Customer Reviews

Thirst for Love (Modern Classics)

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4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(3)
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The intensity of the jealousies and frustrations simmering under the surface of this superficially simple story explodes in the last few pages in a way which is surprising and shocking enough to linger in the memory.

One of Mishima's more restrained works, "Thirst for Love" has a quiet elegance. As we follow the narrator down her lonely and doomed path, it is clear that we are in the hands of a skilled storyteller.

Mishima is a fascinating and intoxicating author to me, but I felt a little disappointed with Thirst for Love after having read the Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea. It seems less focused somehow; I found certain segments a bit dull and the end somewhat dissatisfying (not just because it wasn't "happy.") But, those are just the cons -- I still think this is quite a book. Etsuko's psychology is fascinating, and there are some great moments. Quality, unconventional stuff.

Mishima's _Thirst for Love_ is most readily understood in the context of his other writings and thematic concerns. Throughout his literary career, Mishima was deeply troubled by changes in Japanese culture during modernity (starting around the 19th century) and beyond, particularly after the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945). He viewed the loss of tradition as devastating to any culture, leaving them without an initial way to healthily exist and understand the processes of life and death. Japan, with its slow accretion of Western culture, was merely one macrocosmic example of this historical trend.

_Thirst for Love_ is in part a fictional presentation of this cultural decline: examples of decay are present throughout the novel, such as Miyo's rejection of traditional dress and customs, Etsuko's obsession with the lower-class farmhand, Kensuke's pathetic pseudo-intellectualism, Saburo's physical transgressions against Etsuko, and numerous others. It is imperative, then, that each of these chracters be frustrated with their actions in life and ultimately reach a sort of destruction, for they are all encapsulations of Mishima's "fallen man," the one without guidance from tradition and sane, known ways of living.

A psychological reading of the book would prove fascinating, particularly of Etsuko, Saburo, Takichi, and Kensuke.

Mishima's characterization in this work is admittedly rather weak, relative to his other novel-length works. Perhaps this is because adding satisfactory details and back history to each of the many characters introduced throughout the book would have proven difficult, if not impossible. Another interpretation offers the possibility of using this character shortcoming as a depiction of what Mishima felt towards each of these characters; to him, there is not much behind these people that is interesting or worth delving in to psychologically. They are his "fallen men," and as such a long, descriptive background and intimate storytelling would seem out of place, casting them into greater heights of worth - in the artist's mind - than warranted.

The beauty of Mishima's prose (and the translation of that prose) is, as usual, quite good. Passages evoking Osaka in the rain, evening in the country, and the throng of crowds and jubilation at the seasonal festival are all excellently composed.

My major faults with the novel derive from its relatively unengaging plot (compared to other works by the author) and the fact that its message has been told and retold numerous times by other authors, psychologists, and philosophers, including the author himself (though at a later point in his career).

Although this is not one of the best novels of Mishima, I think is quite a good book. The author denudes one of the most painful realities of human condition, the unattainment of love. All the characters are frustrated in their thirst for love, nobody is loved by their beloveds and the weak one has the worst part. Also on this novel (the passage of the night party)you can find one of the most erotic writings in literature. This is a good book about desire and its wicked ways.

Published in 1950 Thirst for Love was one of Mishima's early novels and written shortly after his Confessions of a Mask which had already gained him celebrated public acclaim. The novel is set on a ten acre property on the outskirts of Osaka owned by Yakichi, a retired businessman and widower in his sixties but wishing to return to traditional life living off the land. With Yakichi is his indolent intellectual son Kensuke and his wife Cheiko, daughter-in-law Asako (whose husband is in Siberia) 8 year old daughter Nobuko and 5 year old son Natsuo, and the recently widowed third daughter-in-law Etsuko. The household is completed by a young peasant maid Miyo and 18 year old gardener, Saburo. Mishima focuses on the relationships between the above especially Etsuko whose husband had been a very unfaithful philanderer and now Etsuko has become the mistress of her father-in-law, Yakichi. Her passionate obsession is for the young tanned and good looking gardener, Saburo. Saburo is a naïve innocent young man who is having a physical relationship with Miyo and unaware of Etsuko's obsession and jealousy. Mishima's contrasts the relationships in the household: the intellectual cynical detached relationship of Kensuke and Chieko and the physical but loveless relationship between Miyo and Saburo. The mix of love, sex, death, obsession, jealousy is central to a number of Mishima's works and Thirst for Love lacks appeal largely for the very detached manner the characters interact. Mishima's writing I enjoy and I have loved several of his other novels Confessions of a Mask, Spring Snow and Forbidden Colours but Thirst for Love is not as good. There are moments of brilliance such as the detailed account of a Festival with a Lion, green mane streaming and the frenzied activity of the half naked young men following behind. The ending was difficult to comprehend especially the physical tidying up by Yakichi and Etsuko, all rather odd to me. Thirst for Love is an appropriate title for there is no love in this book and to satisfy thirst I would suggest reading another of Mishima's novels.

Not long ago I was astounded by the brutality, truth, and beauty in my first taste of Yukio Mishima -- The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Randomly picking out his work, the next book I stumbled upon was the Sound of Waves. And eventhough from a critical point of view, the Sound of Waves has its obvious flaws. From a readers point of view, it was a great novel. Next I picked up Thirst For Love, and I was surprisingly dissapointed.

First off, I found ALL the characters in this book dull and unlikeable. With the exception of Etsuko, who is generally unappealing; None of the other characters are really developed. As another reviewer pointed out, it almost seems like important parts of the plot had been taken out of the book. The story itself aimlessly drags along going nowhere, occasionally making similarly aimless detours. But regardless of all of that, it simply isn't an interesting read. There is no outrage, no excitement, no point. Maybe to really understand this story you had to be in Japan at the time, that cultural wall is always present in Japanese literature. However, I found this wall to be too high to climb.

Thirst For Love was only Mishima's second novel, and it shows. It could probably have been made into something great, but the author was either too hasty to finish it or simply didn't know what to do. Despite its great title, it's somewhat of a disappointment. I figure it was an attempt at writing an anti-romance, some kind of complete inversion of the concept of the love story. Well, it wasn't a success. The first half of the book is mired in scenes that don't go anywhere (such as the grotesque flashback where Etsuko's husband dies - did we really need that? why was it included?), and this makes the developments of the second half a bit of a shock. It seemed rather sudden how Etsuko's mild interest in the gardener Saburo turned into complete obsession. Certain aspects of the book sorely needed more attention from the author - Yakichi's attitude toward Etsuko could have been turned into something involving, but ends up being a mere tangent, a check mark on the laundry list of plot points. Had Mishima further developed the backstory of the family, we might have understood what lay behind the enmity between its various members, but it went almost completely unexplained, and said members end up coming across as spiteful for no reason. On the other hand, there are plot lines that are completely pointless and blatantly fabricated and yet are for some reason drawn out to great length - namely, the utterly inane subplot with the socks Etsuko buys.

Admittedly, the bit about the festival conveys the appropriate feeling of frenzy. Also, Mishima does a fine job of showing the dichotomy between the overly sensitive, wounded Etsuko and the utterly uncaring, "light man" Saburo. But these are small parts; the whole just isn't all that good. And let's not even get started on the deliberately "shocking" ending, which goes completely against what little character development Mishima bothered to put in. I got the feeling that he simply didn't know how to end the story, and so took the first way out that occurred to him; it would have been better if he had given it a little more thought. In fact, that can be said of just about everything in this book apart from the title. Feel free to skip it and go straight to the masterpiece The Sound Of Waves.

the guy below doesnt know what he is talking about, he didnt understand anything