Review: Palm-of-the-Hand Stories

Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata
My 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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Review: First Snow on Fuji

First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The more I read by Kawabata the more I enjoy his stories. This was a collection of short stories, the best of which was First Snow on Fuji, but every story had something to it. 4.5 stars on average. 

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Review: Snow Country

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautifully written book (kudos also to the translator Edward G. Seidensticker). For some reason, it made me feel nostalgic, despite being about a place and time I've obviously never experienced (nor would I necessarily want to). However, it didn't really seem to lament the passing of the old, Japanese ways for the new Western ways, as his other books seem to do. At least not obviously so.

The story itself was quite slow, but it still kept me interested and I pretty much finished it in one setting.

It also got me very interested in Chijimi: https://soranews24.com/2016/06/16/oji...

I'm rounding this up to a 5

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