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A review by bookwormlukas
Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
‘Thirst for Love’ is my third Mishima, after both ‘Confessions of a Mask’ and ‘The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea’. So far in my journey with this particular author, my opinions are all over the place, as ‘Mask’ was one of my top five favourite reads of 2020 - and ‘Sailor’ was one of my most disappointing reads of 2021 (which I get is a bit of an unpopular opinion).
‘Thirst for Love’, however, swings Mishima back onto an upward trajectory with me - as this tale of a lonely widows obsession with her much younger servant ticked a lot of the boxes that made ‘Mask’ such a memorable read for me. The positive thing I’ll say from the two Mishima novels I’ve read (and liked) so far, is that they have a ‘bite’ to them, and that they’re not afraid to delve into the darker side of human emotion. Our main character here, Etsuko, plays the part of grieving widow - but has a dark heart when it comes to her obsession with her servant boy, and her quietly vindictive interactions with him and his girlfriend/lover gives the novel and her character quite an edge.
Mishima knows, however, that there has to be some restraint involved and not to let the story go to far, creating a relatively simple story that’s more about our main character playing around with her thoughts, than focused on an actual plot. The plot is our main characters obsession and that’s all you really need - like the main characters obsession, it’s all consuming and outside of a bit of backstory with her dead husband, its what Mishima chooses to focus on.
Overall, ‘Thirst for Love’ was a very pleasant surprise - and coming in at 200 pages, can be read in a simple afternoon. After ‘Sailor’, I was a little hesitant at continuing with this author, but now have renewed faith and have ordered ‘After the Banquet’ for my fourth Mishima!
‘Thirst for Love’, however, swings Mishima back onto an upward trajectory with me - as this tale of a lonely widows obsession with her much younger servant ticked a lot of the boxes that made ‘Mask’ such a memorable read for me. The positive thing I’ll say from the two Mishima novels I’ve read (and liked) so far, is that they have a ‘bite’ to them, and that they’re not afraid to delve into the darker side of human emotion. Our main character here, Etsuko, plays the part of grieving widow - but has a dark heart when it comes to her obsession with her servant boy, and her quietly vindictive interactions with him and his girlfriend/lover gives the novel and her character quite an edge.
Mishima knows, however, that there has to be some restraint involved and not to let the story go to far, creating a relatively simple story that’s more about our main character playing around with her thoughts, than focused on an actual plot. The plot is our main characters obsession and that’s all you really need - like the main characters obsession, it’s all consuming and outside of a bit of backstory with her dead husband, its what Mishima chooses to focus on.
Overall, ‘Thirst for Love’ was a very pleasant surprise - and coming in at 200 pages, can be read in a simple afternoon. After ‘Sailor’, I was a little hesitant at continuing with this author, but now have renewed faith and have ordered ‘After the Banquet’ for my fourth Mishima!