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Beauty and Sadness
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
16 posts | 11 read | 22 to read
The successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a young woman with whom he had a terrible affair many years before, and discovers that she is now a painter, living with a younger woman as her lover. Otoko has continued to love Oki and has never forgotten him, but his return unsettles not only her but also her young lover. This is a work of strange beauty, with a tender touch of nostalgia and a heartbreaking sensitivity to those things lost forever.
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sisilia
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Inside a secondhand copy of the tagged book #WestsiderBooks

Leftcoastzen Always strange and wonderful when that happens. 5y
BarbaraBB That is something special. I would like to know who she is! 5y
64 likes2 comments
review
Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Pickpick

The story of dysfunctional lives marred by their own twisted wickedness is intermixed with evocative descriptions of natural scenes of quiet beauty, creating a deep contrast between the delicate but imposing beauty of Nature,the charm of quotidian human activity and the distorted ugliness in the characters‘ psyche. Like insects under a microscope, their human folly is exposed, showing us the malignantly warped side of Nature within the human heart

Faibka It is easy to be captivated by Kawabata‘s lyricism and I can understand why he was preferred for the Nobel prize over the great Mishima. Many thanks to @Anna40 and @JulietteGF for brining this book to my attention. Looking forward to discussing it! 6y
jveezer Thanks for reminding me of this author. I‘m trying to read all the Japanese & Chinese classics and just picked up two more at a favorite used bookstore... 6y
Anna40 What a beautifully written review. Very worthy of Kawabata :) 6y
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Lcsmcat Stacked! 6y
Faibka @jveezer glad to add to your list :) that sounds intriguing, which Chinese classics would you recommend? 6y
Faibka @Anna40 aww thanks, you‘re too kind :) 6y
Faibka @Lcsmcat yeah 🙌 6y
Desha Ohhh Faibka...such a gorgeous picture, and a good book to add to my tbr! 🌸☺️🌸 6y
Faibka @Desha so nice to hear from you!!! How‘ve you been? :) thank you, this book is so good! I think you‘ll love it! 6y
33 likes3 stack adds9 comments
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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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“Yet the misty spring rain softened the outline of the mountain across the river and made it even more beautiful... The slender threads of rain vanished into the river without a ripple. Cherry blossoms were intermingled with young green leaves, the colors of the budding trees all delicately subdued in the rain.”

Image source: http://laeren.net/pers/galleries/japan/kyoto-arashiyama.php

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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Ha!

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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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“The main gate of the Nisonin Temple was said to have been brought from Hideyoshi‘s Fushimi Castle in the early seventeenth century. It had the imposing air of a great castle gate.”

I love how Kawabata intermixes Kyoto site references into the story along with evocative descriptions of the beautiful landscape.

Image source: http://nisonin.jp/visit/?lang=en

BarbaraBB Again: 😍. I sooo love Japan! 6y
Faibka @BarbaraBB me too! It‘s my dream to visit it someday :) 6y
21 likes2 comments
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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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I‘ve never heard of anyone speaking for the weather but found it endearing :) makes me want to visit that place!

GingerAntics That‘s interesting. I can‘t quite figure out how to describe it, but it is endearing. 6y
Faibka @GingerAntics Yes! That‘s exactly how I felt when I read it. Maybe it‘s just what the author intended to convey to the reader :) 6y
GingerAntics Maybe. It‘s definitely got me thinking in a much different way than I normally would. I‘m wondering if speaking for the weather is a cultural thing that would have actually happened or just something this author came up with. Either way it‘s intriguing. 6y
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Faibka @GingerAntics that‘s a good point. The author is very descriptive about sites around Kyoto so he may have included something that is particular to this place that might even surprise Japanese readers from other regions. It might have even happened to him, who knows but it‘s a nice little detail :) 6y
GingerAntics It really is. I quite like it. I may have to read this book now, just for that little detail. 6y
Faibka @GingerAntics that‘s great! I hope you like it :) 6y
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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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“The photograph showed a double image of the famous Gion geisha Okayo: the girl on the right, the fingers of both hands outstretched, was almost full face; and the other, fists clenched, was turned slightly aside.”

