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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
brutal. finished it last night and fell asleep muttering "oh my god... oh my god...", terrified of the dreams I might have. the stream of consciousness is fairly equally divided between the sailor, his lover, and her son, but because the heart of the book is bound up in fantasies of masculinity, the woman's voice is made a bit less compelling than the other two - no doubt intentional but still a shame, given the counterpoint she could have provided. but that's my only quibble. I have to wonder if the 1960s translation is more florid than Mishima's book, especially since the original title is "Afternoon Ship-towing" (edit: there's a kanji pun between "ship-towing" and "glory", so it is a LITTLE fancy). no matter what liberties were taken, the resulting language is decadently captivating, and absurdly excessive - absurd in the highest meaning of the word. Oh, and there's laugh-out-loud hilarity, too!
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked the book and I’m glad I read it but that’s about it. Two of the main characters were really fun and interesting to read but the third and final main character felt really out of place. He was the only persevere character in this whole book and it felt like he was perverse just for the sake of it not because it contributed to anything. The other two were wildly interesting characters though and reading their perspectives was really enjoyable
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore
Moderate: Death, Sexual content
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent
The lyrical beauty of the prose contrasted perfectly with the brutal things happening.
A pretty decent - albeit rather disturbing - read if you can get past the insane level of men-writing-women