Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari KawabataMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm a big fan of Yasunari Kawabata novels, and I confess I was a bit skeptical about these short stories. I really like the atmosphere in his novels (I saw another reviewer say his books “all share an eerily moving quality that lingers long in the mind". I agree with this 100%), and I wasn't sure they could be recreated in 2-3 pages. But these stories, by and large, did not disappoint.
It is interesting that they are in chronological order. I was marking my favorite stories, and noticed they were grouped toward the beginning and end, with a large gap in the middle (minus a few in 1949-1950). His style during these years is quite different (it continues to change over time), and I confess that the stories from these intermediary years interested me less.
These were my favorite:
A Sunny Place (1923)
The grasshopper and the Bell cricket (1924)
Glass (1925)
A child's viewpoint (1926)
Umbrella (1932)
The Jay (1949)
Bamboo-leaf boats (1950)
Eggs (1950)
Up in the tree (1962)
Immortality (1963)
Snow (1964)
Gleanings from Snow Country (1972)
The last story really made me want to re-read Snow Country. Maybe I will.
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