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A review by barbz
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
3.0
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea poses a question to me that I struggle to come out off with a definitive answer, is it possible to disagree with a book and an author so much and still praise their work?
Mishima puts so much of himself and his own ideals into his writing that it is almost impossible to separate the two, but other than disagreeing with his perspectives, I don't have anything bad to say about this novel.
The writing is quite lyrical, the imagery serves to establish a sense of reality, the characters feel like people, sometimes awful, twisted, ignorant people, but still real enough to be believable.
I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone I know, I would probably praise a million other books in Asian literature before thinking about The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, so perhaps it is what it is, a good book that simply doesn't mean anything to me.
If you chose to read this novel I would recommend researching about the period Mishima praises so much, the time in which Japan invaded other Asian countries, attempted to erase their culture and history, killed their people, abused their woman and children...the period a lot of Japan still praises to this day.
In conclusion, Yukio Mishima's talent seems to be minimized by his is own morals, fears and discontent. What could be a beautiful novel loses some impact due to it's highly misguided sense of righteousness, of honor.
A important piece of literature, but a rather shallow perspective of history.
Mishima puts so much of himself and his own ideals into his writing that it is almost impossible to separate the two, but other than disagreeing with his perspectives, I don't have anything bad to say about this novel.
The writing is quite lyrical, the imagery serves to establish a sense of reality, the characters feel like people, sometimes awful, twisted, ignorant people, but still real enough to be believable.
I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone I know, I would probably praise a million other books in Asian literature before thinking about The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, so perhaps it is what it is, a good book that simply doesn't mean anything to me.
If you chose to read this novel I would recommend researching about the period Mishima praises so much, the time in which Japan invaded other Asian countries, attempted to erase their culture and history, killed their people, abused their woman and children...the period a lot of Japan still praises to this day.
In conclusion, Yukio Mishima's talent seems to be minimized by his is own morals, fears and discontent. What could be a beautiful novel loses some impact due to it's highly misguided sense of righteousness, of honor.
A important piece of literature, but a rather shallow perspective of history.