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phoenix2's review
2.0
I've got mixed feeling about this book. The first story was okay, with some good messages that the author had to share about the fear of getting old and the way people experience their sexuality. Though, the base of this story was repeated tiringly too much, with the old man visiting the place with the sleeping girls too much for it to keep being interesting. Actually, in the end, the author didn't have anything new to add when the man was recalling old lovers or observing the girls' bodies. Then again, there was the second story. All I can say about it is this : What have I just read?!? The whole arm thing was wierd and never actually explained. Finally, the third story was nice, with the man and his pets, an easy read after the two others. So, 2 out of 5.
mtsmnds's review
4.0
Kawabata foi encontrado morto em 1972, pelas suas próprias mãos. 11 anos antes este livro é lançado. O personagem tem uma idade muito próxima da dele, então já considerado um idoso em sua sociedade. No livro seu personagem namora a morte, e o ato de dormir com jovens virgens narcotizadas o leva a pensar em sua vida, a vida em si, a morte, e memórias das suas mulheres, esposa, filhas, casos.
O livro pode ser entendido como uma alegoria, no limbo entre a promiscuidade e a corretidão que é criado no contexto apresentado na obra, o personagem pensa sobre sua própria agressividade e tendência a transgressão, a natureza do homem, a fragilidade e vulnerabilidade, da mulher e do velho, e questiona a importância da virgindade (pureza) da mulher na sua cultura. Esse questionamento é relevante, tendo o próprio autor sofrido, de rebarba, com a perda da pureza de sua noiva. Ela foi estuprada, e por não mais ser pura decidiu que o casamento não poderia ocorrer. Este acontecimento permeia a obra de Kawabata.
É possível atestar também tanto em House of Sleeping Beauties como em Of Birds and Beasts a solidão dos seus personagens, em uma obra, mulheres adormecidas, em outra animais em cativeiro, ambos personagens dialogam apenas com uma personagem mulher que tem papel social funcional, no primeiro a anfitriã da casa e no segundo uma empregada domestica, enquanto os seres com quem o seu personagem principal interage e é obsecado por são inertes, totalmente a mercê da sua vontade, e silenciosos, incapazes de expressão própria.
O livro pode ser entendido como uma alegoria, no limbo entre a promiscuidade e a corretidão que é criado no contexto apresentado na obra, o personagem pensa sobre sua própria agressividade e tendência a transgressão, a natureza do homem, a fragilidade e vulnerabilidade, da mulher e do velho, e questiona a importância da virgindade (pureza) da mulher na sua cultura. Esse questionamento é relevante, tendo o próprio autor sofrido, de rebarba, com a perda da pureza de sua noiva. Ela foi estuprada, e por não mais ser pura decidiu que o casamento não poderia ocorrer. Este acontecimento permeia a obra de Kawabata.
É possível atestar também tanto em House of Sleeping Beauties como em Of Birds and Beasts a solidão dos seus personagens, em uma obra, mulheres adormecidas, em outra animais em cativeiro, ambos personagens dialogam apenas com uma personagem mulher que tem papel social funcional, no primeiro a anfitriã da casa e no segundo uma empregada domestica, enquanto os seres com quem o seu personagem principal interage e é obsecado por são inertes, totalmente a mercê da sua vontade, e silenciosos, incapazes de expressão própria.
8797999's review
2.0
Having finished this book I have to say it isn’t a favourite. I found it a chore to get through and had a difficult time to get into it. Not a book I would be re-reading in a hurry.
The House of Sleeping Beauties
I found it a bit creepy in the perverted sense, I didn’t enjoy this at all although I can empathise with the narrator and how his past encounters were rekindled by the beauties and the feelings he gets from their memory. I enjoyed this passages but I just couldn’t get over the creepiness of his feelings when with the beauties. It felt like a drag and repetitive.
One Arm
A weird read, luckily very short.
Of Birds and Beasts
Sadly another story I didn’t enjoy or care much for. Short and sweet thankfully!
It is a shame really because this was a book I was really looking forward to reading. The title story was said to be an inspiration for Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Memories of My Melancholy Whores, a book I read and enjoyed a few years ago. Having enjoyed that I expected to enjoy this too, alas not the case. I think I will give the book a re-read.
The House of Sleeping Beauties
I found it a bit creepy in the perverted sense, I didn’t enjoy this at all although I can empathise with the narrator and how his past encounters were rekindled by the beauties and the feelings he gets from their memory. I enjoyed this passages but I just couldn’t get over the creepiness of his feelings when with the beauties. It felt like a drag and repetitive.
One Arm
A weird read, luckily very short.
Of Birds and Beasts
Sadly another story I didn’t enjoy or care much for. Short and sweet thankfully!
It is a shame really because this was a book I was really looking forward to reading. The title story was said to be an inspiration for Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Memories of My Melancholy Whores, a book I read and enjoyed a few years ago. Having enjoyed that I expected to enjoy this too, alas not the case. I think I will give the book a re-read.
versmonesprit's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This small collection of three stories was my first ever Yasunari Kawabata, and I’m saddened to say had I not already stocked on a lot of his books, I wouldn’t have gone out looking for more. But this review is difficult for another reason: when all is said and done, my mostly negative experience comes down less to concrete issues with the stories, and more to the overall feelings of quasi-boredom or annoyance they evoked in me. Granted, I read this at a very chemically low point in my life, so who knows if the effect would have been different under better circumstances!
The first of the bunch, House of the Sleeping Beauties, keenly creates senses, a sharp quiet, and an ethereal, liminal setting. With a stream of consciousness approach, as well as much rumination on memory, violence, and the contrast between female purity and male ugliness, it feels like nothing could ruin this story. Yet repetition tries and achieves that, and the description of the girls’ bodies becomes tiring fast. Maybe for that reason, maybe as a fault of the writing, the ending lacks the emotional impact it should’ve had.
One Arm is a much, much worse offender in the boredom department. I could not find anything to like about this, to be honest. Other than it continuing the themes of sleep and violence against women, I can’t see a reason for it to be included in a collection of Kawabata’s works.
For me the best of the bunch was the last story, Of Birds and Beasts. The cruelty against animals did make it a difficult read, but it was the strongest when it comes to impact. The story’s preoccupation with death and violence was all too apparent; and the theme of sleep does crop up.
I’d say these are overall to be read for their ruminations, like a philosophical work, rather than as fiction.
The first of the bunch, House of the Sleeping Beauties, keenly creates senses, a sharp quiet, and an ethereal, liminal setting. With a stream of consciousness approach, as well as much rumination on memory, violence, and the contrast between female purity and male ugliness, it feels like nothing could ruin this story. Yet repetition tries and achieves that, and the description of the girls’ bodies becomes tiring fast. Maybe for that reason, maybe as a fault of the writing, the ending lacks the emotional impact it should’ve had.
One Arm is a much, much worse offender in the boredom department. I could not find anything to like about this, to be honest. Other than it continuing the themes of sleep and violence against women, I can’t see a reason for it to be included in a collection of Kawabata’s works.
For me the best of the bunch was the last story, Of Birds and Beasts. The cruelty against animals did make it a difficult read, but it was the strongest when it comes to impact. The story’s preoccupation with death and violence was all too apparent; and the theme of sleep does crop up.
I’d say these are overall to be read for their ruminations, like a philosophical work, rather than as fiction.
togawa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
vihren's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ulivo222's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5