Palm-Of-The-Hand Stories [Paperback]

Yasunari Kawabata (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: North Point Press.; Soft Cover edition (1988)
• ASIN: B000I03YZ0
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,023,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Generic Syrup, May 10, 2004

By 

Boz Hubris "thecultofbob" (Detroitish) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (Paperback)

If you like Sudden Fiction as a genre but not the usual silliness which accompanies it, this is the perfect union of very short fiction, craftsmanship and seriousness. Not always serious in tone but in effort. For the most part they are tender stories of rememberance, loss and the betterments of life. They are brief and dream-worthy, almost as if they were prose acting as poetry:

"Startled by a sharp pain, as if her hair were being pulled out, she woke up three or four times. But when she realized that a skein of her black hair was wound around the neck of her lover, she smiled to herself. In the morning, she would say, "My hair is this long now. When we sleep together, it truly grows longer."

Quietly she closed her eyes.

"I don't want to sleep. Why do we have to sleep? Even though we are lovers, to have to go to sleep, of all things!" On nights when it was all right for her to stay with him, she would say this, as if it were a mystery to her." from Sleeping Habit

Even when the stories are harsh they aren't beleagured with excess, but consequential life and its misgivings with some ironic humor interjected amongst the living ghosts. The same can be said for the norm: lush stories that are kindly felt but never over-sentimentalizations and mush. A great bed-side companion to make you dream better and wake a little more human.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haiku as a short story, November 15, 2001

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (Paperback)

This book is filled with over 100 short stories, most between 1 and 3 pages long. Each story is somewhat plotless, but is more of a brief character study. A quick sketch, at the most, that captures the essence of the character rather than the details. Each character and situation is a glimpse into the past, of Japan at that time. The stories have the quiet patience of a haiku, and the miniature perfection of a well-tended bonsai tree.

Like a haiku, the limitation of form requires that each sentence be important. There are no throw-away lines in any of the "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories." The sparse loveliness of the English language as used is interesting because the book is translated from Japanese. The book was translated by two translators, and each story is signed so you know who translated what. This allows for subtle variance in the stories.

Kawabata is Japan's first Nobel prize winner. This is the first book by Kawabata that I have read, and I will be sure to seek other's out. A final recommendation, because of the length of the stories, I have found this to be one of the best bedside books I own. I can read a quick story before going to sleep.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sad and touching, very modern and ultimately cinematographic, June 18, 2001

By 

Boris Aleksandrovsky (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (Paperback)

Palm-Of-The-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata is a collection of over 100 stories written over 40 years time period starting in early 1920s. This collection includes the 6 page compressed version of novel a "Snow Country"; "Thank you", a masterpiece of minimalist expression (made into a movie); other stories where themes familiar to Kawabata readers are told. Kawabata pen has a sharpness of the journalist; immediacy of the witness and wisdom of a contemplator. Frankly, most of those stories are so sad, that I could not read more then a few a setting. However, I always returned for more. I do not think your Kawabata collection will be complete without it.