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A review by raimalia
And Then by Natsume Sōseki
3.0
3/5 (Spoiler Free)
I wanted to try a smaller read before I tackle Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Little did I know this book would take me a week to get through, despite not being nearly as long as the novels I'm used to.
As with many Japanese texts I have come to read, And Then is slow-paced...painfully so. That said, it is by no means a bad book. I enjoyed the philosophical arguments Daisuke came up with. At times, he could come off as pretentious but still, there is much to think about.
The plot was engaging, but you have to get through quite a bit of exposition. Daisuke's life revolves around hyper-observation which can be interesting at times but often ends up giving you drawn out paragraphs to read through. I took until about halfway through the book for me to really get hooked. Even still, I got distracted easily.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this book is the relationship between Western and Japanese customs. Daisuke makes his own commentary of it, and there is much to recognize in the events of the novel. While he fights between the customs of society and his personal desires, so too does Japan struggle with its own customs in the face of Western influence. The West/Japan dynamic is more of a backdrop to Daisuke's story, but plays beautifully into it.
I think this book is great for people who are okay with slow-pacing in exchange for more exposition to analyze.
I wanted to try a smaller read before I tackle Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. Little did I know this book would take me a week to get through, despite not being nearly as long as the novels I'm used to.
As with many Japanese texts I have come to read, And Then is slow-paced...painfully so. That said, it is by no means a bad book. I enjoyed the philosophical arguments Daisuke came up with. At times, he could come off as pretentious but still, there is much to think about.
The plot was engaging, but you have to get through quite a bit of exposition. Daisuke's life revolves around hyper-observation which can be interesting at times but often ends up giving you drawn out paragraphs to read through. I took until about halfway through the book for me to really get hooked. Even still, I got distracted easily.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this book is the relationship between Western and Japanese customs. Daisuke makes his own commentary of it, and there is much to recognize in the events of the novel. While he fights between the customs of society and his personal desires, so too does Japan struggle with its own customs in the face of Western influence. The West/Japan dynamic is more of a backdrop to Daisuke's story, but plays beautifully into it.
I think this book is great for people who are okay with slow-pacing in exchange for more exposition to analyze.