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A review by arrow1350
House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories by Yasunari Kawabata
1.0
I read this book because of the title. I saw it from the movie trailer of the film based on the short story and loved the ring of it. And that's probably the most interesting part of the book- the title. I thought the book was really boring and weird (if that's the right word for it) - disturbing, seedy, eerie? Not that I haven't enjoyed books with that tone, but this didn't make me think or give me any insight or stay on my mind. It just made me think, "What am I reading?"
All of the stories are about middle-aged/elderly men and dive into how they deal with their loneliness. So maybe, I just couldn't relate while I was reading it nor did I want to. Their loneliness was manifesting in disturbing/morally-bankrupt ways. One developed a parasocial relationship with drugged women, another with a woman's detached arm, and the last bought birds to let them die. Maybe the book does reflect something real in its depictions of the protagonists by showing how men of a particular age find it hard to make healthy emotional connections so they go with what's easier. But the way the book is written, it kind of indulges in their loneliness without really saying anything profound about it.
All of the stories are about middle-aged/elderly men and dive into how they deal with their loneliness. So maybe, I just couldn't relate while I was reading it nor did I want to. Their loneliness was manifesting in disturbing/morally-bankrupt ways. One developed a parasocial relationship with drugged women, another with a woman's detached arm, and the last bought birds to let them die. Maybe the book does reflect something real in its depictions of the protagonists by showing how men of a particular age find it hard to make healthy emotional connections so they go with what's easier. But the way the book is written, it kind of indulges in their loneliness without really saying anything profound about it.