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mimi_means_secret's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
buffna's review
4.0
This is an UNFINISHED novel written before Kawabata's suicide in 1972. Because it's unfinished, I give it a 4 instead of a 3. A woman with somagnosia no longer sees her lover and is sent to an asylum. The story follows the dialogue between her mother and the woman's lover as they leave her behind, reluctantly. I had trouble interpreting the meaning after the story was finished, but after a lot of thinking, I think this this novel was a meditation on what it's like to lose someone you love without any negotiation or discussion then finding yourself having to love again.
nathansnook's review
3.0
As a first Kawabata read, I think I've made the wrong choice according to other readers on here.
It's strange. It's metaphysical. It asks what it means to have a body and what it is to lose sight of things physical, metaphorically and and physically.
The story moves mostly through dialogue that remains colloquial. Same parts of old stories told between the husband and his mother-in-law will flow in and out and up again like how they happen in brunches or drunk murmurs in low key bars.
There are potholes and places where you'll pass a yawn, but if you are a Kawabata fan, finishing this unfinished piece of work allows you to see his story-building process and the inventive tools he used in his own writing. A must-read for writers on writings of Kawabata.
It's strange. It's metaphysical. It asks what it means to have a body and what it is to lose sight of things physical, metaphorically and and physically.
The story moves mostly through dialogue that remains colloquial. Same parts of old stories told between the husband and his mother-in-law will flow in and out and up again like how they happen in brunches or drunk murmurs in low key bars.
There are potholes and places where you'll pass a yawn, but if you are a Kawabata fan, finishing this unfinished piece of work allows you to see his story-building process and the inventive tools he used in his own writing. A must-read for writers on writings of Kawabata.
jamfiles's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
edulaia's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I do not know how to rate this book. The circumstances of how I read it, a few pages each night fighting sleep and in the mornings in the bus to work, fighting sleep, were not ideal for this very tightly written book that essentaly takes place over one afternoon and night and consists of one conversation. Had I read it less fragmentally, I am sure, I would have loved it. I have loved it, the texture of the writing is breathtaking. These Nobelprize winners, they do know how to write. Also, the storyis surprising, consistently following characters and ideas one would not have expected it to want to focus on.
fragrantwoodshavings's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
crazytourists_books's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Japanese stories are special, different, with simpler prose but yet more melancholic and full of emotions.
This story had the potential of being great but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing or overlooked. Half way through, I did a little search, and I found out that there is indeed something missing; the story is incomplete, Kawabata committed suicide and Dandelions were published posthumous.
Even so, I loved the atmosphere: sadness, melancholy, loneliness, love... and a few brilliant passages.
I will definitely read a complete work by Kawabata, I am sure it will be worth it.
This story had the potential of being great but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing or overlooked. Half way through, I did a little search, and I found out that there is indeed something missing; the story is incomplete, Kawabata committed suicide and Dandelions were published posthumous.
Even so, I loved the atmosphere: sadness, melancholy, loneliness, love... and a few brilliant passages.
I will definitely read a complete work by Kawabata, I am sure it will be worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
hanburgerhelper's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
everyotherpageorso's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0