Spring Snow is set in Tokyo in 1912, when the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders --...
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Sep 08, 2007
brian
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the first in mishima's tetralogy and, so far, the best (i'm in the middle of the third). on its own, Spring Snow is easily one of the best, most tender love stories i've read -- but it cannot be considered on its own. honda watches as, through the series of four novels, his childhood friend is reincarnated several times. in the USA, this'd play out as a gimmick; in japan (shinto, buddhism, etc.) it is the assumption. mishima uses the novels as a wildly deranged exploration of history, the philos
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May 17, 2008
Ryan
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Once you start reading Mishima, and becoming absorbed with his characters, you are caught in a web that resembles the web he reveals his own characters are enmeshed in. His characters are so tragic, yet so ordinary; so privileged, yet so doomed; so foolish, yet so much more introspective than you. Spring Snow was one of the best books I have ever read. Mishima is like a surgeon; the tip of his needle or scalpel so fine, so pointed, that he can isolate the most fleeting, awkward, and yet noble
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Mar 03, 2008
Katherine
rated it: 
I do love books about love ... love that doesn't work out for some reason (maybe it's because one person is a jerk, or too proud, or married to someone else), love that is tragic, love that ends in jail.
This book is about love that is marred by one person's overwhelming personality disorder. I like that aspect of it particularly because I had to write a 8-12 page essay on the character's personality disorder. But I also like it because it makes for a prickly love story, one that More...
This book is about love that is marred by one person's overwhelming personality disorder. I like that aspect of it particularly because I had to write a 8-12 page essay on the character's personality disorder. But I also like it because it makes for a prickly love story, one that More...
Jan 29, 2012
mina
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Spring Snow is the first book of the Mishima’s masterpiece tetralogy Sea of Fertility. I don’t know how it is in Japanese, but I bet it is even more beautiful than its translation. The story is told in vivid detail, you can see the garden of Matsugae family with its cherry blossoms, or the snow falling all the way to the Gesshu Temple when Kiyoaki shuffled through his illness to get to the temple to see Satoko, which I imagine is the most beautiful moment if it ever become a movie.
It More...
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Jul 01, 2011
La Stamberga dei Lettori
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Primo episodio della tetralogia Il mare della fertilità, ultima opera e forse capolavoro di Mishima, questo romanzo, scritto nel 1969, e ambientato all'inizio del secolo, si presenta ben ricco di tutte le tematiche tipiche dell'autore.
Yukio Mishima è noto per i conflitti interiori dalla molteplice natura: oltre alla sofferta, soffocata omosessualità, lo scrittore visse con sofferenza e sentimenti opposti il conflitto tra la cultura occidentale sempre più dilagante e l'ormai morente tradiz More...
Yukio Mishima è noto per i conflitti interiori dalla molteplice natura: oltre alla sofferta, soffocata omosessualità, lo scrittore visse con sofferenza e sentimenti opposti il conflitto tra la cultura occidentale sempre più dilagante e l'ormai morente tradiz More...
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Dec 14, 2010
Karen
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I had mixed feelings about Yurkio Mishima’s novel “Spring Snow.” The story felt a bit uneven in pacing and in tone. I felt like much of the book was heavy in symbolism and meaning. However, many chapters were written like a bad romance novel. The book would often pick up steam, only to come to a grinding halt for a few chapters.
I really disliked the main character, Kiyoaki, who was unbearably immature and angst ridden. Actually, none of the characters were easy to like, but I think More...
I really disliked the main character, Kiyoaki, who was unbearably immature and angst ridden. Actually, none of the characters were easy to like, but I think More...
Aug 19, 2009
Krystle
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I really loved this book! It was awesome. The pacing of the story gradually builds up steam before it plunges towards the finish, much like a wave cresting as it reaches the shore. I love Mishima's writing style. It reminds me of Vladimir Nabokov's writing (and you know how much I love that man) but less extravagent. All of the expectactions I had for him were totally met, and I'm so going to read his other books now.
Anyway, the plot of this book was pretty formulaic in the beginnin More...
Anyway, the plot of this book was pretty formulaic in the beginnin More...
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Jan 20, 2011
Bets
rated it:
Enjoyed it, but not that impressed.
Kiyoaki seems to be the Japanese variation of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which a genteel young man is driven to death from his own infatuation. Like other love stories of this era, Kiyoaki and Satoko's romance is pitted against waning Imperial traditions, and is representative of a lost generation in the emerging tide of modernity. Their passions are inevitable, and faced with notions of bygone morality and loyalty that no longer see More...
