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haylios's review
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Found it hard to focus on some of the stories as they just didn't make sense to me. Maybe some got lost in translation for me, but it just wasn't as good as I was expecting.
briancrandall's review
4.0
Then the sun, which had been caught until that moment on the roof of the pawnshop’s storehouse at the end of the street running from east to west, slipped down without a sound.
Ah. In that instant all the people walking on the street sighed a bit and slackened their pace by three steps. But they did not notice that they had done so.
However, the children playing at the east end of the street looked to the west. They all crouched down, braced themselves, and jumped. They were trying to catch sight of the sun.
“I can see it!”
“I can see it!”
“I can see it!”
“You’re lying. You can’t see it at all—” [161]
benrogerswpg's review
3.0
This was just an okay read.
I did think it was better than [b:Dandelions|34390243|Dandelions|Yasunari Kawabata|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488557040l/34390243._SY75_.jpg|19070622], but still not the type of literature I am expecting. I would much rather recommend/read a [a:Natsume Sōseki|16061597|Natsume Sōseki|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1481915527p2/16061597.jpg] or [a:Jun'ichirō Tanizaki|6263|Jun'ichirō Tanizaki|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351814056p2/6263.jpg] book.
3.0/5
I did think it was better than [b:Dandelions|34390243|Dandelions|Yasunari Kawabata|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488557040l/34390243._SY75_.jpg|19070622], but still not the type of literature I am expecting. I would much rather recommend/read a [a:Natsume Sōseki|16061597|Natsume Sōseki|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1481915527p2/16061597.jpg] or [a:Jun'ichirō Tanizaki|6263|Jun'ichirō Tanizaki|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351814056p2/6263.jpg] book.
3.0/5
diwataluna's review
3.0
I think I just found the granddaddy of Haruki Murakami. Reading the stories was challenging because:
1) I was rushing to finish the book
2) I was in a very bad mood
A re-reading is required by this collection, preferably a year or so later. All I can say is, Japanese fictionists rock.
1) I was rushing to finish the book
2) I was in a very bad mood
A re-reading is required by this collection, preferably a year or so later. All I can say is, Japanese fictionists rock.
eb00kie's review against another edition
5.0
This was a Christmas present from a friend, that is, I don't usually read this kind of books so I can't compare it to a better one. For me it was a five star. In a very close personal manner you get to know the simple, ordinary workings of a student, of an old wife, of an abandoned lover, of a young wife who lived in innocence, and a naive girl who never knew she'd been in love, of countless other people that you see through the narrator's mind's eye.
lafate's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I absolutely love these stories. It did take a little while to get through one because a teenage boy is helping to take care of his elderly grandfather. I take care of my elderly mother and it just made me sad to read about a teenage boy doing this. There are a few longer stories and then some very short vignettes. They were interesting.
A great short story makes you want more. A great little vignette makes you wonder what it would be as a longer short story. Most of these are not plot-driven - there's not enough time to develop a complex plot. The characters and situations make for compelling reading and left me wanting more. I love Yasunari Kawabata and I'm glad I got to some of his short stories.
spacestationtrustfund's review
3.0
The mountain road, stitched on one side with white-washed pickets, coursed down from the mouth of the tunnel like a jagged lightning bolt. The scene resembled a landscape in miniature. I could make out the itinerant entertainers down at the bottom.
Years later, the only thing I can recall of my sister's appearance is the image of her white mourning clothes as she was carried of a man's back. Even if I close my eyes and try to attach a head and limbs to that image, only the rain and the red clay of the path come back to me. I feel irritated that the view in my mind's eye does not parallel the actual events. The man who carried her would not materialize, either. And so this soft white entity floating through the air is the only memory I have of my sister.
Humankind, with its long history, is by now a corpse bound to a tree with the ropes of convention. If the ropes were cut, the corpse would simply fall to the ground.
Years later, the only thing I can recall of my sister's appearance is the image of her white mourning clothes as she was carried of a man's back. Even if I close my eyes and try to attach a head and limbs to that image, only the rain and the red clay of the path come back to me. I feel irritated that the view in my mind's eye does not parallel the actual events. The man who carried her would not materialize, either. And so this soft white entity floating through the air is the only memory I have of my sister.
Humankind, with its long history, is by now a corpse bound to a tree with the ropes of convention. If the ropes were cut, the corpse would simply fall to the ground.
wanderswithmoonlight's review
3.0
Well, the stories in this collection were...okay. As far as Kawabata collections go, I think I liked Palm-of-the-Hand stories much better than this one. But, still, I love Kawabata's style of writing, so I still enjoyed it to an extent.