The Kitchen Isn't Where You Cook

De: Candace Johnson

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Marisa Logan is a Black girl who doesn't know how to be Black. In the coming-of-age novel "The Kitchen Isn't Where You Cook," we see Marisa grow up in a small, white Michigan town in the '80s as the only Black girl in school. Sure, she's pretty, smart and popular, but none of that can mask the fact that she's "different."

As she grows, however, she doesn't want to assimilate anymore. During college, she settles into her identity as a campus leader of the Black Student Alliance during the "Fight the Power" era, and later as a successful engineer battling microaggressions in corporate America.

"The Kitchen Isn't Where You Cook" culminates with Marisa returning to her hometown soon after the 2016 election, when she is forced to confront the possibility that the people she grew up with – people she thought she'd always love – may have voted for division, hatred and racism. Can she deal with her fondest childhood memories being tainted?

The memories are priceless

A sleepless night, and curiosity of where my old college friends were, led me to find this novel. The author and I attended Michigan State University in the late 1980s. We met as intern reporters at The State News during the time of the sit in, which she vividly recounts in her story. Reading Candy’s words brought back so many memories of things long forgotten. Things that made me laugh. Things that made me cry. I am so glad that she’s written this novel. It encapsulates so many feelings of the way things were, and reminds us that home is never more than a memory away.

The Kitchen

I love this book! Great ending and really good story telling! I remained intrigued and what was next!

Coming of Age

I’m glad I came across this coming of age indie! Kindle has been coming thru with back to back hits!

In The Kitchen… Marisa is raised in a predominantly white community, one of few in schools. Her family’s wealth affords her the privilege of not having to worry about things most Black people deal with, or does it?

Because, she still gets passive aggressive comments from the girls in school, gets passed over for rightfully deserved recognition in school because she came up just short, and feels like an outsider at times.

Attending an HBCU is when her eyes are opened to all that she has missed out on, and been shielded from. Where does she fit in? How can she relate to struggles she’s never had to face?

This was a great story. I really enjoyed it. The saying is true and I could feel it in Marisa’s journey - being a Black wokan can be exhausting when you’re always trying to fit in to this tiny box, or meet obscure expectations. Talk too proper? Not Black enough? It’s enough to drive a person insane! Are Black parents doing their kids a disservice by shielding them from Blackness?

Most of the story seemed to follow Marisa in her early life, which provided a great foundation for the progression of the story, however the story just seemed to rev up the pace when she got to college and adulthood. Those were really pivotal times in her life and I would’ve enjoyed more from those eras.

All in all, it’s a great book that could prompt much deeper conversations. I think about nature vs nurture and how much of each shapes our futures most of all. I highly recommend it!

What’s interesting is that the audiobook was narrated by “virtual voice”, but it sounded like a narrator I’ve heard in the past…