brandon_melcher 's review for:

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

3.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The only reason I sought out this book was that the author committed public seppuku after completing its three sequels. I imagined that only someone possessed by unique, albeit fanatical, beliefs could commit such an intense act. Said believer’s books would have to be interesting, no? 

 

To my dismay, Yukio Mishima appears, to me, to have been motivated by an extreme conservatism that merely bores. 

 

The opening salvo to the Sea of Tranquility tetralogy, Spring Snow, focuses on the doomed love affair between the children of minor Japanese nobles. Satoko and Kiyoaki are childhood friends, and Kiyoaki fends off Satoko’s public advances. Only when Satoko is betrothed to a close relative of the Emperor do Kiyoaki’s eyes linger on his long-time friend. He proceeds to manipulate all of his connections to keep Satoko for himself.

This love crusade eventually leads to his own death and the political demise of many involved in Kiyoaki’s plots.

 

Throughout the book, the author tells us about the characters’ Westernization. As an American reader, I can’t say I recognize all the cultural changes at which the author only hints. The disdain for many of the characters is clear however. The fathers of the two main families have been plotting to ruin each other; Kiyoaki’s man-in-waiting can’t contain either his lust for a serving girl or his disrespect of the Matsugae household. We see princes from Thailand and they appear just silly. 

 

As for the main character, a plethora of omens and self-reflections remind us of Kiyoaki’s fate,

so his death is never in question.

That it follows from a broken heart truly disappointed me. 

 

The only character the author seems to respect is Shigekuni Honda. He’s an unsuspecting, hard-working boy from a commoner family. Honda is Kiyoaki’s only friend, and how that came about is anyones guess. Honda will do anything for Kiyoaki, but none of that is reciprocated. He does come to play a role in the illicit love affair, but Honda’s political and historical reflections dominate his presence in the book. 

 

These peeks into Honda’s mind focus on historical legacy. The topics he thinks upon range from formal law, individual capacity to change history, and religious parables about willpower. This gives the impression that Honda seeks to grab power the only way available to a commoner: get a political job that lets you command underlings. All of this is to place much gravity on the weight of the past and an individual’s duty to the world they live in, the future. This all contrasts with the apparent thoughts of the other characters of the novel: self-absorbed and self-serving. 

 

While I found the characters unlikable and the plot dull, the writing alone kept me interested. The author manages to weave this story of misbegotten love into language that impresses great depth upon the reader. The scenery around the Matsugae estate and beach house feel heavy with history, and the royal family is treated with reverence. That Kiyoaki and Satoko’s sordid affair occurs within these complex and profound settings makes the dissonance all that more real. 

 

At times, the author does manage to capture how cultural rot can reside below the surface of beauty and regality.  These rare glimmers do not satisfy. 

 

I do not plan on reading the sequels. They are about Honda’s life and him bearing witness to

Kiyoaki’s reincarnations.

Count me uninterested.