Spring Snow (The Sea of Fertility)
by Yukio Mishima
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 545)
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...more
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Read in May, 2008
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...more
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Read in February, 2008
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 feels go...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 feels go...more
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recommends it for:
Fans of Pokemon/Tekken
Really amazing. This is the opening of the "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, and he apparently committed seppuku when he finished the last one! Maybe R.L. Stine did that when he finished his last "Goosebumps." Anyway, the story is a very simple one about the Japanese aristocracy, but it was all gorgeous, even in translation. The lyrical passages read like extended haiku: economical, precise imagery.
The only annoying thing about the translation: I guess the Japanese nobility ...more
The only annoying thing about the translation: I guess the Japanese nobility ...more
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Read in July, 2003
A guy in the Bangor public library who seemed slightly unhinged recommended Mishima to me, and I followed up on his recommendation for reasons that remain obscure to me. Spring Snow is a sort of Romeo and Juliet story placed in early 20th century Japan. Sometimes the language is quite beautiful, but sometimes I thought maybe Mishima was overdoing it with all the metaphors. I think much of the tension of the story comes from notions of honor in Japanese culture or conflict between diffe...more
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Read in December, 1990
Mishima is another of those writers which I read whenever I can get my hands on a book. I read Spring Snow optionally during highschool English, and was amazed how good literature could be. I turned my back on pulp fiction after reading this book. It just isn't worth wasting your time when you have a jewel like this to read.
The story is somewhat classic from the stand point of European literature. Its a love story and a coming of age story with a tragic ending. Through it a western reader le...more
The story is somewhat classic from the stand point of European literature. Its a love story and a coming of age story with a tragic ending. Through it a western reader le...more
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Read in July, 2005
recommends it for:
anyone
First part of a four-part series involving the decline of traditional Japanese values. The plot centers on Kiyoaki, a young aesthete nobleman in the 1910s, scheming to sleep with a refined young thing among cherry blossoms, wall scrolls, and impending catastrophe! The first part is probably the best since it avoids the "reincarnating Japanese spirit" trap of the other three books, but it's still worth reading the whole thing. Mishima believed in this book so much that he had one of ...more
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Read in January, 1989
One of the amazing things about this book (and the whole tetralogy) is how beautifully Mishima reads in English. In Japanese he is an eloquent and sohpisticated writer and much of that seems to translate well into English. As other reviewers have noted, this book by itself is a beautiful and haunting love story - two actually. But when taken together with the other three books it becomes so much more than its parts. It is a fascinating look into Mishima's mind as well as a smart critique of ...more
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Read in January, 2003
recommended to Angela by:
Samrecommends it for: intellectuals, poetry-lovers, Japanophiles
This is a piece of great literature that's beautiful, perfectly imparts the poetry of Twentieth-Century Japanese nationalistic sensibility and is very brutal. Good luck! The author committed ritual suicide as a political protest, if that says anything.
I'm guessing this is a pretty overlooked book, though, because in Japanese, only educated and motivated people want to wade through the punishing Kanji, and in the West, it's not well read. The author did win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
I'm guessing this is a pretty overlooked book, though, because in Japanese, only educated and motivated people want to wade through the punishing Kanji, and in the West, it's not well read. The author did win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
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The Sea of Fertility by itself is a great work of art but it becomes something entirely different considered in the context of Mishima's life and death. This can be said of any artist but it's especially true here because Mishima ultimately eliminated the line between art and everyday life. There's an enjoyable film, "Mishima: a life in four chapters" for anyone interested; it's probably best to watch it after reading Runaway Horses.
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Read in January, 2002
recommends it for:
carolynjmartone@yahoo.com
This is the first book in the tetrology, "Sea of Fertility" by Yukio Mishima. This series of books culminated in Mishima's hari-kari. He felt he had written his masterpiece.
The broad strokes of this revolve around reincarnation, but the story itself delves very deeply in communication, openness, and expression in an otherwise closed society. It is a beautiful story, but one has to read all four in order.
The broad strokes of this revolve around reincarnation, but the story itself delves very deeply in communication, openness, and expression in an otherwise closed society. It is a beautiful story, but one has to read all four in order.
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Read in June, 2007
Tale of a spoiled mopey kid who's sick with love. There were times I was struck by the observations - a friend's moles turning into birds that fly overhead, the way a billowy purple kimono looks against the snow or how a woman's purfume seems to draw snow into a cart the lovers are riding in. Other times, I got tired of the main character's self pity and melodrama. Well, he's a teenager I guess...
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Read in July, 2007
Im borrowing this book from a friend at work, its a japanese author. Its a minimalist style as you might expect from a japanese writer but its about the westernization of japan so there is some familiar fullness in parts of the story and writing. The main character, kiyoaki, reminds me a lot of myself which is why i think im enjoying it so much.
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Read in August, 2007
This novel , set in Japan, 1912, is a story of love and friendship. The son of a wealthy merchant flals in love with the daughter of an ancient noble clan. Unlike Romeo and Juliet these characters could have lived happily every after... but their passion and immaturity leads to the demise of their futures. Depressing, but well told.
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Read in January, 2004
This is my favorite mishima. The first of the the four books in his cycle.
I like the elegance of mishima's storytelling. He is incredibly elegant and that is very attractive to me in a book. However, his characters are not as exciting as his style (to me).
I liked this book when I read it but I am kind of over it.
I like the elegance of mishima's storytelling. He is incredibly elegant and that is very attractive to me in a book. However, his characters are not as exciting as his style (to me).
I liked this book when I read it but I am kind of over it.
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Read in March, 2008
It's so sad when you have to admit to yourself that you don't have time in your life right now to read the first in a tetralogy of modern Japanese novels that includes sentences like, "'I can't tell you why,' she answered, deftly dropping ink into the clear waters of Kiyoaki's heart."
But I don't. Sigh.
But I don't. Sigh.
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Read in April, 2007
Would recommend: Not really
While I appreciate the Japanese style of this book, it was a bear to read. I figured out the plot two-thirds of the way through, so the last third couldn't have been over soon enough. It was one of those character-building books, at least for me.
While I appreciate the Japanese style of this book, it was a bear to read. I figured out the plot two-thirds of the way through, so the last third couldn't have been over soon enough. It was one of those character-building books, at least for me.
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Read in February, 2003
I'l probably give every Yukio Mishima book 5 stars. This is the first of his tetralogy, which supposedly was finished on the morning of his awesomely dramatic suicide. Mishima is by far the darkest, most complex, and most beautiful writer I've ever come across.
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Read in November, 1995
Read so long ago that I cannot give a good review except to say that it is impressively melodramatic. The themes are very Japanese and yet the style is quite Western. Set in Taisho era Japan that is roughly equivalent in time and tone to the 20s of the US.
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Read in February, 2007
I'd read a biography of Mishima years ago but never read any of his novels, so it was enlightening from that standpoint. Found the book a bit dry for my taste while reading it, though I do find that images from it have really stuck with me.
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