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sujuv's review
4.0
A lovely meditation on time, place, aging and the seasons of life (and nature). I remember reading Pico Iyer's Video Night in Kathmandu years ago and the excitement of it was part of what gave me a lifelong travel bug. This book turns that around and truly appreciates being in one place and finding the place that fits you and where you fit and that it's not always what you expect. Anglo Indian Iyer finds it in Japan with an unconventional Japanese wife and a lot of old, Japanese people, even as he spends large chunks of the year in Southern California with his own aging mother. A quick, warm, pleasing read about the autumn of life.
scarletohhara's review
5.0
Is Autumn really the end? Do we have to feel bad when the leaves change color and fall off, my mother always says -it feels sad to know that all these beautiful colors will go away. Or do we think of it as prequel to the beautiful and vibrant spring?
Whatever it is, Autumn is beautiful, with its colors, smells and the chilling breezes. And that season is made all the more beautiful by Iyer in his book, which feels like it has no plot but makes you realize that, that is the whole point.
In this book, which feels like it is about Autumn, Iyer explores a variety of dimensions - his love for the beauty of Kyoto; his calm neighborhood and the everyday normalness around there; his ever topping and energetic ping-pong teammates with their backstories and character traits; his love for his mother who lives far away, the father he lost a while ago, the father-in-law he lost a few days ago and his mother-in-law who is losing her mind slowly, his relationship with his step-children, random thoughts about the brother-in-law that he never met, my favorite of his protagonists, the Dalai Lama himself; and above all, the calm way he takes you back and forth in time to when he fell in love with Hiroko twenty-eight years ago and is still in love with, with the same fervor making this book feel like a long love letter to his darling wife, worshipping her in her everyday moments making them beautiful for the reader too.
This book is beautiful in its melancholy even when it feels morbid as it reminds you of the fact that everyone you love with die and all you can do is be with them and enjoy every moment and relive those moments as memories.
As always, impeccable prose, to the point of being poetry itself, this book reminded me again on why my love for Iyer is undying, he really is the best there is!
Whatever it is, Autumn is beautiful, with its colors, smells and the chilling breezes. And that season is made all the more beautiful by Iyer in his book, which feels like it has no plot but makes you realize that, that is the whole point.
In this book, which feels like it is about Autumn, Iyer explores a variety of dimensions - his love for the beauty of Kyoto; his calm neighborhood and the everyday normalness around there; his ever topping and energetic ping-pong teammates with their backstories and character traits; his love for his mother who lives far away, the father he lost a while ago, the father-in-law he lost a few days ago and his mother-in-law who is losing her mind slowly, his relationship with his step-children, random thoughts about the brother-in-law that he never met, my favorite of his protagonists, the Dalai Lama himself; and above all, the calm way he takes you back and forth in time to when he fell in love with Hiroko twenty-eight years ago and is still in love with, with the same fervor making this book feel like a long love letter to his darling wife, worshipping her in her everyday moments making them beautiful for the reader too.
This book is beautiful in its melancholy even when it feels morbid as it reminds you of the fact that everyone you love with die and all you can do is be with them and enjoy every moment and relive those moments as memories.
As always, impeccable prose, to the point of being poetry itself, this book reminded me again on why my love for Iyer is undying, he really is the best there is!
katieraegordon's review
5.0
I loved this book. There was something unassuming about the writing and stories of quiet, daily life. It felt like an easeful companion to a quiet weekend. I've enjoyed Pico Iyer's writing before but this book hit me in a deeper place. Iyer, known for his travel and travel writing, focuses on his home and stability in place in this book - his family in Japan, his neighbors he sees every day, the ordinary street he walks down, etc. It was a wonderful change of pace in a book.
mariomenti's review
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. And I think I read it at the right time (not to mention the right age), shortly after seeing Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story.
He explicitly mentions this scene at the end of the film, which is one that I genuinely will never forget:
“Life is disappointing, isn’t it?” says a young girl who’s just lost her mother, near the movie’s end. Her sister-in-law, only slightly older but a widow already, breaks into a radiant smile. “Yes,” she says, in the voice of classical Japan. “It is.”
If you're interested in Japan, and (ideally, like me) getting on a bit, I highly recommend this quite beautiful rumination on Japan, aging and death.
He explicitly mentions this scene at the end of the film, which is one that I genuinely will never forget:
“Life is disappointing, isn’t it?” says a young girl who’s just lost her mother, near the movie’s end. Her sister-in-law, only slightly older but a widow already, breaks into a radiant smile. “Yes,” she says, in the voice of classical Japan. “It is.”
If you're interested in Japan, and (ideally, like me) getting on a bit, I highly recommend this quite beautiful rumination on Japan, aging and death.