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A review by javinki_
Snow Country & Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
2.0
Thank you to The Ryan Kennedy Foundation for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (who am I kidding, no one's asked for any of my thoughts on any of these books, but hey! I enjoy writing them! So DEAL WITH IT!)
'Snow Country'? Pretty good! I was more interested in what was being said by the description than by the characters, which isn't often the case with prose - it's just a shame that all the gorgeous and subtle and striking natural imagery was let down by the personality-less Shimamura and unconvincingly erratic Komaka. I felt like the more I learned about them the less I actually knew and was invested in them, but the language itself was beautiful.
'Thousand Cranes', on the other hand, felt much flimsier, almost soap-opera-esque in its caricatures and mundane melodrama. I might have enjoyed it more if I'd known more about the Japanese tea ceremony going into it as lots of time is devoted to the symbolism of different bowls and utensils. I also wasn't convinced by any of the relationships - maybe something was lost in translation. I don't know.
Across both novellas, the men were dull and the women, two-dimensional - which makes me wonder what the purpose of all the rich imagery and narrative jumps and various dramatic episodes were. A little unconvinced, to be honest. I still want to read 'Beauty and Sadness', though!
'Snow Country'? Pretty good! I was more interested in what was being said by the description than by the characters, which isn't often the case with prose - it's just a shame that all the gorgeous and subtle and striking natural imagery was let down by the personality-less Shimamura and unconvincingly erratic Komaka. I felt like the more I learned about them the less I actually knew and was invested in them, but the language itself was beautiful.
'Thousand Cranes', on the other hand, felt much flimsier, almost soap-opera-esque in its caricatures and mundane melodrama. I might have enjoyed it more if I'd known more about the Japanese tea ceremony going into it as lots of time is devoted to the symbolism of different bowls and utensils. I also wasn't convinced by any of the relationships - maybe something was lost in translation. I don't know.
Across both novellas, the men were dull and the women, two-dimensional - which makes me wonder what the purpose of all the rich imagery and narrative jumps and various dramatic episodes were. A little unconvinced, to be honest. I still want to read 'Beauty and Sadness', though!