Review: Spring Snow

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A tragic love story, but also a book that spends a lot of time discussing royalty spending a lot of time engaging in activities and conversations we'd consider quite frivolous these days. To me it seemed a blend of the Tale of Genji and Downton Abbey, although I may just be showing my ignorance.

Still, I don't think I will be reading the rest of the tetralogy anytime soon.



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Review: Patriotism

Patriotism by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a somewhat disturbing account of a seppuku rite by a husband and wife. Not only does it go into extreme detail, but it eroticizes the entire process. My impression was that he was trying to show how brainwashed and over the top people could be with regards to honor and sacrifice for their country. However, knowing the author committed seppuku himself, he was probably just fetishizing the entire ordeal. In fact, I wonder if his entire coup was an "excuse" to eventually commit suppuku. Regardless, this was disturbing and very intense. 

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Review: The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disturbing, perceptive, symbolic. Those are the main adjectives that come to mind to describe this book. I confess that what I knew about the author stopped me from reading this (and some of his other books) for a while, because I expected a troubled/disturbed mind. And that is pretty much what I got.  

This was, by all means, an excellent book, and one can understand the symbolism. Fusako represents the West (which Mishima hated), while Noboru, the 13 year-old, represents old fashioned honor (although, quite distorted and brainwashed, so I'm not sure what that was about). Ryuji was cast at sea, and gradually came to one side over the other. 

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Review: The Sound of Waves

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only thing I knew about this author was that he attempted a coup d'état, committed seppuku, and he wrote books. So I figured his stories would be intense and possibly anti-government. Anyway, this story was nothing like that. A love story taking place on a remote island called Utajima, which I am guessing is Sugashima in real life, although I may be wrong. Also very interesting to read about island life and about the ama divers. I look forward to reading more by him.

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