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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. In a sense, the events and characters of Snow Country inhabit a kind of dream world, cut off from a more concrete reality. Things exist outside of it only vaguely, intangibly. The landscape reflects the mind reflects the landscape, the characters' hidden thoughts concealed beneath the snow drifts. The prose is often beautiful, just as much as the protagonist and his lover are vaguely confusing (and confused) people - perhaps the two things go hand in hand in Kawabata's vision of the ethereal?
The novel is also a meditation on colour, with Kawabata obsessed with contrasting the pure white of the landscape against the pink of a geisha's flushed neck or thick black tresses.
The novel is also a meditation on colour, with Kawabata obsessed with contrasting the pure white of the landscape against the pink of a geisha's flushed neck or thick black tresses.
How much old literature has been built on women suffering while men watch, a little fascinated and a little impassive?
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
True rating: 1.5 -- from a purely literary perspective this book has its merits but it was an absolute TRUDGE to get through (it literally took me 4 MONTHS) rip
A beautifully written short novel. This is the first book I've read by Kawabata and I absolutely want to read more. It is the story of Komako, a geisha living in the mountains and Shimamura, a married Tokyo rich boy. It's a doomed love story. Doomed because Shimamura seems incapable of reciprocating Komako's feelings. Perhaps once, but as the book goes on he seems to find himself less enamoured. Distracted partly by Yoko, who is almost a peripheral character but whose presence starts and ends the book.
They're style of communication is at odds with each other. There's a point where Komako says something and Shimamura can't really process it: "That straightforward manner, so replete with direct, immediate feeling, was quite foreign to Shimamura, the idler who had inherited his money."(p. 90)
I made a note that said Shimamura is a bit of a twat. He seems to be one of those aimless wealthy men who temporarily fall in love with women and then stop. They don't care too much about the woman they get involved with who might actually fall in love with them. Perhaps I'm being harsh, because Shimamura seems to be 'empty'. Emptiness comes up a few times and perhaps he is trying to find a way to fill that emptiness?
The writing though - translated by Edward G Seidensticker in 1956 - is delightful, especially the description of landscape. It feels emotionally not unlike the kind of British films made in the 30s/40s. Where men never properly express their emotions. It's all about appearances.
What more can I say?
They're style of communication is at odds with each other. There's a point where Komako says something and Shimamura can't really process it: "That straightforward manner, so replete with direct, immediate feeling, was quite foreign to Shimamura, the idler who had inherited his money."(p. 90)
I made a note that said Shimamura is a bit of a twat. He seems to be one of those aimless wealthy men who temporarily fall in love with women and then stop. They don't care too much about the woman they get involved with who might actually fall in love with them. Perhaps I'm being harsh, because Shimamura seems to be 'empty'. Emptiness comes up a few times and perhaps he is trying to find a way to fill that emptiness?
The writing though - translated by Edward G Seidensticker in 1956 - is delightful, especially the description of landscape. It feels emotionally not unlike the kind of British films made in the 30s/40s. Where men never properly express their emotions. It's all about appearances.
What more can I say?
challenging
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes