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Summary: FORBIDDEN COLORS OF BEAUTY
Review: Can we dare to be honest with ourselves and open ourselves to what is Beautiful in life and nourish and revel in the sensuality of Beauty? Or would we rather run away from our True Desires in terror, sinking into selfishness and cruelty and polite, hypocritical social artifice? These are some of the questions Mishima explores in this remarkable book, wonderfully translated by Alfred Marks. A haunting story of repressed desire and the pain repression causes. No matter how diligently the characters try to "order" their repressed, false lives, Reality comes breaking in, (notice as you read the novel how every time some new revelation is about to occur, a fire breaks out...);Beauty and desire haunts these people, but they dare not embrace it, it always seems out of reach; they sink into selfishness and despair. An incredible book.
Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing view
Review: I found this book very interesting because the notion of a homosexual underbelly in Japan is something that had not really occurred to me before. The rather stereotypical view we usually get is that of a hardworking nation, dedicated to family and tradition. The presentation of gay Japanese cruising each other was thought-provoking, to say the least. As educated as I think that I may be, it is always an fascinating surprise when one of those vestigial presuppositions comes to light, and I am forced to alter my thoughts on the world around me. Mishima's well-crafted style and use of language provide a penetrating and valuable look into an intriguing, though somewhat obscured, example of humanity.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I read this book with a lot of enthusiasm but found it essentially disappointing. The theme was interesting but I found the lead character of Yuichi Minami to be dislikeable and selfish. He seems the antitheis of the Japanese ideal. Mishima protrays him as a "beautiful" young man with little charm. All the characters who become involved with Minami(both male and female) fall for his beauty and instantly become infatuated. However, I couldn't understand his continued appeal after his uncaring treatment of them. I kept expecting/wanting bad things to happen to him. It seemed that his good looks alone carried him through his aimless, debauched life. At times I felt disgusted by his behavior. The ending was unexpected and twisted but I felt that Yuchan should have received a more "just" reward. I think it was worth reading and I would like to read more books by Mishima since I'm interested in Japanese culture.
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Summary: He tried hard but didn't get there!
Review: I'll give credit that at least Mishima tried to tackle the subject of homosexuality from a broader perspective. You can understand the world of gay men, where they go, and what's happening in the minds of these men during the early post-war era of Japan. The ending, however, was no surprise. However, I also give credit to Mishima for pushing the issue out there as best as he could. I'm not sure whether or not he understood his sexuality. During that time, I don't think a lot of men could have. But he tried, and I think through that he helped a lot of other gay men to try, too.
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Summary: The Tale of Beauty
Review: Im not a gay and Im not even bisexual (maybe im latent :) ), but I loved the book anyway. To appreciate male beauty you dont have to be a gay, especially if this beauty is portrayed in Ancient Greek sort of way and the most characters who worship it (are are destroyed by it) are females. Add to this the superior descriptive brilliance of Mishima and subtle pleasing decadence of the story and you will get an excellent novel. A very sensual and aestetical book. Some people compare it to Plato's "Symposium" and a think it is a great comparison.
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Summary: A dark and subtle story
Review: Mishima's "Forbidden Colors" is in some ways a dark, homoerotic, post-modern allusion to Dickens' "Great Expectations", with the beautiful Yuichi replacing the outwardly-impeccable Estella. Unlike Dickens more direct style, however, Mishima's writing is challenging to read, with layer upon layer of metaphor and allusion.This is not a happy story. The characters are deeply flawed, and their struggles to overcome their lackings are often futile. The most deserving characters wind up with the least, while Yuichi's beauty carries him through a whirlwind of undeserved fortune. While reading this book is a substantial investment of time, the sordid beauty of writing, as well as its unusual themes, made me feel as if my time was spent wisely. A great book for anyone interested in Japanese counter-culture!
