The successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a young woman with whom he had a terrible affair many years before, and discovers that she is now a painter, living with a younger woman as her lover. Otoko has continued to love Oki and has never forgotten him, but his return unsettles not only her but also her young lover. This is a work of strange beauty, with a tender touch of nostalgia and a heartbreaking sensitivity to those things lost forever.
--This text refers to the
Kindle Edition
edition.
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Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese
Original Language: Japanese
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revenge,
By
This review is from: Beauty and Sadness (Paperback)
This was the seventh Yasunari Kawabata book that I have read and it is also my current favorite.Kawabata weaves a wonderful story and its title describes it perfectly. The story begins with the writer Oki Toshio. In his younger days Oki had a love affair with a young girl named Otoko. Their affair produced a child, but unfortunately the child was born premature and died shortly after birth. The death of the child caused Otoko to suffer a nervous breakdown and she was put into a mental asylum. Her mother told Oki that Otoko would soon be better but it would probably be better if Oki did not see her again. Warp 20 or so years into the future. Oki decides to see Otoko again at New Years, so he hops a train to go see his ex lover. Otoko worried about Oki's arrival hires a couple of geisha to entertain them. Also her protoge Keiko is there. I believe Keiko to be the main character in the story. Keiko is not only Otoko's student but her lover as well. Keiko is angered about how Oki treated Otoko so many years ago, and wants to seek revenge against her teacher's ex lover. Otoko still harbors a strong love for Oki but is not assured enough to keep Keiko from plotting against Oki. Keiko is extraordinarilly charming and beautiful, and although a lesbian she manipulates males very easily. She seduces Oki and his son Taichiro, the reader knows something bad is going to happen to Oki or one of his loved ones early on, and he or she just wonders how it will finally happen. Another beautiful book by Kawabata. Few writers come close to his descriptions of landscapes or his very evocative writing of the human form. Very good book please read it.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty and Sadness = Sweetness and Sorrow,
By Gregory W. Fulghum (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beauty and Sadness (Paperback)
This little novel, though economical in size and language, is a monument to the Japanese ideal of <<less is more>>. Kawabata's economical use of words by no means undercuts the concise imagery of his prose. At times, it is NOT what he has said or implied, but the empty spaces between his words that completely round out his thoughts. Much like a composer of music, attentive to each note and the silence in between, Kawabata's prose is highly musical and amazingly crafted. His eloquent, often delightful truths seem to bring the reader's attention to the essence of life, nature, and human nature. Though Kawabata won the Nobel prize for his literature, by no means would I consider his work pretentious, overly erudite, affected, or vain.... his writing exemplifies the clearest thoughts, the well turned phrase, a simplicity of characters and objectives but with the ease and elegance of learned man... a gentleman. This novel reminds me of an oriental landscape painting, some images are veiled in a mist, some easily discernable, some merely suggestive, all essential to the whole. It is beauty in the purest sense of the word... the only sadness was how quickly I devoured this short work and was hungry for more. So I read as many other of his works that I could.... you would not be displeased with this or any other of his works.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If ever anyone deserved the Nobel prize .....,
This review is from: Beauty and Sadness (Paperback)
Kawabata's masterpiece. A story inexorably moving towards the tragic end, yet taking its time in doing so, exploring several side-issues and developing the protagonists' characters such that the outcome appears inevitable. Magically and poetically interwoven with Japanese literature, history and art, human psychology, longing, desire and ultimate betrayal, this is a one-of-a-kind novel that defies all attempts at categorization and in a manner true to all classics, effortlessly transcends the boundaries of time and space in which it was created.
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