книгата е само сто и десет страници и сюжетната линия не е богата и заплетена. За разлика от единствения друг японски автор, който съм чела - Харуки Мураками, Банана Йошимото е заложила на изчистеност откъм герои, сюжетни линии и множество похвати. Действието се развива праволинейно, без да отегчава читателя дори за един момент, и обхваща най-важните моменти за шестте месеца, в които се развива. Стилът на писане е красив, бих посмяла да го нарека дори нежен и песенен. Авторката е заредила страниците с описания, без те да са натрапчиви, дълги или разсейващи; разкош за четене. Темата за смъртта не е пряко засегната през цялото време и последиците от нея са предадени чрез меланхоличния изказ на Микаге, чрез постъпките на Юичи и диалозите между двамата герои, вместо да бъде в центъра на целия роман.

Успях да я прочета за не повече от четири часа и ми беше трудно да се разсея от нея. На "Кухнята" може да ѝ липсва интересен, грабващ сюжет, на какъвто повечето хора са свикнали в последните години; но богатството ѝ се крие в дребните житейски уроци и философията зад трагедията; необходимата сила да продължиш напред. И че винаги има човек зад гърба ти, готов да те измъкне от черните дупки.

Вик ми подари книгата през 2016, а аз, прекрасният човек, който съм, я чета чак сега. Не за друго, сега ѝ е дошло времето... или поне това ми е вечното оправдание. 

"Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" by Gabrielle Zevin

I think I have a pattern.

I start interesting books either on Sundays, or at the end of any holiday, and I go to bed too late, because goddammit, interesting plots! Not that I ever regret reading, even when it eats from my precious sleep.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is like that one person you chat with till the sunrise, and you can feel your eyes burning already, but no, you'll stay awake for them. That's a little what I did with this book to finish it - I skipped my usual Friday nap (I mean my three-or-four-hours-long "nap") and devoured Gabrielle Zevin's masterpiece in one sitting, after having read only a hundred pages in the course of one week.

Above all, mine is a love story.

And like most love stories, this one involves chance, gravity, and a dash of head trauma.

It began with a coin toss.

The coin came up tails; I was heads.

Naomi Porter wakes up in a hospital bed and realizes she has no idea who she is, or what has happened during the last four years. No memory occurs of her parents' divorce, her boyfriend (does she have one at all?), her friends at school, French (which she used to be so fluent at). Diagnosis: amnesia. The one to help her remember her life is her best friend, Will, who does it the old-fashioned way - with a letter, written on an old typewriter. That's just who Will is - old-fashioned, but always willing to help.
Naomi is perplexed. All the activities she was passionate about before the accident, now seem... ordinary to her. And she doesn't know what connected her with her friends in the first place. Only after going back to school and trying to get her memory back, does she realize the past can sometimes be too overwhelming, and her head trauma might be a chance for a new life.

I was going to be all about now, about am, about present tense.

I prefer reading books in one sitting, or if not one - just reading them quickly in general. I like the slight headache I get after staring at the pages for several hours straight, and I like the occasional blurriness of my sight when, ahem, someone's cutting onions again! That was the only reason why I preferred to devour Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. I could truly connect with the characters and the plot itself. I didn't always agree with Naomi's actions, as they could be unreasonable at times, but, for me, she is one of the best YA heroines I've read about. She wasn't the typical one-dimensional character, which is something I always look for in good books - Naomi was flawed, she showed emotions and atitude; she built a new friendship, got her heart broken several times, disappointed people and then managed to give them reasons to forgive her. 
Although the writing style could've been more complex, indeed. I'm fine with it the way it is - beautiful and flowing, yet simple. It didn't worsen the book; it even added for a better experience in some way. 

I've been reading a lot of contemporary YA fiction lately, and I find myself again and again in every book. 15 and 16 are the perfect ages, I guess. So, if you are as confused and emotional as me, and are looking for answers to questions bigger than you, pick up Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. It may not answer the questions you have, but books always make things easier to bear, I promise.

"Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

What makes me really sad is that there are no more than three people who follow my blog and would get all the references I can make about this book. So I won't make any, I promise. 

After Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, I've been a sucker for LGBT literature, diverse cast of characters, and contemporary romance making me scream AWWWW. I reached out to Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, as it was the most appealing one of all of the twelve books that had arrived.

I say this about a lot of books lately, but, again - I love it when I can relate to the main character. Or better - when the main character is like my lost soulmate (but is actually only fictional and has never existed, ha! Ha...)

Simon Spier is a confused, very-in-love, and huge-Harry-Potter-fan 16-year-old boy.
Since August, he has been exchanging emails with the very cute Blue who goes to the same school as him. The mystery comes from neither of them knowing who the other person is. They find it kind of appealing and think it makes their friendship... spicier. 
But you all know how love can completely change you. Your head is so lost in the clouds that you forget to do all sorts of thinks, like logging off of your e-mail and letting the wrong person, or Martin Addison, in Simon's case, see the wrong emails. Martin tries to blackmail him into telling the entire school Simon is gay unless he helps him talk to Abby, his best friend.

Now life has gotten freaking complicated. There is a romance involved, there's this weird part of life where you have to figure out who you are or might be, and you're looking for something even though you don't know what exactly. And everything seems to be a holy freaking huge awesome deal.

“But I'm tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again.” 

I loved the diversity in the book - not only was it an LGBT novel, but it had characters of color and there were different religions represented (both within the main characters, guys!!!), which made me really happy, as there aren't enough as diverse books published as this one. 

I also enjoyed the realism in this book a lot - it's more than devastating that we still live in a world full of hatred, although it's the 21st century where we're supposed to be open-minded and supportive. We see how LGBTQIA+ folks feel the need to stay in the closet, and even for some of their best friends, because no one knows how they will be seen, and it's sad that this isn't seen only in fiction.

On a lighter note, I want to say that the romance in this novel will make the biggest cynic ever smile from ear to ear and giggle silently. Despite the love scenes only being in the last thirty pages or so, they're as sweet as the Oreo milk shake Simon so much loves. And, can we just point out how perfect Simon's music taste is?! 

source: creeksecrets.tumblr.com/

For me, the biggest point of the book was stepping out of your comfort zone - at some point, ironically, it stops being comfortable at all. Our teenage years is when we change the most and YA characters have helped me a numerous times to find out things about me I hadn't yet discovered. So let's all cherish this book together and thank Becky Albertralli for creating a cute romantic book that is simultaneously discussing serious topics in today's society.