I think I could have enjoyed a story quite similar to The Sound of The Mountain: an old man coming to terms with his own mortality by reflecting over his life and his relations? Sure, I can dig it.
But for me this story became too symbolic and subtle. And if you add a dash of confusion and a pinch of weirdness you get my total reading experience of The Sound The Mountain.

As this is my first take on japanese literature, I gather that at least the weird part might just be me getting to know japanese writing. But reading about how Kikuko’s breasts compared to Kukiko’s(?) was not really what ruined it for me. I just didn’t find the story all that interesting.

To be honest I found it to be more confusing than interesting. A number of times I had to stop reading and ask myself, “Wait, I thought it was Shingo who said that”. I’m sure some of the confusion may be due to the author wanting the reader to experience the same confusion as Shingo, who was very much lost in thought, but for me I think most of the confusion was due to Kawabata’s writing style and, possibly, due to something being lost in translation? Nevertheless, it made it hard for me to get into a good reading flow.

So what I was left reading was a rather dull, confusing, and more or less inconclusive and plot-less story with a lot of symbolism I’m sure I didn’t pick up. If I had picked it up, however, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it much more.

2 / 5