The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

“Each dead day had its charm.”

Maybe I'm too dumb for this book, but it never really took off for me the way it clearly did for other people. I'm no stranger to Japanese literature, and some of the writing about beauty, conformity, and how the meaning of words/actions can become twisted if taken the wrong way was really wonderful, but...being honest, it was a chore to get through.

This was based on an actual real-life event (which was an interesting rabbit hole), and is from the point of view of the arson, Mizoguchi. We follow him as he grows up and joins the temple just like his father, but a lack of confidence, a stutter, and a belief that anything beautiful is cursed leads him down a dark path. It was an interesting read through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, but it also felt really repetitive. The same motives, the same themes, the same philosophical points are hammered home again and again, and I felt myself skimming a bit near the end to get to some new thought instead of rehashing old ones.

There's clearly something here and I'm definitely in the minority, but I just didn't enjoy this one.