Kiyoaki seems to be the Japanese variation of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which a genteel young man is driven to death from his own infatuation. Like other love stories of this era, Kiyoaki and Satoko's romance is pitted against waning Imperial traditions, and is representative of a lost generation in the emerging tide of modernity. Their passions are inevitable, and faced with notions of bygone morality and loyalty that no longer see More...
Dec 14, 2011
Hikachi
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Nov 02, 2009
Jennifer
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Jefferson's first day of school was a Wednesday, and I of course had a brain meltdown and barely got us out the door in time, so certainly didn't have a lunch packed or a book to read while I hung out in Mecosta and waited for time to pick him up. Plus, on Wednesdays, the library doesn't open until 1:0o (preschool starts at 11:30), but happily the used bookstore was open.
Spring Snow was the first book to catch my eye on entering the store. I suspected at the time and have since confi More...
Spring Snow was the first book to catch my eye on entering the store. I suspected at the time and have since confi More...
Nov 22, 2011
Ryan
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This book has EPIC written all over it. Its most certainly one of those books that, after finishing, one is tempted to rate highly to help themself feel that much more multi-cultural and well read. Unfortunately for me, I just didn´t like it all that much. It had some fantastic 4 star moments, but in general I found myself flipping ahead to gauge how many pages I had left before the end of the chapter, which is a sure sign of my waning attention. While the characters had a great deal of dept
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Dec 18, 2010
Hytham
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من ايام الجامعة نصحني صديق بقراءة هذه الرباعيه لكن في تلك الفترة كان الادب الروسي شغلي الشاغل ومستحوذ على على كل تفكيري فاجلت مشروع ميشيما قليلا لكن اصرار هذا الزميل العزيز لسنوات عدة على ان اقرأ هذه الرباعية دفعتني اخيرا الى البدء فيها.بدأت قراءة هذا الكتاب باللغة العربية طبعة دار الاداب وكانت التجربة كانت ناقصة حاولت التأقلم مع الرواية ولكن لم استطع لكن مؤخرا وجدت النسخة المترجمة باللغة الانجليزية فقلت في نفسي اجرب لعل وعسى واحمد الله اني فعلت. في البداية الاسلوب رااااااائع وشعري وسلس ومليء ب
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Jan 26, 2012
Carlos
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Nunca había leído a Mishima, y era un error lamentable.
Con una prosa preciosista y delicada, cuidada en cada palabra Mishima cuenta una turbulenta historia de amor entre personajes que expresan sus emociones sutilmente pero razonan con crudeza. Aun así, es dificil saber de qué lado se inclina la balanza, porque los sentimientos de los personajes se vuelven intelectuales y sus razones pasión. Me ha sorprendido la atención y poesía -presente siempre- de las descripciones de un entorno c More...
Con una prosa preciosista y delicada, cuidada en cada palabra Mishima cuenta una turbulenta historia de amor entre personajes que expresan sus emociones sutilmente pero razonan con crudeza. Aun así, es dificil saber de qué lado se inclina la balanza, porque los sentimientos de los personajes se vuelven intelectuales y sus razones pasión. Me ha sorprendido la atención y poesía -presente siempre- de las descripciones de un entorno c More...
Nov 15, 2010
Madhuri
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Mishima's suicide after finishing the Sea of Fertility tetra-logy has given a memento-mori quality to this series of writing. I could not escape a death-consciousness from the very beginning of Spring Snow, when Kiyoaki is introduced as a beautiful man and a war photograph is described shortly after. The writing is beautiful, imaging the flickering, irresponsible nature of youth, but more vividly show-casing the dichotomy of a changing culture. All cultures, especially oriental stand at the diff
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May 22, 2011
Ron
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Spring Snow is probably one of the best books I've ever read. It is book one in a four novel series title the Sea of Fertility Cycle by Mishima, which he wrote and then committed suicide. I am a big fan of Yukio Mishima and would highly recommend his books, however, each book has its own dynamics and feel to it based on his time, his thinking, and his life. So, while Spring Snow is by far the most beautiful of his writing (maybe to that of Temple of the Golden Pavilion) if you don't have the tim
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Sep 21, 2011
Patrick
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Yukio Mishima is considered one of the literary giants of modern Japanese literature, but up until now I have read only two of his books: The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (which I read in college and I can barely remember) and The Golden Pavilion-which I thought was impressive. I have started on his famous Sea of Fertility teratology with Spring Snow. It is interesting in the details he presents of modern Japanese life after the Japan-Russo War, which brought Japan into prominence as
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Jan 04, 2012
Greg
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Spring Snow is a Japanese novel from 1966 written by Yukio Mishima. Mishima is perhaps the most prolific modern Japanese modern writer, writing a dozen plays, over one hundred short stories, forty novels and one movie. Born in 1925, Mishima famously committed seppuku, a brutal ritualistic suicide after a failed political coup at the age of 45. He is most well known for the Sea of Fertility tetralogy, a series of four novels starting with Spring Snow. The Sea of Fertility, covering over sixty
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Apr 15, 2010
K.D.
