so-soA meditative wee novel about a man fleeing the chaos of city life for a mountain town, where he meets a geisha he believes he is in love with. This story is about a quest for freedom. Ultimately, neither Shimamura nor his love are able to realise a free existence as they remain bound by rules and expectations. Yasunari's prose is distant and reflective. This novel left me lingering on the surface where I'd like to have had a deeper experience.
pickThis was a quick read (175 pages) and I was utterly enthralled! The writing was eloquent, the setting is western Japan and the story revolves around a geisha and the man she lets herself care for despite knowing what the outcome will be. Highly recommend this book.
pickA classic Japanese story set in 50's Japanese. A rich, dilettante and patron of the arts begins and affair with a lowly geisha leading to tragedy and a hard truth about caste systems. Author Kawabata writes with such precision that each word could be haiku in of itself.
Remember that essay I said I was going to write about one of my #japaneseliterature reads? Well, I wrote it about Snow Country since I didn't get far into 1Q84! Spoilers since it's an analysis post #love
Read: https://readatnight00.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/owls-why-bother-walking-towards-f...
pickNot sure why I didn't finish this one the first time I tried reading it or why I thought it was boring. Maybe it's because I wasn't actively reading it. This time, as much as my #romance frozen heart dislikes giving praise, Snow Country tells a beautifully poignant story of unrequited love between a hot spring geisha and one of the Tokyo patrons. Recommended #japaneseliterature #literary
#24B4Monday #readathon @jb72 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65
There's so much death in this book and it's very sad. I feel for Komako, but I also would like to know how Shimamura feels. He's very closed off with his feelings even though we see everything through his eyes #symbolism #japaneseliterature #romance
@jb72 @TheReadingMermaid @andrew65 #24B4Monday #readathon
This flowery language and #symbolism were never really my forte but I think I've gotten better, still...I can't tell if that "mountain" that "seduced" him, which he then promptly "roughly climbed" is an actual mountain or a woman... #japaneseliterature #romance
@jb72 @TheReadingMermaid @andrew65 #24B4Monday #readathon
He decided to come check out what I was up to #24B4Monday #readathon 😊 This is the second time I'm attempting to read this book. It was recommended to me by my friend months back but it was kind of boring. Now that I'm reading it...Shimamura is a creep and I have an idea of how to twist the failure prompt #japaneseliterature #romance
@jb72 @TheReadingMermaid @andrew65
pickShimamura loves reading about Western ballet. Emphasis on reading. Although he has the means, he would never watch a ballet in Japan because he'd rather live in fantasy than know the truth. No wonder he retreats into 'the floating world' of two geisha, never cares for his wife or family, & longs for beauty but never faces reality.
A novel I discovered by accident, and glad to have done so. Recommend its beautiful prose, among many things.
panA meek married man cares about no one, just the moon, snow, and maybe moths. And supposedly but dilettanteishly, ballet. Yet he does his best to inflict his grey, dull self on a ditzy drunkard hooker and one other woman at a winter resort. How they stayed awake in his leaden, obnoxious presence, I‘ll never know. I barely could.
“It was a stern night landscape. The sound of the freezing of snow over the land seemed to roar deep into the earth.”
Photo is from earlier today, first snow of winter! Sadly it all melted away already.
#catsoflitsy
#petsoflitsy
pickI did not understand the relationship between Shimamura and Komako (and Yoko?). I found the story rather mysterious and the ending left me stunned. But Kawabata appeals to all senses with his writing: I could see, smell, feel and hear 'the story'. Especially the beginning and ending will stick with me.
pickI love the story, but the translation is too wonky for me to love this book whole-heartedly. Kawabata‘s works are meant to be poetic, and this translation didn‘t reflect that 😫 What a shame!
so-soI do not think it is a really good translation. I have a feeling that something is missing. It is a story about relationship between a geisha and her client where nothing happened (usual thing in Japanese novel),but there is another girl in this story who appears couple time,but her feelings and influence to characters are big mystery.
pickA beautiful, subtle book. Too oblique for me, I would appreciate it more reading quietly on a train going through Japan's snow country (instead of Shimoda with 2 young children 😬). Little plot w an unsympathetic protagonist, & his lover, a tragic figure. Nuanced writing, thoughtful & humane.
#seasonsreadings2016 #bookishgifts I got some great books. 😍 The paperback (Anthology of works by Yasunari Kawabata) is from a friend, the best of 2016 cartoons is from my father, and the bundle of books is from my bf including: A French novella, Norwegian fairytales, the correspondence between Rilke and Hugo von Hofmannsthal and my first novel by Halldor Laxness. He first wanted me to choose a book for him to gift me but I slightly pulled out a
#chillyreads Way behind on my, how my husband puts it, "litsying" ? This is a marvelous book where the action takes place in a snowy setting. The reading was very slow for me, but the scenery and atmosphere is described with such delicate beauty.
#photoadaynov16
Unpopular opinion but I did not like this book at all! Did something get lost in translation? I couldn't continue reading about the landscape lol. #threwitacrosstheroom #photoadaynov16
A storm is coming, giving me the perfect excuse to start my First Kawabata ever.
Thanks to the #GetBooked podcast for answering my recommendation request this week! I can't wait to get started on my "Beyond Murakami" quest for Japanese lit. You guys rock @bookriot ?
I know little about the author, just enough to know I'd better check out his stuff someday. But how about this photo of Kawabata san, which Twitter just tweeted my way?
pickA short, charming classic about the doomed love affair between a Tokyo businessman and a geisha from a mountain resort town.
pickBeautifully understated.
It was all completely natural, as if the two of them, quite insensitive to space, meant to go on forever, farther and farther into the distance.
Snow Country and Thousand Cranes | 
