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annsofiea 's review for:
Spring Snow
by Yukio Mishima
2.5
The first part is quite boring, but it gets better even though the writing style does remain quite dense.
First of all, the plot is cliche but therefore not bad. It is your typical star-crossed lovers tale, the plot is the same as the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, or Pyramus and Thisbe, or the countless other tragedies that deal with young people and forbidden love.
Kiyo, the main character is very annoying, and a typical male Mary Sue: he is ‘not like other boys’, rich, incredibly good looking, and so awesome literally everyone seems to fall in love with him. His perfect looks are described in detail so often it’s ridiculous.
Apart from this, the main character is a total dick who only thinks about himself, and who thinks he is never to blame for anything. He also pretends to not care about anything or anyone to hurt people. Kiyo truly is the embodiment of a self-absorbed teen who has never learned the entire world is not there to serve him and all his whims. For example, he blames Satoko for causing a fight between him and his friend because she had a too strong will??? She was not even present when they were fighting.
The parts about Satoko (the love interest) are the best and most interesting. If the novel was written more from her perspective, the story would be a lot better, I feel.
One thing that truly I hated was the romanticised misogyny. Really yikes. I know that misogynistic believes where an integral part of life in the years 1910 and after, and thus I find it completely believable and also relevant to the story that some male characters behave in a misogynistic way. This is something I did not mind in this novel. However, when it starts to be romanticised, that disgusts me.
One passage is especially bad: Iinuma, a servant of Kiyo, is ‘in love’ with one of the girls who work at the estate. He is not really in love with her though, since they have not even spoken, he’s only seen her a couple of times, and just wants to fuck her. Kiyo finds out about this and arranges a meeting. The girl, Miné, does not have a say in this and is treated like a prostitute. She is even called promiscuous because this has happened before (men wanting to have sex with her). The blame here is again placed on a woman. Miné simply lets him fuck her because she does not have a choice and then the pov switches for a short moment to her perspective and this is what she thinks (according to the male author obviously): ‘She saw her role in life as that of someone who was ready to give her body freely to soothe and comfort. This was enough for her. And her small ripe body, with its firm flesh and smooth, flawless skin, was pleased to give satisfaction.’ Yikes.
It also does not help that right before we see her perspective, the perspective of Iinuma is also disgusting: ‘he was consumed with the need to violate Miné’ and ‘Driven to savagery by his fantasies, he was brutal with the girl. The more he pitied her, the crueler he became.’ Iinuma’s cruelty is driven by a revenge fantasy, since he feels lesser than Kiyo and since he feels he has less sexual opportunities than Kiyo. He takes all his frustrations with Kiyo out on the poor Miné. Double yikes.
The entire passage is vile, yet it is also very romanticised, especially Miné’s submissiveness. The rapey tones are diminished by implying that Miné enjoys being raped and that she kind of likes Iinuma (basically, she can find something good in everyone). And also obviously by stating that being raped is Miné’s purpose in life. Yikes yikes yikes.
The first part is quite boring, but it gets better even though the writing style does remain quite dense.
First of all, the plot is cliche but therefore not bad. It is your typical star-crossed lovers tale, the plot is the same as the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, or Pyramus and Thisbe, or the countless other tragedies that deal with young people and forbidden love.
Kiyo, the main character is very annoying, and a typical male Mary Sue: he is ‘not like other boys’, rich, incredibly good looking, and so awesome literally everyone seems to fall in love with him. His perfect looks are described in detail so often it’s ridiculous.
Apart from this, the main character is a total dick who only thinks about himself, and who thinks he is never to blame for anything. He also pretends to not care about anything or anyone to hurt people. Kiyo truly is the embodiment of a self-absorbed teen who has never learned the entire world is not there to serve him and all his whims. For example, he blames Satoko for causing a fight between him and his friend because she had a too strong will??? She was not even present when they were fighting.
The parts about Satoko (the love interest) are the best and most interesting. If the novel was written more from her perspective, the story would be a lot better, I feel.
One thing that truly I hated was the romanticised misogyny. Really yikes. I know that misogynistic believes where an integral part of life in the years 1910 and after, and thus I find it completely believable and also relevant to the story that some male characters behave in a misogynistic way. This is something I did not mind in this novel. However, when it starts to be romanticised, that disgusts me.
One passage is especially bad: Iinuma, a servant of Kiyo, is ‘in love’ with one of the girls who work at the estate. He is not really in love with her though, since they have not even spoken, he’s only seen her a couple of times, and just wants to fuck her. Kiyo finds out about this and arranges a meeting. The girl, Miné, does not have a say in this and is treated like a prostitute. She is even called promiscuous because this has happened before (men wanting to have sex with her). The blame here is again placed on a woman. Miné simply lets him fuck her because she does not have a choice and then the pov switches for a short moment to her perspective and this is what she thinks (according to the male author obviously): ‘She saw her role in life as that of someone who was ready to give her body freely to soothe and comfort. This was enough for her. And her small ripe body, with its firm flesh and smooth, flawless skin, was pleased to give satisfaction.’ Yikes.
It also does not help that right before we see her perspective, the perspective of Iinuma is also disgusting: ‘he was consumed with the need to violate Miné’ and ‘Driven to savagery by his fantasies, he was brutal with the girl. The more he pitied her, the crueler he became.’ Iinuma’s cruelty is driven by a revenge fantasy, since he feels lesser than Kiyo and since he feels he has less sexual opportunities than Kiyo. He takes all his frustrations with Kiyo out on the poor Miné. Double yikes.
The entire passage is vile, yet it is also very romanticised, especially Miné’s submissiveness. The rapey tones are diminished by implying that Miné enjoys being raped and that she kind of likes Iinuma (basically, she can find something good in everyone). And also obviously by stating that being raped is Miné’s purpose in life. Yikes yikes yikes.