A review by btothhhhh
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

5.0

An unapologetic confession of grotesque fantasies, suppressed homoerotic lust, and the burden of self-analysis. A prominent voice in traditionalist Japan's post-war identity crisis, Mishima knew he was setting out on a violently transgressive odyssey of self-understanding with this novel.

A man riddled with dichotomies can only approach the world with an unreliable narratorial voice. His conflicting views on love, lust, and death bleed together to create a distorted watercolor portrait of the most impressively unsettling nature.

Where does the line between character and author begin to blur? Well, wherever that line sits in Mishima's world, he sadistically hops from side to side in a way which is incredibly enjoyable to read. He continues his 5 star streak and creeps closer to Kawabata in my fav authors list

"Self-deception was now my last ray of hope. A person who has been seriously wounded does not demand that the emergeney bandages that save his life be clean. I arrested my bleeding with the bandages of self-deception, with which I was at least already familiar, and thought of nothing but running to the hospital."