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brnycx's review against another edition
3.0
"The wild maples in the mountains of his old home."
Shingo is getting old. His memory fails him randomly, he low-key dislikes his wife, son and daughter, and has a weird paternal/sexual obsession with his son's wife. At night, he hears the mountain calling - which he interprets as heralding his approaching death.
So you can guess it's probably not the cheeriest or enjoyable of reads. But even in translation Kawabata's prose is so beautiful, especially when he turns his eye to the scenery, plants, nature and seasons surrounding the home of Shingo and his family. Like the quote above, you'll be reading and then be suddenly struck by the most elegant, evocative sentence.
Shingo is getting old. His memory fails him randomly, he low-key dislikes his wife, son and daughter, and has a weird paternal/sexual obsession with his son's wife. At night, he hears the mountain calling - which he interprets as heralding his approaching death.
So you can guess it's probably not the cheeriest or enjoyable of reads. But even in translation Kawabata's prose is so beautiful, especially when he turns his eye to the scenery, plants, nature and seasons surrounding the home of Shingo and his family. Like the quote above, you'll be reading and then be suddenly struck by the most elegant, evocative sentence.
drifter_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Meant to give it 3 stars. But as I flashed back the whole journey of reading it, a strangely good feeling came over me. I guess that's what Kawabata does to his readers.
rachelhelps's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't like this Kawabata novel as much as his Snow Country, but maybe that's because I read it over the course of ten months (some books really suffer from my sporadic reading habits). It's a Japanese novel where a couple's son and his wife live with them; the son has an affair and the father is at a loss about what to do about it and copes with aging. It's poetic and undemanding.
guy_alex's review against another edition
dark
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
klarachaber's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
guilhermedla's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
benrogerswpg's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good read. Very sad story though.
It was a slice of life book, which I am not a huge fan of though.
Quite a bit of a depressing read too.
Although that, it was well-written - just not my type subject matter.
2.9/5
It was a slice of life book, which I am not a huge fan of though.
Quite a bit of a depressing read too.
Although that, it was well-written - just not my type subject matter.
2.9/5
lwxia's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a leitura eh mto rapida entao nao fiquei entediada em nenhum momento. mto interessante pq eu queria ver o final dessa historia entao tive vontade de ler. acho que fluiu bem e isso eh o principal em um livro pra mim