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A review by mandalor3960
Thirst for Love by Alfred H. Marks, Yukio Mishima
2.0
I have read “Confessions of a Mask”, considered one of the greatest works by Yukio Mishima, and I did not expect Mishima to write a second novel that could reach the same heights. I am surprised that the “Thirst for Love” fell greatly from my expectations and I am greatly disappointed.
Before I begin to hark about the novel, I would like to write that the writing style of Mishima is amazing as always. The extensive use of metaphors are beautifully done. For the most part the characterization of the characters is great and does not follow any clichés and the distinctiveness of the characters creates great conflict. I have issues with the characterization of certain characters and the pacing of the story which contributed to the majority of my disappointment with “Thirst for Love”.
The characterization of Yakichi is weak at the end of the novel. At the beginning of the novel Yakichi is the absolute ruler of the Sugimoto household but by the end he was submissive to Etsuko to the point of allowing her to convince him to move with her to Tokyo, firing Miyo, an proposing to fire Saburo. Yakichi is self aware of this change: “But since you [Ensuko] came I’ve become unsettled, as if I were a mere boy”. I found this to be a problem in the murder of Saburo, where he allowed Etsuko to murder Saburo and Yakichi buried the body of Saburo. Even more so, the ending gives off the air that Yakichi will continue his trip with Etsuko to Tokyo. Yakichi strays unbelievably to the point of assisting in hiding the corpse.
The characterization of Etsuko was a problem for me in different ways. Etsuko’s pessimism is pronounced in the first chapter and becomes tiring to follow by the second chapter. I only liked her pessimism when she criticizes Yakichi, Kensuke, and Chieko, because of their countryside mannerisms and the gossiping nature of Kensuke and Chieko. Etsuko’s inclination towards masochism is a bore to read throughout the novel. Etsuko is overall a static character, led by her mixed feelings of jealousy and love that she never grows out of. Sections on her introspection become tiring to read.
In regards to the pacing of the novel, my biggest criticism is the ending. It completely caught me off guard. The gruesome detailing of Saburo’s death follows the staple of Mishima putting immense detail in imagery of death and it should have ended the book on a positive reception, however it seemed completely out of the blue for Etsuko to commit the act. Etsuko had not committed any physical attacks on anyone beforehand and the murder turned her into a faulty character, especially since after the murder, there no details written from the perspective of Etsuko. The final paragraphs focused on Etsuko listening to the countryside atmosphere with no reference to the murder. I felt that this could have been worked on with a greater conclusion with Etsuko providing her thoughts on the murder and her becoming a dynamic character and developing new findings towards her mixed feelings of jealousy and love.
The buildup for the murder was wrong. Etsuko was strong willed after finding Saburo to be lying about loving her, then resisting the advancements of Saburo on her, then latching on to him when he tries to run away, and then killing him as Yakichi arrives and does not save her as she imagined. Perhaps I am viewing this all too literally but it appeared disorienting and wrong after reading it in rapid succession. I had thought that Yakichi was to kill Saburo or Saburo was to kill Yakichi but not for Etsuko to kill Saburo. The muse tells me I should like it for its distinctive quality but I cannot trick my heart to do so. I am at odds with it all together.
Before the ending, the story felt slow. I had felt that the first chapter had craftily started the story and was hitting a three star rating, but overtime I became bored of it especially the entire second half of the book. The novel spaces out the large events of the pregnancy announcement of Miyo, the firing of Miyo, and the murder of Saburo with insignificant substance and constant introspection of Etsuko that was dull to read.
Apart from the overall story, a high point of dissapointment for me was when I was predicting what was to come in the novel. I guessed that Miyo had thrown the socks that Etsuko had given Saburo when Etsuko interrogated Saburo about the socks in the trash can. I guessed that the source of the sickness of Miyo was pregnancy. It disappoints me to think that I could guess what was to occur in a novel by Mishima, especially since it followed some tropes of the romance genre with a pregnancy and love triangle.
The novel was disappointing and had a mediocre story that I neither enjoyed nor disliked. It is hard to rate the novel since I consider an accurate rating to be between a one and two star rating. The ending saves the novel from a two star rating. The ending has left a puzzling impression of me.
August 31, 2019
Update
I am confused by the second and third sentence in the last paragraph of the original review. The second sentence may be referring to the necessity of rating books at whole numbers. In regards to the third sentence, I believe I was going to rate the novel at one star, if it ended without the ending, but luckily it didn't, so the book receives a two star rating.
December 28, 2019
Update
A note for the December 27, 2019, rankings from my "Yukio Mishima Rankings" document: "I had a problem whether to rank Death in Midsummer And Other Stories lower than Thirst for Love because of the prevalance of one star-rated short stories, whereas Thirst For Love has few if not any one star-rated sections. However, I defer to the rating number and Death in Midsummer And Other Stories 2.03 star-rating is .03 higher than the regular two star-rating that Thirst for Love has acquired". This note was also added to the Death in Midsummer And Other Stories review.