Rating:
Summary: A dark and subtle story
Review: Mishima's "Forbidden Colors" is in some ways a dark, homoerotic, post-modern allusion to Dickens' "Great Expectations", with the beautiful Yuichi replacing the outwardly-impeccable Estella. Unlike Dickens more direct style, however, Mishima's writing is challenging to read, with layer upon layer of metaphor and allusion. This is not a happy story. The characters are deeply flawed, and their struggles to overcome their lackings are often futile. The most deserving characters wind up with the least, while Yuichi's beauty carries him through a whirlwind of undeserved fortune. While reading this book is a substantial investment of time, the sordid beauty of writing, as well as its unusual themes, made me feel as if my time was spent wisely. A great book for anyone interested in Japanese counter-culture!
Rating:
Summary: A dark look at homoeroticism
Review: My experience with Japanese writers has been limited to Ishiguro (who is practially English after living over 25 years in England) and Murakami, so I was a bit taken aback by the sheer darkness and depravity of Mishima. Yet, his writing is compelling and his tale gripping. You are supposed to find the main character repulsive -- it's pretty clear that he finds himself repulsive at times as well. Clearly Mishima is a force in Japanese fiction and a writer to be reckoned with. This book is not a fun read, but in the scope of Japanese works, it's an important read.
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Summary: Well Writen Exploration of Post-War Japan Homosexual Culture
Review: This book was the first of it's kind that I've read; Yukio Mishima came highly recommended by a friend, and I could not find the other books they had suggested, so I took up Forbidden Colors, and was slowly drawn into the book. Every character was dangerous and flawed in some manner but poor Yasuko, who is a typical woman of her time period. And she gains the least out of all of these characters, as Yuichi is mentored into a tool for revenge againts women by his sponsor and mentor;a libido driven romantic who has been burned once to often and has turned hateful and cruel. Even as he encourages Yuichi to delve into his homosexual liasons, he forces him into a marriage and two affairs in which there is no love--Yuichi loves no one, in fact,but himself. He is a beautiful, vain creature, and not really likable. He has moments, where he almost seems human, gullible and almost likable, but they are few and far between. However, this is not American literature, and so good is not required to triumph. Yuichi seems rewared for his uncaring demeanor and his beauty both, and it's fascinating to see this play of dark desires clashing againts once another. It's a good read--but it's not an easy one.
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Summary: We are defenseless against beauty
Review: This dark tale, full of twists and turns, is the story of a successful 60 year old novelist who decides to seek revenge on the women who have betrayed him in love over the years. He selects as his weapon a beautiful young gay man. Whereas this sounds somewhat like Miss Havisham's revenge on males through the beautiful Estella in Charles Dicken's Great Expectations, Yuichi is far more vacant and far less a noble character than Estella. Estella recognized that she had been reared to be a beautiful monster and thus spurns Pip, the man she loves, and marries a monstrosity of a bully rich boy. Yuichi on the other hand marries a 19 year old girl and makes her life miserable by his nightly cruising in the underground Japanese gay scene. The attraction of age to beauty, the very defenselessness of humans in the face of overwhelming male beauty, the power of eros to undermine reason and wisdom, resonated with Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. The jungle dog-eat-dog world of the underground gay nightlife in Tokyo reminded me of the unsavory bitchy queens in Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers, which fully describes the post-war gay underground in Paris. The book was full of homophobia, especially self destructive internalized homophobia. Gay characters are miseable, catty, competitive, and self-destructive. However Mishima makes his heterosexual characters just as miserable when faced with beauty that they cannot obtain. Mishima's writing style is unique, his use of language superb and shocking at times. However, as I finished page 400, I decided that the book could be shortened to 200 pages and possibly be an improved work of art. Even though the plot line shows how beauty is used as a weapon, the philosophical discussions throughout the book would indicate that it is in human nature to lose reason when faced with overwhelming beauty. The novelist in the story never achieved this kind of beauty in his work, but he certainly knows how to manipulate this beauty to seek revenge. The women on whom he seeks revenge however are totally unsympathetic, as is almost every character in the story except Yuichi's young wife, Yasuko. The characters are trapped together in a vast web of relationships and bonds, appearing more and more pathetic and vapid with each destructive incident, yet fully illustrating how Eros makes fools of us all.
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