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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Quite a painful read for me - too many parallels with my own experiences as a young uni student! But that's a strength of it too. And it really came together at the end. I also realised fully only at that point how much of the main protagonist's character - his naivety and lack of self-confidence - can be read as stemming from his Kyushu upbringing, which is a different place but also an earlier time from Tokyo in the full swing of Meiji. Kind of obvious but I had a more psychological reading for most of the book.
I'm usually a sucker for coming-of-age tales but this was just dull. At best it's an interesting historical document of Tokyo at the time. I found the translation jarring too.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Natsume Sōseki captures the aimless feeling of young adulthood here in a way which can only be compared to how Charles Dickens captures the feeling of youth in Great Expectations. What is youth? Well for the main character, Shanshiro, the world is changing, he is caught between the his ‘backwoods’ country home and a life in rural Tokyo amidst scholars he wishes he could understand and measure up to. He fumbles communication with women, he looks up to a professor who is a wise bachelor and a friend who is always scheming in order to appear impressive. He sometimes speaks with an absentminded professor whose scientific theory of light is impenetrable but immensely impressive. Mostly he experiences wondrous things and lives life while feeling that the best of it is passing him by. That’s being 23. Reading this I was thrown right back to the loneliness and awkwardness of that age. And I was also aware that the other characters, no matter their differences also bore that intense feeling of wearing an ill-fitting social suit. Perhaps in some way being 23 never goes away. Sōseki certainly leaves me with that feeling. The world is always developing in some way, moving past its awkward self, while always being the impressionable age of 23.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
✦ if culture shock were a novel
✦ themes on cultural change, passively accepting life in constant motion
✦ feels like ur in a bar with intellectuals and u love the company but also ur a dvmb btch
✦ more soseki reads this year for sure
✦ themes on cultural change, passively accepting life in constant motion
✦ feels like ur in a bar with intellectuals and u love the company but also ur a dvmb btch
✦ more soseki reads this year for sure
