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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“What I wanted was to die among strangers, untroubled, beneath a cloudless sky. And yet my desire differed from the sentiments of that Ancient Greek who wanted to die under the brilliant sun. What I wanted was some natural, spontaneous suicide. I wanted a death like that if a fox, not yet well versed in cunning, that walks carelessly along a mountain path and is shot by a hunter because of its own stupidity....
If such were the case, wasn’t the army ideal for my purpose? Why had I looked so frank as I lied to the army doctor? Why had I said that I’d been having a slight fever for over half a year, that my shoulder was painfully stiff, that I spit blood, that even last night I had been soaked by a night sweat? (This latter happened to be the truth, but small wonder considering the number if aspirin I had taken.) Why when sentenced to return home the same day had I felt the pressure of a smile come pushing so persistently at my lips that I had difficulty in concealing it? Why had I run so when I was through the barracks gate? Hadn’t my hopes been blasted? What was the matter that I hadn’t hung my head and trudged away with heavy feet?”
If such were the case, wasn’t the army ideal for my purpose? Why had I looked so frank as I lied to the army doctor? Why had I said that I’d been having a slight fever for over half a year, that my shoulder was painfully stiff, that I spit blood, that even last night I had been soaked by a night sweat? (This latter happened to be the truth, but small wonder considering the number if aspirin I had taken.) Why when sentenced to return home the same day had I felt the pressure of a smile come pushing so persistently at my lips that I had difficulty in concealing it? Why had I run so when I was through the barracks gate? Hadn’t my hopes been blasted? What was the matter that I hadn’t hung my head and trudged away with heavy feet?”
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely adored the first half of the book. It was beautifully written, I really empathised with, and liked the main character and found his story and the discussions about suffering fascinating.
Didn’t enjoy the second half as much, I couldn’t put myself in his shoes or understand how important it would have been for him to be ‘normal’ in that time. Therefore i struggled to understand his relationship with Sonoko, and almost felt annoyed he was with her. So totally my fault, I think I just went into the book too naive and without any knowledge or understanding of being gay in Japan in WW2.
Didn’t enjoy the second half as much, I couldn’t put myself in his shoes or understand how important it would have been for him to be ‘normal’ in that time. Therefore i struggled to understand his relationship with Sonoko, and almost felt annoyed he was with her. So totally my fault, I think I just went into the book too naive and without any knowledge or understanding of being gay in Japan in WW2.
What a masterpiece! I think I must definitely re-read this classic again in the near future. I finished it in like a day...and feel that I somehow missed something.
It reads as a diary, like a first person account but it was more than that for me, the writing is beautiful. You don't even notice that it is indeed a translation, and I am not sure who translated it but they did a marvelous job.
The version I had seems to be quite old, and so I felt like I was reading something I wasn't supposed to, and so I devoured this book. The end of it left me wondering about what lays ahead in the future of the protagonist, does he ever give in to his sexual desire?
I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for someone in that era, if its hard for people now in 2020 I can't even imagine the pain and confusion many gay people must have felt in the past, without the internet and advanced psychology to lend them a helping hand when they're struggling with coming in terms with their sexual orientation.
Does this book really end with Sonoko and the protagonist parting ways after attending a club? or did my book that I borrowed from my county's library was missing the last few pages?
but if it is so, and the book ends that way then I have a love-hate relationship with Japanese literature because they leave us hanging with a open endings more times than my heart can take.
I just want this man to be happy, and I don't know much about the author but I hope he found his peace and perfect person while he was alive. it is painful to live thinking you will never feel normal or loved. It's a kind of suffering I don't want to imagine.
It reads as a diary, like a first person account but it was more than that for me, the writing is beautiful. You don't even notice that it is indeed a translation, and I am not sure who translated it but they did a marvelous job.
The version I had seems to be quite old, and so I felt like I was reading something I wasn't supposed to, and so I devoured this book. The end of it left me wondering about what lays ahead in the future of the protagonist, does he ever give in to his sexual desire?
I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for someone in that era, if its hard for people now in 2020 I can't even imagine the pain and confusion many gay people must have felt in the past, without the internet and advanced psychology to lend them a helping hand when they're struggling with coming in terms with their sexual orientation.
Does this book really end with Sonoko and the protagonist parting ways after attending a club? or did my book that I borrowed from my county's library was missing the last few pages?
but if it is so, and the book ends that way then I have a love-hate relationship with Japanese literature because they leave us hanging with a open endings more times than my heart can take.
I just want this man to be happy, and I don't know much about the author but I hope he found his peace and perfect person while he was alive. it is painful to live thinking you will never feel normal or loved. It's a kind of suffering I don't want to imagine.
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
I think this isn't a book for young teens so that's where parts of it failed. Generally, the book was interesting to read it's just that the writer kept talking about how attractive and sensual it was to imagine gore and blood, resulting in the main character having a cannibalistic fantasy about a guy being put on a platter and him cutting his flesh off with people watching, like?????? I get there must be a message of how he desires something society views as disgusting or something BUT THAT
*IS* DISGUSTING. And it's meant to be semi- autobiographical too. However, I began to understand and fully empathise the character when he confessed he never, truly wanted to die. And these fantasies for him were idealised thinking because of his inherent attraction to males that sort of expanded into pseudo cannibalism/vore because of how unexplainable and forbidden it was. Because he never expected anything out of truly falling in love, his imagination ran wild (not sure how to explain my thinking in a better way).
There's nothing to excuse the armpit fetish though, no matter what it's meant to represent.
*IS* DISGUSTING. And it's meant to be semi- autobiographical too. However, I began to understand and fully empathise the character when he confessed he never, truly wanted to die. And these fantasies for him were idealised thinking because of his inherent attraction to males that sort of expanded into pseudo cannibalism/vore because of how unexplainable and forbidden it was. Because he never expected anything out of truly falling in love, his imagination ran wild (not sure how to explain my thinking in a better way).
There's nothing to excuse the armpit fetish though, no matter what it's meant to represent.