rated it:
A story of young tragic love. If you strip the plot to its barest, two young children grew up together. The girl was 2 years older. At 21, she showed affection to the boy but the boy was immature enough to brush it off. At that age and time in Japan, 21 was already old so her parents arranged her to be married to an Imperial prince. After she was betrothed, the boy changed his mind, chased the girl, got her pregnant. Again, during that time in Japan, it was a mortal sin to commit such act to the
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Jun 30, 2011
Tancredi
rated it:
"Non sarebbe magnifico se si potesse saldamente unire l'essenza del proprio animo casto con quella del mondo? Non equivarrebbe forse a stringere tra le mani la chiave segreta del mondo?"
Primo episodio della tetralogia Il mare della fertilità, ultima opera e forse capolavoro di Mishima, questo romanzo, scritto nel 1969, e ambientato all'inizio del secolo, si presenta ben ricco di tutte le tematiche tipiche dell'autore.
Yukio Mishima è noto per i conflitti interiori dall More...
Primo episodio della tetralogia Il mare della fertilità, ultima opera e forse capolavoro di Mishima, questo romanzo, scritto nel 1969, e ambientato all'inizio del secolo, si presenta ben ricco di tutte le tematiche tipiche dell'autore.
Yukio Mishima è noto per i conflitti interiori dall More...
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Aug 08, 2010
Enrique
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Nieve de Primavera se desarrolla en el Japón de principios del siglo XX, Kiyoaki, el protagonista, es hijo del Marqués de Matsugae, un prominente potentado japonés, descendiente de una familia Samurai de las más honorables. El Marqués, cuenta con poder y dinero, sin embargo sus maneras no son las de la Nobleza japonesa, con el fin de que su único hijo, Kiyoaki, aprenda todas las maneras occidentales y se convierta en un ejemplo de elegancia y sofisticación, lo deja en manos de la familia Ayakura
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Feb 27, 2009
Vincent's ear
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the first book of "the sea of fertility" serie.... one of the most inspiring books i've ever read.
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Dec 09, 2009
Mashael
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الجزء الأول من رباعية يوكيو ميشيما ( بحر الخصب ) , بدأت بقراءتها منذ أسبوع لكن برغم من كل محاولاتي لم أستطيع الإندماج أبداً ولم أتقبل أن أتخطى الــ 210 صفحة التي توقفت على عتباتها , لذلك قررت التوقف عن إكمالها ربما أعود لها في المستقبل ,
* التعريف بالكاتب أو صفحة المقدمة التي كتبها المترجم إحتوت على أبرز أفكار الرواية أو على ملخص للرباعية يعني أنه أحرق كل فرصة دهشة أو إندماج بين صفحاتها .
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* التعريف بالكاتب أو صفحة المقدمة التي كتبها المترجم إحتوت على أبرز أفكار الرواية أو على ملخص للرباعية يعني أنه أحرق كل فرصة دهشة أو إندماج بين صفحاتها .
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Oct 15, 2007
Thai
rated it:
Who would have thought the whole "star-crossed" lovers theme could still be fresh? Highly recommended!
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Jan 15, 2012
Matt
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This book is, without a doubt, the greatest love story ever told. I don't care what you think about any of the classics, anything you've read before, be it Austen or Shakespeare or the Greeks or anything of the sort. Even in translation, this piece has been the bane of my existence for the length of time I spent reading it - a fair amount for it's length of 400 pages.
Mishima is one of the few authors I've read recently who astounds me on a level I can barely comprehend. Even in transla More...
Mishima is one of the few authors I've read recently who astounds me on a level I can barely comprehend. Even in transla More...