This is a Japanese version of rock-paper-scissors, in the following link where I found this picture is the explanation. I also found a wonderful video of modern day geisha playing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue_ruin_1/7055421541

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Faibka
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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“The dark purple kerchiefs of young Kabuki actors flutter in the river breeze- these beautiful youths are shy in the bright moonlight, and seductively shade themselves with their fans, so gracefully that those who see them are too entranced to avert their gaze”

Image source: https://wsimag.com/art/6499-kabuki-japanese-theatre-prints

batsy Thanks for the link! I love Japanese woodblock prints 😍 6y
Faibka @batsy me too! Very glad you found the link useful 😊 somehow I was very touched by this description and the image it evoked that I found myself browsing through this collection 6y
26 likes2 comments
review
Anna40
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
Pickpick

Intense, sensual, poetic. This will stay with me for a while. Thanks @JulietteGF !

Adventures_of_a_French_Reader Glad you liked it! As I said before, it's a shame so few people were interested in reading it... It would have been a great book to talk about... but we'll meet and discuss it only the both of us ;) 6y
Anna40 @JulietteGF yes, I agree, it's a shame that there was no one who wanted to read it. There is a lot to talk about in this book. I would love to discuss it. Maybe we can have tea this week, if you're free. Have a nice Sunday! 6y
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader @Anna40 This would be great. I'm free every day of the week, except on Wednesday and on Friday ;) Text me whenever you want us to meet ;) 6y
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Faibka @Anna40 @JulietteGF I‘ve been absent from Litsy and just saw this, I totally want to read this! I loved Kawabata‘s Snow Country and thought his writing was very evocative and poetic. I‘m sorry to miss the discussion 6y
Anna40 @Faibka @JulietteGF We could wait for you to read and it and discuss it just the three of us, if you like, Fabiola :)? We could meet halfway on a Saturday afternoon ... 6y
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader @Faibka @Anna40 Great idea! It would be nice to have a private book talk about it. I'll add Snow Country to my to-read list! 6y
Faibka @JulietteGF @Anna40 wonderful! I‘ll order it right away. Thank you ladies! :) 6y
Anna40 @JulietteGF @Faibka I'll order Snow Country :) 👍 6y
Anna40 @JulietteGF @Faibka just ordered Snow Country and Beauty and Sadness, wanted a copy of it. :) 6y
Faibka @Anna40 that‘s great! I also ordered Beauty and Sadness :) 6y
Faibka @Anna40 I have on my shelves The Master of Go also by Kawabata but I haven‘t read it. Can‘t wait for my book to arrive :) 6y
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Anna40
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Faibka Lovely! 6y
Anna40 @Faibka I think the idea is very interesting! 6y
Nute I love the reading choices that you make. I‘ve never heard of this author, but that passage is deep and lovely. Thanks for sharing! 6y
Anna40 @Nute Oh thank you! A friend recommended Beauty and Sadness, another friend Snow Country. Kawabata is a brilliant writer. 6y
8 likes4 comments
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Anna40
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Anna40
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata

... she was impressed by the raindrops glittering in the young pines along the path through the temple compound. Each needle was like a flower stem with a single droplet of rain clinging to its very tip; the trees seemed all abloom with dew flowers.

Faibka What a beautiful image! Have you read Snow Country by him as well? If not, I think you‘ll love it 6y
Anna40 @Faibka This was my first book by Kawabata. Based on what you said, I will read Snow Country :) 6y
4 likes2 comments
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Anna40
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata

What were memories? What was the past that he remembered so clearly? When Otoko moved to Kyoto with her mother, Oki was sure they had parted. ... the Otoko of his memories was the most passionate woman he had ever known. And did not the vividness even now of those memories mean that she was not separated from him?

review
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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Pickpick

A story of love and revenge, the whole written in a very poetic language, it was a real pleasure to read! Through this book, I also discovered Japan through the eyes of fictional painters. I highly recommend this book.

Anna40 Such a shame our book club sucks!!! So frustrated and sad that no one seems to care about our book choices - which are great by the way! Looking forward to reading this! 6y
Adventures_of_a_French_Reader @Anna40 Yes, I know, but I think that by changing platform it could be better ;) Looking forward to seeing you again, and I'll bring the books for you! 6y
Faibka @Anna40 @JulietteGF so sorry I missed the book club meeting, I would‘ve totally backed you up with this book choice, I read and loved Kawabata‘s Snow Country (recommended!) and would love to read another one of his books! 6y
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nanins
Beauty and Sadness | Yasunari Kawabata
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blurb
sofiaga
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My reading challenge met yesterday to crown the winner, who was Ahmed, my boyfriend. He got a small treasure from the other players.