Beauty and Sadness

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Summary: The complex world of human relationships.
Review: Human relationships are anything but predictable. In 'Beauty and Sadness' Kawabata melds scenes of ardent love and revenge with subtle grace. He writes a story of love which is unpredictable and believable. The sound of the New Year bells chime with a mans longing to relive a part of his past. In his journey to do so he finds that the past cannot be revived. Instead he is thrown into a new episode which is completely out of his control. Written with the poetic beauty Kawabata is famous for 'Beauty and Sadness' is indeed the theme of love. A woderful read for people interested in the complexity of the human relationship.

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Summary: Beauty and Sadness
Review: I love this book, I re-read this book in three different languages, and i'm reading it again the fourth times.

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Summary: Be prepared to be moved with the tone in this novel...
Review: i was really taken by this book. kawabata's ability to juxtapose japan's beauty and ancient culture with obsessive, destructive relationships is brilliant as ever. it was also amazingly erotic as mixture of cruelty and tenderness- reads in places like these people are on another planet.

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Summary: Good, Certainly, But Not Great
Review: Kawabata's masterpiece. A story inexorably moving towards the tragic end, yet taking its time in doing so, exploring several side-issues and developing the protagonists' characters such that the outcome appears inevitable. Magically and poetically interwoven with Japanese literature, history and art, human psychology, longing, desire and ultimate betrayal, this is a one-of-a-kind novel that defies all attempts at categorization and in a manner true to all classics, effortlessly transcends the boundaries of time and space in which it was created.

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Summary: BIZARRE LOVE QUADRANGLE
Review: Never been exposed to Japanese literature? Start here. Shorter than "The Tale of Genji", more affecting than "Snow Country", and just as poetic and moving as haiku or tanka poetry, this is a sizzling snapshot of eros gone wrong.

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Summary: others were better
Review: This has been the 3rd book from Kawabata that I've read but this one didn't live up to the previous 2 I've read(Snow Country, Sound of the Mountain). Maybe it was because the translator was not Seidensticker that the words seemed kind of dull, I dunno. The rest of the books I couldnt put down. I'm on my 4th (Thousand Cranes, Seidensticker translator) and it already brings back the appeal of my first 2 books.

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Summary: Beauty and Sadness = Sweetness and Sorrow
Review: This little novel, though economical in size and language, is a monument to the Japanese ideal of <<less is more>>. Kawabata's economical use of words by no means undercuts the concise imagery of his prose. At times, it is NOT what he has said or implied, but the empty spaces between his words that completely round out his thoughts. Much like a composer of music, attentive to each note and the silence in between, Kawabata's prose is highly musical and amazingly crafted. His eloquent, often delightful truths seem to bring the reader's attention to the essence of life, nature, and human nature. Though Kawabata won the Nobel prize for his literature, by no means would I consider his work pretentious, overly erudite, affected, or vain.... his writing exemplifies the clearest thoughts, the well turned phrase, a simplicity of characters and objectives but with the ease and elegance of learned man... a gentleman. This novel reminds me of an oriental landscape painting, some images are veiled in a mist, some easily discernable, some merely suggestive, all essential to the whole. It is beauty in the purest sense of the word... the only sadness was how quickly I devoured this short work and was hungry for more. So I read as many other of his works that I could.... you would not be displeased with this or any other of his works.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and Sadness = Sweetness and Sorrow
Review: This little novel, though economical in size and language, is a monument to the Japanese ideal of <>. Kawabata's economical use of words by no means undercuts the concise imagery of his prose. At times, it is NOT what he has said or implied, but the empty spaces between his words that completely round out his thoughts. Much like a composer of music, attentive to each note and the silence in between, Kawabata's prose is highly musical and amazingly crafted. His eloquent, often delightful truths seem to bring the reader's attention to the essence of life, nature, and human nature. Though Kawabata won the Nobel prize for his literature, by no means would I consider his work pretentious, overly erudite, affected, or vain.... his writing exemplifies the clearest thoughts, the well turned phrase, a simplicity of characters and objectives but with the ease and elegance of learned man... a gentleman. This novel reminds me of an oriental landscape painting, some images are veiled in a mist, some easily discernable, some merely suggestive, all essential to the whole. It is beauty in the purest sense of the word... the only sadness was how quickly I devoured this short work and was hungry for more. So I read as many other of his works that I could.... you would not be displeased with this or any other of his works.

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Summary: Revenge
Review: This was the seventh Yasunari Kawabata book that I have read and it is also my current favorite.

Kawabata weaves a wonderful story and its title describes it perfectly. The story begins with the writer Oki Toshio. In his younger days Oki had a love affair with a young girl named Otoko. Their affair produced a child, but unfortunately the child was born premature and died shortly after birth. The death of the child caused Otoko to suffer a nervous breakdown and she was put into a mental asylum. Her mother told Oki that Otoko would soon be better but it would probably be better if Oki did not see her again. Warp 20 or so years into the future. Oki decides to see Otoko again at New Years, so he hops a train to go see his ex lover. Otoko worried about Oki's arrival hires a couple of geisha to entertain them. Also her protoge Keiko is there. I believe Keiko to be the main character in the story.

Keiko is not only Otoko's student but her lover as well. Keiko is angered about how Oki treated Otoko so many years ago, and wants to seek revenge against her teacher's ex lover. Otoko still harbors a strong love for Oki but is not assured enough to keep Keiko from plotting against Oki. Keiko is extraordinarilly charming and beautiful, and although a lesbian she manipulates males very easily. She seduces Oki and his son Taichiro, the reader knows something bad is going to happen to Oki or one of his loved ones early on, and he or she just wonders how it will finally happen.

Another beautiful book by Kawabata. Few writers come close to his descriptions of landscapes or his very evocative writing of the human form. Very good book please read it.

Rating:
Summary: Good, Certainly, But Not Great
Review: While I was impressed and intrigued by this novel, it does not possess the lyrical power I had expected and hoped for. This is especially true when compared to the works of Mishima, though Kawabata does avoid the excessive philosophical musings that can bog down even Mishima's best work. Also, one is not exhausted after reading Kawabata, as one can be after reading Mishima, who can be overly intense. I strongly suspect that my disappointment with Beauty and Sadness stems primarily from the translation -- there are moments of stiltedness, moments that just don't work. Part of the problem must rest with Kawabata, however. Hemingway said that a writer can leave anything he wants out of a story, if he knows what that "anything" is; if he leaves something out because he doesn't know what it is, there'll be holes in the story. There are holes in Beauty and Sadness, which I suspect would have worked more effectively as a tightly written short story. But Kawabata has all my respect, and more Americans should read him and other Japanese writers -- it makes for a refreshing change from the bloated, overwrought, Oprah Winfrey-approved, man-beats-woman nonsense so many of us immerse ourselves in so that we can convince ourselves we're readers and tell our friends that we've read the "latest."

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