Daniel del Real
Moderator
Kawabata has a peculiar characteristic in his novels that not many authors share. All of them seem to be so subtle, so smooth as they advance, but in the end they enclose a philosophy of life and all that it concers altogether.
This happens in this novel called A Thousand Cranes. It tells a story of a young man named Kikuji, who comes back to the house of his death father to attend the tea ceremony invited by one of her father mistresses, Chikako. She is a middle aged woman, with the peculiarity to have a large mole in her chest, between her breasts. In a strange association, Kikuji can't stop thinking about the love affair between his father and Chikako, and how he had to be involved in a sexual contact with that mole that for him, in that moment, personifies evil.
In that tea ceremony, Chikako introduces Kikuji to Ms Inamura in order to get them together. However, Mrs. Ota, another of his father lovers arrives to the ceremony and this entry changes all the circumstances. Kikuji and Mrs. Ota get into an affair, and from that point, he gets so confused for what destiny is about to bring to his life.
The rivalry between Chikako and Mrs. Ota goes to the point where Chikako wants to dictate Kijuki who he has to marry. This triangle, involving the two former lovers, and Kikuji, go along the whole novel with a death dictating the fate of Kikuji and who will he choose at the end.
This novel gets into you slowly, without ever noticing it. When you finish it, it doesn't seem to be the an awesome work, but with his calm style and his short sentences Kawabata has the magical formula to get into your mind and keep you thinking about it days after you have finish the novel.
Not the best Kawabata novel I've read but for sure an author who keeps a great quality in all of her works he has. Novels where you might think nothing happens but eveything is intended to happen in your mind after you finish.
****0
This happens in this novel called A Thousand Cranes. It tells a story of a young man named Kikuji, who comes back to the house of his death father to attend the tea ceremony invited by one of her father mistresses, Chikako. She is a middle aged woman, with the peculiarity to have a large mole in her chest, between her breasts. In a strange association, Kikuji can't stop thinking about the love affair between his father and Chikako, and how he had to be involved in a sexual contact with that mole that for him, in that moment, personifies evil.
In that tea ceremony, Chikako introduces Kikuji to Ms Inamura in order to get them together. However, Mrs. Ota, another of his father lovers arrives to the ceremony and this entry changes all the circumstances. Kikuji and Mrs. Ota get into an affair, and from that point, he gets so confused for what destiny is about to bring to his life.
The rivalry between Chikako and Mrs. Ota goes to the point where Chikako wants to dictate Kijuki who he has to marry. This triangle, involving the two former lovers, and Kikuji, go along the whole novel with a death dictating the fate of Kikuji and who will he choose at the end.
This novel gets into you slowly, without ever noticing it. When you finish it, it doesn't seem to be the an awesome work, but with his calm style and his short sentences Kawabata has the magical formula to get into your mind and keep you thinking about it days after you have finish the novel.
Not the best Kawabata novel I've read but for sure an author who keeps a great quality in all of her works he has. Novels where you might think nothing happens but eveything is intended to happen in your mind after you finish.
****0