Name: Yasunari Kawabata
Year Won: 1968
Read: The Thousand Cranes
Original Language: Japanese
Reason: "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind"
About: "The Thousand Cranes" follows a young Japanese man as he conducts tea ceremonies, has an affair with not one but TWO of his father's mistresses (much elder ladies), as well as falls in love with a woman closer to his own age. It's a fairly short (around 150 pages) and simple story.
What I liked: It's really beautiful. The ways in which the characters are described are almost magnetic. From the first page, I felt hooked even though I'd have a hard time saying precisely *why*. And the characters have this wonderful feeling of tragedy about them. I really felt for these older women who have spent their lives feeling neglected and abused, so now are are taking refuge in the (temporary) love of the protagonist.
What I Disliked: The story does feel a bit scant. In many ways, I'd have liked more of it. Such is the shame of a short novel..
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. I really loved this book, although it's hard to say precisely why. There's just something about Kawabata's writing that has an almost magnetic pull. I'm not sure why, it just *does*. That gave this a unique feeling that's been hard to find in other novels, even among this vaunted list.
Next Up: "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett
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