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mrswythe89's review against another edition
3.0
The cover of this book is absurd. The chop suey font, Great Wave, what is presumably a photograph of a startlingly built Yukio Mishima ... it's almost disrespectful.
Interesting, though kind of talky. It's in a very, hm, WW2 Nietzschean roar powerful nationalistic style. Mishima has a worldview with which I have absolutely no sympathy; we are on completely different wavelengths. But he is a compelling writer and the difference makes reading him interesting. It does sort of explain why he killed himself the way he did.
The entire book -- and perhaps Mishima's entire life -- is powered by a very strong death wish. Majorly triggery for talking about suicide -- Mishima is obsessed with the idea of a glorious beautiful death and the bodybuilding, kendo etc. is all directed towards achieving that.
Interesting, though kind of talky. It's in a very, hm, WW2 Nietzschean roar powerful nationalistic style. Mishima has a worldview with which I have absolutely no sympathy; we are on completely different wavelengths. But he is a compelling writer and the difference makes reading him interesting. It does sort of explain why he killed himself the way he did.
The entire book -- and perhaps Mishima's entire life -- is powered by a very strong death wish. Majorly triggery for talking about suicide -- Mishima is obsessed with the idea of a glorious beautiful death and the bodybuilding, kendo etc. is all directed towards achieving that.
buborekosviz's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
could be a great read, but the way the author chose to write this makes the whole book slow and excruciatingly painful to read. I go as far as to say that this book is the closest I have been to put a book down.
djamesk01's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
mbates185's review against another edition
3.0
I’ll give this one 2.5 stars. It’s not fair to say I didn’t like it since it was oddly compelling, but it’s certainly not a book I couldn’t put down. Mishima explores the notion that intellectual pursuits alone are frivolous and, to live life fully, you must also experience it through physical trials and live in the moment. There were some novel ideas in this book, and he was definitely ahead of his time. But he also wrote passages like this:
“Erect-angled, the F104, a sharp silver phallus, pointed into the sky. Solitary, spermatozoon-like, I was installed within. Soon, I should know how the spermatozoon felt at the instant of ejaculation.”
“Erect-angled, the F104, a sharp silver phallus, pointed into the sky. Solitary, spermatozoon-like, I was installed within. Soon, I should know how the spermatozoon felt at the instant of ejaculation.”
benrogerswpg's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this one. I would say this is Mishima's best work.
4.6/5
4.6/5
tea_anne4's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
andyagv's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.5