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samue_l's review against another edition
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Thoughts through first 150 pages— Mishima plays (grapples?) with tradition and class in postwar Japan through the lens of an uncompelling love story. Thank god it’s short. Garbage.
Last 50 pages—woaaaaahhhhhkay dude I’m listening for some reason and it’s cool to see eminent features of literary modernism from primarily an Eastern but also oddly post-axis perspective. Cast of characters finally has depth etc. But and so and holy smokes
Last 15 pages— fastest derailment of where I thought this was going I’ve had in a whiiiiile. Etsuko slowly sinks into mental illness throughout the novel until finally at the bottom of the ocean, frozen solid and in crisis (and us in crisis for her!), she breaks. So does Saburo’s skull, but at that point we’re like hey girl, you do you and brain this dude. But then, in the final paragraphs… she starts to fade, and the last line of the book is like the final wisp of her and her sanity leaving the world, and us leaving the book, left with that
Certainly enough to give him one more go, even though. I enjoyed Confessions of a Mask a little more than this.
Reminds me of Sion Sono’s films honestly. But yeah, the quality of this books elevates exponentially.
Last 50 pages—woaaaaahhhhhkay dude I’m listening for some reason and it’s cool to see eminent features of literary modernism from primarily an Eastern but also oddly post-axis perspective. Cast of characters finally has depth etc. But and so and holy smokes
Last 15 pages—
Certainly enough to give him one more go, even though. I enjoyed Confessions of a Mask a little more than this.
Reminds me of Sion Sono’s films honestly. But yeah, the quality of this books elevates exponentially.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault