The Wild Goose (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies (Hardback)) [Hardcover]

Mori Ogai (Author), Ogai Mori (Author), Burton Watson (Translator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press (November 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093951270X
• ISBN-13: 978-0939512706
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,301,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zero Reciprocity, February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wild Goose (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies ; No. 14) (Paperback)

One small incident CAN be made into an entire novel, as Ogai Mori shows us here. The actual action in The Wild Goose is quite small, even insignificant. But the way Ogai informs us of every thought of every character more than makes up for it. What I found to be truly compelling was the point of view -- the narrator is the best friend of Okada, one of the main characters. Just when it appears that the narrator knows way too much about what Otama (the girl) was thinking, he goes and leaves us with a mystery at the end that brings about what I thought was excellent closure. I would say that the main theme of this novel is "zero reciprocity" -- those of the characters who are in love are never truly loved back, like Otama, who silently longs for Okada, or even Suezo, the man who has taken Otama for his mistress. In this novel, people lie, people cheat, people hide the truth. And people never say what they truly feel. Just like real life. An excellent story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poor Goose, February 8, 2003

By 

Daitokuji31 (Black Glass) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Wild Goose (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies ; No. 14) (Paperback)

This was a wonderful little book and like many other Japanese novels such as Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters very litle seems to actually happen. The thing it alot does happen One just has to search for the happenings in the elegent words of Mori Ogai. At first it seems that the main character of the book is the Narrator's best friend Okada who is a wel liked medical student. we soon learn that Okada has been noticed by and is noticing a beautiful woman named Otama who is in fact a mistress of Suezo a money lender. The main character, however, seems to be Otama. We see her gpoo through evert day trying to figure out how to talk the man she loves. It is pretty much that simple, but the reader is deeply affected by this book. I know I was, and i'll never eat makerel boiled in miso

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Achingly beautiful, April 24, 2010

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wild Goose (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies (Hardback)) (Hardcover)

This is a tale of complex people who in their interaction find life to be much more complicated than they had expected or feared. Suezo, a moneylender, is tired of life with his nagging, highly imperfect wife, so he decides to take a mistress. Otama, the only child of a widower merchant, wishes that she could provide for her aging father, and when an obviously rich man asks her to be his mistress, a new hope beckons. When Otama learns the truth about Suezo, she feels betrayed, and hopes to find a hero to rescue her. When Otama meets Okada, a medical student, she feels that she might indeed have met her hero.

This is a bittersweet story, a story of hope and unfairness. The wild geese wish only for freedom, but sometimes others use them for purposes they cannot imagine. Published between 1911 and 1913, this book gives an excellent peek into the society of early modern Japan.

This book is an achingly beautiful story, and a fascinating historical document. I highly recommend it.