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A review by veelaughtland
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
2.0
#JapaneseJune Book #5.
2.5 stars.
I'm not quite sure how to rate this particular book. For its modest length, it took me longer than I thought it would to read it, and I think for the most part this was because I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on for the first half of the book. Once I started focusing solely on this book on my train journeys to and from work, I found it much easier to sink into - reading it at home with distractions all around was out of the question.
The story is, from what I can tell, typical of Kawabata's style - very beautifully written but slow and melancholic to the core. It follows the character of Shingo, and elderly man who does not seem to have a very loving relationship with his family. The only person within his household that he seems to have any kind of connection with is his daughter-in-law Kikuko, a seemingly lonely soul who tries to main a cheerful air whilst dealing with her philandering husband.
The novel doesn't really have a strong plot line, other than the adultery of Shingo's son and its effect on Kikuko, but I didn't really expect there to be one. Having read Snow Country previously, I had an inkling of what to expect. However, I didn't have the concentration problems with that book as I did with The Sound of the Mountain - at the beginning of the novel, I kept forgetting characters' names, getting them mixed up with each other, and couldn't really follow their conversations all that well. Part of me wonders if it was my distraction, and part of me wonders if this was Kawabata's intent - to meld the reader with Shingo, seeing things through his confused, ageing eyes and forgetting key elements along the way. I don't know, I can't exactly ask the author, but it did intrigue me.
I will continue to read Kawabata's novels, but I will try and make sure that I have some uninterrupted reading time because I feel like when I'm in the zone, I appreciate his writing a lot more.
2.5 stars.
I'm not quite sure how to rate this particular book. For its modest length, it took me longer than I thought it would to read it, and I think for the most part this was because I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on for the first half of the book. Once I started focusing solely on this book on my train journeys to and from work, I found it much easier to sink into - reading it at home with distractions all around was out of the question.
The story is, from what I can tell, typical of Kawabata's style - very beautifully written but slow and melancholic to the core. It follows the character of Shingo, and elderly man who does not seem to have a very loving relationship with his family. The only person within his household that he seems to have any kind of connection with is his daughter-in-law Kikuko, a seemingly lonely soul who tries to main a cheerful air whilst dealing with her philandering husband.
The novel doesn't really have a strong plot line, other than the adultery of Shingo's son and its effect on Kikuko, but I didn't really expect there to be one. Having read Snow Country previously, I had an inkling of what to expect. However, I didn't have the concentration problems with that book as I did with The Sound of the Mountain - at the beginning of the novel, I kept forgetting characters' names, getting them mixed up with each other, and couldn't really follow their conversations all that well. Part of me wonders if it was my distraction, and part of me wonders if this was Kawabata's intent - to meld the reader with Shingo, seeing things through his confused, ageing eyes and forgetting key elements along the way. I don't know, I can't exactly ask the author, but it did intrigue me.
I will continue to read Kawabata's novels, but I will try and make sure that I have some uninterrupted reading time because I feel like when I'm in the zone, I appreciate his writing a lot more.