Feb 24, 2011
Taka
rated it:
Beautifully written and evocative--
Granted, I don't read books in Japanese, this was probably the first time I thought, "I had no idea how the Japanese language could be so beautiful." It's hard to compare him to western authors, but if I must, I would have to say Mishima Yukio is most like Nabokov (minus the wit), Updike (minus the sex), and Cormac McCarthy (minus everything Spanish) but with a distinctly Japanese tang that's hard to pinpoint. The only word I could think o More...
Granted, I don't read books in Japanese, this was probably the first time I thought, "I had no idea how the Japanese language could be so beautiful." It's hard to compare him to western authors, but if I must, I would have to say Mishima Yukio is most like Nabokov (minus the wit), Updike (minus the sex), and Cormac McCarthy (minus everything Spanish) but with a distinctly Japanese tang that's hard to pinpoint. The only word I could think o More...
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Mar 17, 2010
Sagar
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The Sea of Fertility by Yukio Mishima
“The most complete vision we have of Japan in the twentieth century.”
-Paul Theroux
On the morning of November 25th 1970, the three-time Nobel nominee and 45 year old Yukio Mishima (the pen name of Hiraoka Kimitake) finished The Decay of the Angel, the final book in his seminal Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published into the world much akin to John Kennedy Tool's A Confederacy of Dunces: as renowned for its literary merit, More...
“The most complete vision we have of Japan in the twentieth century.”
-Paul Theroux
On the morning of November 25th 1970, the three-time Nobel nominee and 45 year old Yukio Mishima (the pen name of Hiraoka Kimitake) finished The Decay of the Angel, the final book in his seminal Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published into the world much akin to John Kennedy Tool's A Confederacy of Dunces: as renowned for its literary merit, More...
Apr 04, 2011
David
rated it:
I love reading this. But this time I am hoping to go on and finish "The Sea of Fertility"... we'll see.
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This is such a brilliant and satisfying book. I don't know why it isn't the "go-to" book for Japanophiles. There's the Imperial family (the Taisho Emperor in non-speaking role!), geishas dancing at cherry blossom parties, rickshaw rides in the snow, women wilting amongst wisteria at boring Shinto ceremonies, an Imperial army officer listening to j More...
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This is such a brilliant and satisfying book. I don't know why it isn't the "go-to" book for Japanophiles. There's the Imperial family (the Taisho Emperor in non-speaking role!), geishas dancing at cherry blossom parties, rickshaw rides in the snow, women wilting amongst wisteria at boring Shinto ceremonies, an Imperial army officer listening to j More...
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Oct 05, 2009
Sara
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Elegant.
"One of the snowflakes blew in and lodged itself on Kiyoaki's eyebrow. It made Satoko cry out, and without thinking, Kiyoaki turned toward her as he felt a cold trickle on his eyelid. She closed her eyes abruptly. Kiyoaki stared at the face with its closed lids; only the subdued crimson of her lips glowed in the shadows, and because of the swaying of the rickshaw, her features, like a flower held between trembling fingertips were softly blurred."
"One of the snowflakes blew in and lodged itself on Kiyoaki's eyebrow. It made Satoko cry out, and without thinking, Kiyoaki turned toward her as he felt a cold trickle on his eyelid. She closed her eyes abruptly. Kiyoaki stared at the face with its closed lids; only the subdued crimson of her lips glowed in the shadows, and because of the swaying of the rickshaw, her features, like a flower held between trembling fingertips were softly blurred."
Sep 08, 2010
Kai
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This is a well written book that gives you a good insight into life in Japan amongst the upper-class/royalty in the 1900's.
The main character is vain and self-indulgent, to the point of self-destruction, which he seems to take a perverse delight in. It's a love story gone wrong due to stubborness and lack of judgement and insight. I suppose it really typifies young love. The consequences are tragic though. I suppose this could be classed as the Japanese Romeo & Juliet!
The main character is vain and self-indulgent, to the point of self-destruction, which he seems to take a perverse delight in. It's a love story gone wrong due to stubborness and lack of judgement and insight. I suppose it really typifies young love. The consequences are tragic though. I suppose this could be classed as the Japanese Romeo & Juliet!
Jan 17, 2009
Gztaylor5
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I hate to say it, but unless you have a cultural interest in Japanese, most readers would find this book to be very slow and dense. It is one of the most powerful and amazing character studies I've ever read though, outside of Shakespeare. Worth reading to anyone who is interested on seeing the inner workings of ourselves.
