The Master of Go
by Yasunari Kawabata
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 185)
Read in November, 2007
I'm just learning Go myself and maybe that's why I was so interested in this book. Also, it is very relaxed and slow moving and I like that sort of thing. I know very little about Japanese culture, or Asian culture more generally but I have always wanted to know more and so there is a third reason that I was interested in this book.
To me the book appears to be a struggle between two ways of playing the game of Go. The Master's way--the old way--focuses on the intrinsic beauty of the game an...more
To me the book appears to be a struggle between two ways of playing the game of Go. The Master's way--the old way--focuses on the intrinsic beauty of the game an...more
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Read in June, 2008
Well, I still don't know if the problem is Kawabata's writing or Seidensticker's translating, but I have a feeling it's the latter. This is the second Seidensticker translation I've read ("Snow Country" was the first), and the lack of flow is very noticeable. There's no rhythm or melody to his writing, so you feel you are walking along an incredibly uneven path that makes unexpected turns all the time. This reinforces my belief that translators must not only be adept in both languages,...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
old people
The greatest bit in this book is when the Go master talks about "waves." He s talking about waves of the spirit, vaguely similar to trains of thought. Waves of thought might be better. The whole work is one wave after another, kind of like an ink drawing might be composed of a series of gestures. And those gestures are what the book is about. Not the Go master, or his dying, even though, of course, it s not not about those, either. To extend the metaphor, the reader is the shore, ...more
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Read in January, 1979
recommends it for:
People curious about more than just how to play Go
I struggled with this book quite a bit. I didn't get the game nor the mindset of the men playing it. I'm sure I was too young when I read it. That said, I've always been curious to learn the game but I don't have time for such things these days. It's the only book by an Oriental that I've read - I never got round to Mishima at all - and I do think it put me off. Now, if the right one came along (maybe something by Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto sounds a bit too commercial for me) I've give 'em a sho...more
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Read in November, 2006
This book is by the Japanese author and the 1968 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Yasunari Kawabata. It's about a journalist who's following a Go match between the Master of the game and his opponet. Go is a game where the players have white or black stones and try to surround their opponent's stones with their own. It goes on for months and the books shows illustrations of the game as it proceeds.
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I'm kind of infatuated with the game and its history. This book was a great glimpse into a culture and a lifestyle, and a passing way of life.
I feel like fiction writers work hard to create the kind of relationship that existed between the Master and his challenger. The author didn't really have to work that hard for it in this case because there already existed hundreds of years of history.
I feel like fiction writers work hard to create the kind of relationship that existed between the Master and his challenger. The author didn't really have to work that hard for it in this case because there already existed hundreds of years of history.
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Read in January, 2007
I likes all the descriptions of the game of Go itself, and some of the moments are compelling, but I think this one might just be a little too subtle and predicated on understanding Japanese culture for me to fully appreciate the nuance. Nice parallel between the development of the epic game between master and challenger and the reflection of their psychological states.
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Read in January, 2005
This is a very good book. I am interested in go and this book helped me see and understand some of the culture that surrounds the game. I think this book makes a fascinating comparisson with _Bobby Fischer Goes to War_ which happens at a different time in a different place but similar philosophies with a similar game with a different outcome.
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Read in January, 2000
This is a very interesting, beautiful, and sad "chronicle-novel" (as Kawabata described it) about a months-long game of Go, played by an aging master of the game and a younger, more modern opponent. The novel is based on a Go game played in the late 30s, covered by Kawabata for two major Japanese newspapers.
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Read in May, 2008
The book is a sort of still-life of an old-world and new-world go player (where by new-world, we mean 1920s). You have the whole story in the first few pages, and then pieces are told and re-told, giving you a bit more about the people each time. I never thought I'd like a book where so little happens...
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Like a two year old playing a board game, moving the pieces around for the sake of movement, even with a weak understanding of the game it's fun to gaze at the surface of the ocean and wonder what's underneath.
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Read in January, 2003
Kawabata's treatise on the decline of a Go master, which is also a bit of an allegory on the decline of the Japanese empire, and all empires. Fun stuff. Well, kinda cool, especially if you like Kawabata.
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Brilliant. I play Go quite avidly and loved it--I was amazed that Kawabata could make the duel over this intricate board game so interesting. A must. Loved this book, have reread it many times.
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One of my favorite of Kawabata's novels. The intensity of the characters -- champions in the ancient Japanese game of Go -- make them surreal and yet amazingly human.
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Quick, solid read, even though I knew nothing about the game of Go. The writing certainly reminded me of Japan, the author has a simple but clever style.
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this book is something else. kind of boring but in the way a garden is boring, just sitting there in the weather. all his books are something else.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
Go players
A pretty dull book. Maybe if I'd knew more about Japanese culture or Go, it would have been more interesting.
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Read in June, 2008
Good, but not great. Great use of the board in retelling a beautiful game though.
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