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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This wasn't a read I normally gravitate to, but it sounded interesting.
It's a short novel from Yukio Mishima, which I'm reading for the first time, so I have no idea what to expect. Right from the beginning, there was an intensity I was prepared for. The books is focused on three people and jump between past and present tenses to explain their relationship and where it all went wrong.
Honestly, this book took me longer than even I expected, and that's because every so often, I had to set it aside. Yuko, one of the leads, is such a miserable character that some scenes become that much more tragic. Felt as if she had that kind of power to drag others with her, and in a way, she did. There wasn't a single character I liked — each one was shades of grey and was wrong for each other that they worked in a weird relationship with each other that no one else could support.
Kudos to Mishima for their wording, style, and prose. For as tragic as the story is, the writing is beautiful as it is disturbing and haunting.
It's a short novel from Yukio Mishima, which I'm reading for the first time, so I have no idea what to expect. Right from the beginning, there was an intensity I was prepared for. The books is focused on three people and jump between past and present tenses to explain their relationship and where it all went wrong.
Honestly, this book took me longer than even I expected, and that's because every so often, I had to set it aside. Yuko, one of the leads, is such a miserable character that some scenes become that much more tragic. Felt as if she had that kind of power to drag others with her, and in a way, she did. There wasn't a single character I liked — each one was shades of grey and was wrong for each other that they worked in a weird relationship with each other that no one else could support.
Kudos to Mishima for their wording, style, and prose. For as tragic as the story is, the writing is beautiful as it is disturbing and haunting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Drug use, Incest
I think the book is shrouded with an enigmatically beautiful story that is not for me. I wasn't able to clearly comprehend what the story wanted to portray, how it wants to make me understand the characters, or how the transitioning of the book works. But, I can definitely say that there is something about this book that tickles my curiosity for another time of reading.
Full review: https://wanderwithjon.wordpress.com/2019/01/24/book-review-the-frolic-of-the-beasts-by-yukio-mishima/
Full review: https://wanderwithjon.wordpress.com/2019/01/24/book-review-the-frolic-of-the-beasts-by-yukio-mishima/
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A beautiful, enveloping story. Minus 0,25 for what I perceive as a slight clumsiness and a little too much "Britishness" in the translation.
This was my first Mishima novel, and by all reports, not his best. In hindsight, reading another of his works may have served vetter as this left me a bit cold.
The story opens with heavy foreshadowing and three graves. Here, Mirashima's lyricism shines with beautiful imagery cloaked in symbolism. I was quite impressed.
This was to be followed with an almost immediate let down. The pacing is strange and the wide sweeping descriptions do not continue past the prologue. The "crime" happens within the first few pages of the book, which serves as a red herring for the true atrocity commited at the end. Character motivations are hazy and, without warning, a second love triangle is thrust in. Just as quickly, it disappates. The autbor mentions that the novel is a throw to Noh theater, but I felt it was a bit too simple. Rather than have exaggerated emotions, the characters had emotionless, over exaggerated actions.
Perhaps a different Mishima is in my future.
The story opens with heavy foreshadowing and three graves. Here, Mirashima's lyricism shines with beautiful imagery cloaked in symbolism. I was quite impressed.
This was to be followed with an almost immediate let down. The pacing is strange and the wide sweeping descriptions do not continue past the prologue. The "crime" happens within the first few pages of the book, which serves as a red herring for the true atrocity commited at the end. Character motivations are hazy and, without warning, a second love triangle is thrust in. Just as quickly, it disappates. The autbor mentions that the novel is a throw to Noh theater, but I felt it was a bit too simple. Rather than have exaggerated emotions, the characters had emotionless, over exaggerated actions.
Perhaps a different Mishima is in my future.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence
Moderate: Incest, Rape
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was pretty happy that I haven’t come across a novel that displeased me this year. Sadly, what had to be that book that broke my luck was a Yukio Mishima one. What makes me more disappointed was that the cover and the title would be part of my top 5 favorites for each category, but the story did not live up to them.
The writing in The Frolic of The Beast was poetic, but it became too descriptive that it took readers far away from the plot. By the time you get back to the plot you’d already forgotten what happened. Compound that with very odd timelines and characters you vaguely understand even in the ending. It’s not even because they were morally gray, they were just badly written. What could have been an interesting look into a love triangle gone wrong, The Frolic Of The Beast was flat all throughout.
What could have saved this book was if Mishima took on a first-person perspective like what he did in the Epilogue. Also, it’s only in the last 15 pages out of a 164-paged novel that the book gets interesting and clear. The entire novel was just a mishmash of everything and not in a way for readers to do a full on analysis of it to get a deeper understanding. It was just all over the place.
All amazing artists have that one work that isn’t at par with any of the other works they’ve made. This frolicking beast is a black sheep when it comes to Mishima works and I do not suggest it to be your first Mishima read.