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chris_dech's review
2.0
The content of the book itself is not poorly written, but Yanagi is impressively boring.
There's nothing wrong with valuing the crafts of the commoner and taking pride in national or even regional goods and arts. In fact, I even encourage such pride and appreciation of common goods and handicrafts.
The problem is how impressively boring Yanagi is. This collection of essays, letters, and what are ostensibly journal entries overstays its welcome. And he borders on a sanctimoniousness that just seems to disregard any opinions that do not totally agree or subscribe. Yanagi is that one person you know who you share an interest with, but they are almost obsessively enthusiastic in a way that just turns you off from talking about your shared interest.
We should take pride in the goods from our town, or city, et cetera. But that should not come at the cost of readability and alienating others from the appreciation of a nice teacup.
There's nothing wrong with valuing the crafts of the commoner and taking pride in national or even regional goods and arts. In fact, I even encourage such pride and appreciation of common goods and handicrafts.
The problem is how impressively boring Yanagi is. This collection of essays, letters, and what are ostensibly journal entries overstays its welcome. And he borders on a sanctimoniousness that just seems to disregard any opinions that do not totally agree or subscribe. Yanagi is that one person you know who you share an interest with, but they are almost obsessively enthusiastic in a way that just turns you off from talking about your shared interest.
We should take pride in the goods from our town, or city, et cetera. But that should not come at the cost of readability and alienating others from the appreciation of a nice teacup.
hecaldwell's review
3.0
This book started off promising but began to be quite self indulgent and a bit aloof. So I wouldn’t read it again
krythstal's review
5.0
El libro que me creó un bloqueo lector durante un mes. Y pese a tener que odiarlo por su lentitud, su repetición o sus contradicciones he acabado amándolo. Pensaba que iba a hablar -como su título indica- sobre los objetos cotidianos pero realmente es un puente al arte tradicional japonés. Pese a no interesarme en absoluto el tema he encontrado una oda a la belleza, a la quietud, a lo ordinario, al mundo, al ser humano. Es tan imperfecta, tan pasional y tan inspiradora la manera en la que describe las manualidades, la cerámica, los textiles y los patrones que de cualquier lección te saca una reflexión que puedes aplicar a cualquier ámbito de la vida.
jmaxlewis's review
3.0
a good book in doses! read best as a collection of chapters, i really felt exposed to a “new wave” way of thinking that was really just appreciating the basics. soetsu yanagi put it all very simply- beauty and utility are interwoven, and we should appreciate the beauty in the poverty, the basic citizenry, and the necessity. opened my eyes to a new way of intuitively ingesting art. nice!
3/5 bc was hard to read at times (in a dense, translated way). and also some chapters while informative were not crazy interesting
3/5 bc was hard to read at times (in a dense, translated way). and also some chapters while informative were not crazy interesting