Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Bekenntnisse einer Maske

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Bekenntnisse einer Maske by Yukio Mishima

15 reviews

magimiel's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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sunn_bleach's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Everything that Camus’s “The Stranger” tried to be and surpassing it in every way through metaphor, history, and metatext. This is a story of alienation in the classical sense of the word; being so struck from your self and not only forming a mask but writing as if the mask didn’t exist while still alluding to it at every great step. Mishima’s own history just makes it that much more impactful.

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jupen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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_tabby_'s review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Confessions of a mask" is the second book by Mishima that I have read and its safe to say that it held up expectations from my initial impressions of his work that "life for sale" left me with.
Mishima delves into the dark and obsessive nature of a Japanese school boy who simultaneously delights in and struggles with his sexuality as a result of his intense obsessions over what he finds to be the definition of beauty. Throughout, he compares his current obsessions with those of his childhood crushes such as Antonious and Joan of Arc (before he found out she was a woman) and holds them to an almost biblical standard.
Art and beauty run his life.
The beginning half of the book is very expected (very true to the description) as it focuses on the obsessions I listed above as he finds himself in his youth and convinces himself that his desires are sub-human. A VERY common theme in Mishima's books. Needless to say, this half of the book was my favourite.
However, I couldn't rate it 5☆ because I felt like the second half of the book diverted a bit too much. Yes, the main character is now an adult and his views have matured but to me it felt like he almost went out of character and I found myself rather bored with his new personality

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nimbos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book gathers everything I enjoy in a good read: an unreliable, morally ambiguous narrator, dark and twisted desires and religious imagery. Besides all that, it was a book that spoke so realistically about the struggles of a homosexual youth, that posed so many questions and that made me feel all the less alone in my own struggle. I found myself, as uncanny as this may sound, relating to the main character in many aspects of my journey of self-discovery.

It's medium paced and easy to read once you grasp the writing style. It is a very visual book, making up vivid pictures without becoming overly descriptive and these pictures are always filled with light, even in the most gorish descriptions, in contrast to the dire themes of the book. It is obsessive, intoxicating and erotic without ever being vulgar. It felt, overall, very sophisticated.

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narumii's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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nerdkitten's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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seanamcphie's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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viviheve's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked it less the second time I read it, probably because the moment of my life I was in then when I first bought it (obsessed with BL, having mood swings and the tendency to sadness, a like for twisted and dark stories). But as for now, whereas it's a good book that explores taboo topics such as sexuality and death, I still didn't feel great emotions from it.

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happydays024's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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