The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea
Ratings71
Average rating3.8
One of the best books I read this year. Its short length if just right for what is trying to convey, and all the characters are written excellently. Descriptions of the decaying, but industrious harbor of Yokohama is also a poignant frame for the novel overall. On purely formalistic terms, I think this novel is excellent.
This book dealt with nihilism, or as some of the characters in this book expresses it “the emptiness of the world”, in an unsettling, but also in an honest and beautiful way that really speaks to me. Some of the characters find sparks in the emptiness that truly moves them, but they all realize in some way that the sparks are either impermanent, false or unrealistic, and for one of them something one has to give up.
How does one deal with the emptiness: Fill it with blood? Glory in death? Adventure? Living truly honestly? Or perhaps compromising somehow is the only realistic option. As someone who was, and still is to some lesser degree, a disillusioned youth, I appreciate this book for its beauty in its portrayal of dangerous, but honest, nihilism, apathy, and disillusionment.
The language was a bit flowery for me and slow in cadence. When everything starts to happen it just finishes.
An ugliness unfurled in the moonlight and soft shadow and suffused the whole world. If I were an amoeba, he thought, with an infinitesimal body, I could defeat ugliness. A man isn't tiny or giant enough to defeat anything.
He found himself in the strange predicament all sailors share: essentially he belonged neither to the land nor to the sea. Possibly a man who hates the land should dwell on shore forever. Alienation and the long voyages at sea will compel him once again to dream of it, torment him with the absurdity of longing for something that he loathes.
Not my cup of tea but it was easy to read, i wouldnt even know it but i would have read 20 pages. One thing i want to note is that i am fucking scared of having kids now more than ever because how will i control who my 13 year old kid befriends at the time : Also TW: animal abuse.
a beautifully written book with some absolutely unapologetic themes that left my mouth agape for a long time even after finishing it.
A look into the mind of just how strange it can be as a kid growing up with peer pressure and the effects of change during childhood. Eerie, voyeuristic and strange at times. A cautionary warning of what can happen when growing up and the pitfalls, dangers, nuances and proverbial forks in the road that come along with it.
This book is intense and beautifully written. It explores themes about life and tradition in Japan after the second world war. The tension grows with every page, and being better informed than the characters brings an interesting dynamic. Poor Ryuji, Fusako, and Noboru
Sensual, clinical, lush and cold. Divided between summer and winter, Mishima’s structure matches his prose. Read in 2 or so hours, the prose flies by. Lots of ship talk— lives up to the sailor name. Read it!
While I don't necessarily agree with the views portrayed in this book towards your country (in this case, Japan), masculinity, and the pursuit of glory, I do respect where the author is coming from. I just feel that they're too extreme (based on my postmodern ideals).