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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is definitely a beautifully written puzzle of emotions, histories, philosophies, etc. The characters do develop, but not necessarily in a way that is relevant how current times. It’s a historical critique disguised as a romance
challenging
reflective
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
the book is aggressively masculine, like all of mishima's work. usually it feels interesting to dissect that, but this book was just way to long to enjoy
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In Yukio Mishima's famous tetralogy, "Spring Snow," the first novel is about Kiyoaki, the only son of the new noble Marquis and Marquise Matsugae, owners of a magnificent forty-hectare estate not far from Tokyo.
The Marquis placed his son early on in an aristocratic family, the Ayakura. He will raised in an atmosphere of court nobility near the whimsical and beautiful Satoko Ayakura, who is two years his senior.
Not yet a principal and now at his parents' house, Kiyoaki was 18 years old in 1912 when the Meiji era, marked by the end of Japan's policy of voluntary isolation, ended, and the Taisho era permeable to Western culture began.
Without being effeminate, Kiyoaki is of exceptional beauty, but neither studies nor sports activities interest him. Instead, he would rather be adept at idle musings and keep the details of his night dreams in a diary.
His tutor for six years, the manly Iinuma, is sorry for his lack of spirit and poor academic performance; even his best friend from a less fortunate background, the studious Honda, is often perplexed by such moods.
Although madly in love, Kiyoaki and Satoko have an unfortunate tendency to complicate things. Planned with the help of the matchmaker Tadeshina, Satoko's next, the slightest flirtation is so unspontaneous that it becomes laughable.
The childishness of the two young men is evident, and a misunderstanding one day takes on disproportionate proportions, amplified in time by Kiyoaki's pride.
With his customary skill, Mishima transforms an idyllic relationship with great potential in a few short chapters, which so felt to the reader, into a passionate drama fanned over the weeks by the weight of the conveniences specific to this aristocratic environment.
Friends, let Yukio Mishima take you by the hand to discover the magnificence of the Matsugae estate!
In the fall, you will see the majestic maple trees in their fragrant color.
Perhaps you prefer to wait until spring and take a short boat ride on the lake to the islet in the center of the property while "the first buds grow vertically so that the entire garden seems to stand on the tiptoe"?
You will enjoy "the blossoming cherry trees that intersperse between the pine trees in the long rows of trees on either side of the avenue that leads to the gate for almost a kilometre."
Each fifty-five chapter is a poetic diamond finely crafted by a writer at the top of his art. Together, they form a novelistic work whose beauty, like no other, has upset and satisfied the old reader that I am.
If my library had a small place in the shape of a tabernacle, I would undoubtedly store "Spring Snow," not without having decorated it previously with the eight stars of the barrier of Orion, this famous constellation whose central asterism slumped under a radiant moon.
The Marquis placed his son early on in an aristocratic family, the Ayakura. He will raised in an atmosphere of court nobility near the whimsical and beautiful Satoko Ayakura, who is two years his senior.
Not yet a principal and now at his parents' house, Kiyoaki was 18 years old in 1912 when the Meiji era, marked by the end of Japan's policy of voluntary isolation, ended, and the Taisho era permeable to Western culture began.
Without being effeminate, Kiyoaki is of exceptional beauty, but neither studies nor sports activities interest him. Instead, he would rather be adept at idle musings and keep the details of his night dreams in a diary.
His tutor for six years, the manly Iinuma, is sorry for his lack of spirit and poor academic performance; even his best friend from a less fortunate background, the studious Honda, is often perplexed by such moods.
Although madly in love, Kiyoaki and Satoko have an unfortunate tendency to complicate things. Planned with the help of the matchmaker Tadeshina, Satoko's next, the slightest flirtation is so unspontaneous that it becomes laughable.
The childishness of the two young men is evident, and a misunderstanding one day takes on disproportionate proportions, amplified in time by Kiyoaki's pride.
With his customary skill, Mishima transforms an idyllic relationship with great potential in a few short chapters, which so felt to the reader, into a passionate drama fanned over the weeks by the weight of the conveniences specific to this aristocratic environment.
Friends, let Yukio Mishima take you by the hand to discover the magnificence of the Matsugae estate!
In the fall, you will see the majestic maple trees in their fragrant color.
Perhaps you prefer to wait until spring and take a short boat ride on the lake to the islet in the center of the property while "the first buds grow vertically so that the entire garden seems to stand on the tiptoe"?
You will enjoy "the blossoming cherry trees that intersperse between the pine trees in the long rows of trees on either side of the avenue that leads to the gate for almost a kilometre."
Each fifty-five chapter is a poetic diamond finely crafted by a writer at the top of his art. Together, they form a novelistic work whose beauty, like no other, has upset and satisfied the old reader that I am.
If my library had a small place in the shape of a tabernacle, I would undoubtedly store "Spring Snow," not without having decorated it previously with the eight stars of the barrier of Orion, this famous constellation whose central asterism slumped under a radiant moon.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
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
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not usually my kind of book, but I love the mental images that the author paints for me with his words. There was strong world building in terms of descriptions of the setting and the characters within that environment. Very philosophical. Lots of reading between the lines. Challenged me in a good way. Had to google the author’s background and that helped me put the book into context.
reflective
slow-paced