Scan barcode
prix's review against another edition
5.0
˚ʚ WHY I PICKED UP THIS READ
I solely picked this book due that it sounded intresting and more to up my reading goals of 2022.
₊˚ʚ THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS READ
||So what we essume that Rashōmon is a burial ground of sorts? Where the either burry people or dump them there. Also the first bits of the short story it kept mentioning the character pimple on his face and I got disgusted. Yup, I am purely disturbed by this strange women pulling corpses hair from their skulls. I mean what else can you do fron pulling a dead person hair from its skull? Can't really do any dark magic if the person involved is dead or maybe a dead person is needed to do so. And that took an odd dark turn, can be understandable why he ended up robbing her in the first place but still that was so wrong to do so. The poor old granny was defenseless unlike him who had a sword in the first place. It was an enjoyable short read which helped me reach my 150 reading goal.||
₊˚ʚ **WHAT DID I FEEL WHEN FINISHED THE BOOK?**
- I have so many questions that needed to be asked and answered to. The ending of the short read got me wanting to know why he just decided to rob the old lady in the first place.
I solely picked this book due that it sounded intresting and more to up my reading goals of 2022.
₊˚ʚ THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS READ
||So what we essume that Rashōmon is a burial ground of sorts? Where the either burry people or dump them there. Also the first bits of the short story it kept mentioning the character pimple on his face and I got disgusted. Yup, I am purely disturbed by this strange women pulling corpses hair from their skulls. I mean what else can you do fron pulling a dead person hair from its skull? Can't really do any dark magic if the person involved is dead or maybe a dead person is needed to do so. And that took an odd dark turn, can be understandable why he ended up robbing her in the first place but still that was so wrong to do so. The poor old granny was defenseless unlike him who had a sword in the first place. It was an enjoyable short read which helped me reach my 150 reading goal.||
₊˚ʚ **WHAT DID I FEEL WHEN FINISHED THE BOOK?**
- I have so many questions that needed to be asked and answered to. The ending of the short read got me wanting to know why he just decided to rob the old lady in the first place.
palomasstefani's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
cryo_guy's review against another edition
4.0
So I read this because Kurosawa's Rashomon is one of my favorite movies (and I found it by chance at a used bookstore woo). These short stories were pretty excellently crafted, and the volume itself is a very short read. The main value of this to me is that now I know where Rashomon the movie draws inspiration. And boy it really expands on themes that are very sparely put out in these short stories. I can't fault them for that of course, being as short as they are. The movie draws its plot from "In a Grove" which explores the ideas of differing, yet contradictory accounts of the same event. It takes part of its setting from "Rashomon" which is used in a much different way in the short story of the same name.
Anyway, the other stories were pretty neat too, also characterized by a sparse style but emphatically subtle. Lots of psychological exploration packed in very tight moments. And then others focus more on a folk tale theme. One is based on a story from a famous collection of 13th century folktales, another is based on a fable based on real events in a Japanese Christian community in Nagasaki. The others also more or less exhibit a fabulistic style without explicitly being based on traditional fables. Aside from the ones informing my understanding of the movie, I liked "The Dragon" the best because it had that real folktale feel to it. Made me want to watch the anime Mushi-shi.
The other thing here is that apparently Akutagawa is pretty famous. He's a big figure in Japanese lit and there are Japanese literary movements he's writing against and stuff...I'm not gonna get into all that because I simply don't know that much about it. But I can read a wikipedia page!
I would recommend this to...people who like Japanese lit or are interested in Kurosawa's Rashomon. It did remind me of another Japanese author Yasushi Inoue (mins folktale), although he wrote "The Hunting Gun" about 30 years later.
Anyway, the other stories were pretty neat too, also characterized by a sparse style but emphatically subtle. Lots of psychological exploration packed in very tight moments. And then others focus more on a folk tale theme. One is based on a story from a famous collection of 13th century folktales, another is based on a fable based on real events in a Japanese Christian community in Nagasaki. The others also more or less exhibit a fabulistic style without explicitly being based on traditional fables. Aside from the ones informing my understanding of the movie, I liked "The Dragon" the best because it had that real folktale feel to it. Made me want to watch the anime Mushi-shi.
The other thing here is that apparently Akutagawa is pretty famous. He's a big figure in Japanese lit and there are Japanese literary movements he's writing against and stuff...I'm not gonna get into all that because I simply don't know that much about it. But I can read a wikipedia page!
I would recommend this to...people who like Japanese lit or are interested in Kurosawa's Rashomon. It did remind me of another Japanese author Yasushi Inoue (mins folktale), although he wrote "The Hunting Gun" about 30 years later.
zahrowl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
nickdleblanc's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this one up because I love Akira Kurosawa’s films. I knew that he had used “In a Grove” as the basis for his film “Rashomon” while interpolating some of the title story as well. Akutagawa’s work is not dissimilar from the short stories you might expect to find in a high school literature textbook. None of them have particularly deep character development but they all have some big underlying idea lurking just below the surface. The grossly named “Yam Gruel” describes the phenomenon of “petit objet a” that Lacan would go to write about later, “The Dragon” explores the psychology of belief within large groups like you might find in religion or today’s right-wing idiot fascination with QAnon, and the title story (which would make a fantastic stage adaptation) explores the choices we make to survive and how they influence the path of our life. This collection would be a great gift for a well-read middle school aged kid. Many of these stories are clearly derived from old Japanese folk tales. It’s fascinating because as Americans we are so far removed from their cultural reference points—save for bastardized American versions of them like Western films—that when we hear these stories they feel familiar (because we too have a folk tradition that has a similar literary vibe) but what they are about and how they play out is entirely foreign to us. Like in “The Dragon” they are referencing Buddhist legends which are well known in Japan but alien to those of us who are ignorant to the history. It’s a pity I’m only getting to Japanese literature now in my 30s. If I were a Lit teacher, I’d certainly use some Akutagawa.
-
-
tl;dr—Good short stories for those of us who used to read ahead in the lit textbooks during English class, or anyone who has ever watched Kurosawa and craves a deeper understanding
-
-
tl;dr—Good short stories for those of us who used to read ahead in the lit textbooks during English class, or anyone who has ever watched Kurosawa and craves a deeper understanding
wisteriacrow's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0