Before I begin to hark about the novel, I would like to write that the writing style of Mishima is amazing as always. The extensive use of metaphors are beautifully done. For the most part the characterization of the characters is great and does not follow any clichés and the distinctiveness of the characters creates great conflict. I have issues with the characterization of certain characters and the pacing of the story which contributed to the majority of my disappointment with “Thirst for Love”.
The characterization of Yakichi is weak at the end of the novel. At the beginning of the novel Yakichi is the absolute ruler of the Sugimoto household but by the end he was submissive to Etsuko to the point of allowing her to convince him to move with her to Tokyo, firing Miyo, an proposing to fire Saburo. Yakichi is self aware of this change: “But since you [Ensuko] came I’ve become unsettled, as if I were a mere boy”. I found this to be a problem in the murder of Saburo, where he allowed Etsuko to murder Saburo and Yakichi buried the body of Saburo. Even more so, the ending gives off the air that Yakichi will continue his trip with Etsuko to Tokyo. Yakichi strays unbelievably to the point of assisting in hiding the corpse.
The characterization of Etsuko was a problem for me in different ways. Etsuko’s pessimism is pronounced in the first chapter and becomes tiring to follow by the second chapter. I only liked her pessimism when she criticizes Yakichi, Kensuke, and Chieko, because of their countryside mannerisms and the gossiping nature of Kensuke and Chieko. Etsuko’s inclination towards masochism is a bore to read throughout the novel. Etsuko is overall a static character, led by her mixed feelings of jealousy and love that she never grows out of. Sections on her introspection become tiring to read.
In regards to the pacing of the novel, my biggest criticism is the ending. It completely caught me off guard. The gruesome detailing of Saburo’s death follows the staple of Mishima putting immense detail in imagery of death and it should have ended the book on a positive reception, however it seemed completely out of the blue for Etsuko to commit the act. Etsuko had not committed any physical attacks on anyone beforehand and the murder turned her into a faulty character, especially since after the murder, there no details written from the perspective of Etsuko. The final paragraphs focused on Etsuko listening to the countryside atmosphere with no reference to the murder. I felt that this could have been worked on with a greater conclusion with Etsuko providing her thoughts on the murder and her becoming a dynamic character and developing new findings towards her mixed feelings of jealousy and love.
The buildup for the murder was wrong. Etsuko was strong willed after finding Saburo to be lying about loving her, then resisting the advancements of Saburo on her, then latching on to him when he tries to run away, and then killing him as Yakichi arrives and does not save her as she imagined. Perhaps I am viewing this all too literally but it appeared disorienting and wrong after reading it in rapid succession. I had thought that Yakichi was to kill Saburo or Saburo was to kill Yakichi but not for Etsuko to kill Saburo. The muse tells me I should like it for its distinctive quality but I cannot trick my heart to do so. I am at odds with it all together.
Before the ending, the story felt slow. I had felt that the first chapter had craftily started the story and was hitting a three star rating, but overtime I became bored of it especially the entire second half of the book. The novel spaces out the large events of the pregnancy announcement of Miyo, the firing of Miyo, and the murder of Saburo with insignificant substance and constant introspection of Etsuko that was dull to read.
Apart from the overall story, a high point of dissapointment for me was when I was predicting what was to come in the novel. I guessed that Miyo had thrown the socks that Etsuko had given Saburo when Etsuko interrogated Saburo about the socks in the trash can. I guessed that the source of the sickness of Miyo was pregnancy. It disappoints me to think that I could guess what was to occur in a novel by Mishima, especially since it followed some tropes of the romance genre with a pregnancy and love triangle.
The novel was disappointing and had a mediocre story that I neither enjoyed nor disliked. It is hard to rate the novel since I consider an accurate rating to be between a one and two star rating. The ending saves the novel from a two star rating. The ending has left a puzzling impression of me.
August 31, 2019
Update
I am confused by the second and third sentence in the last paragraph of the original review. The second sentence may be referring to the necessity of rating books at whole numbers. In regards to the third sentence, I believe I was going to rate the novel at one star, if it ended without the ending, but luckily it didn't, so the book receives a two star rating.
December 28, 2019
Update
A note for the December 27, 2019, rankings from my "Yukio Mishima Rankings" document: "I had a problem whether to rank Death in Midsummer And Other Stories lower than Thirst for Love because of the prevalance of one star-rated short stories, whereas Thirst For Love has few if not any one star-rated sections. However, I defer to the rating number and Death in Midsummer And Other Stories 2.03 star-rating is .03 higher than the regular two star-rating that Thirst for Love has acquired". This note was also added to the Death in Midsummer And Other Stories review.