Snow Country discussion

Lynn A. wrote: "I joined the book group today. I look forward to reading "Snow Country" - which I ordered from my library."

So what do you think of the book, Lynn?

I love the book and I plan to learn Japanese in August and re-read the book in its original language someday. Glad to join this club too :)

I read it after Thousand Cranes and to me Thousand Cranes seemed better of the two. What do you think so?

Great book, one of Kawabata's best. If you liked it, I'd recommend reading Beauty and Sadness; it makes for an interesting comparison. My favourite book of his, though, would be The Sound of the Mountain.

Love the detail description of snowy scenery which includes the scene yoko is reflected in the train window.

I think readers who love Japanese culture and or who love this writer will find this short novel very rewarding. I did not.

It was the first book I've read by him and I couldn't wait for it to end.

WHy did I keep reading?

Because often, the language is beautiful even if the story lacks what I would call a sense of dramatic urgency. I kept hoping or waiting for it to take off. IN the final dozen or so pages it seemed to. The book did read better in the last third for me, storywise. But I wasn't able to care about any of the characters. I mean my favorite was the drunk geisha. I feel like her story which was only told obliquely would be a fine story to tell. In fact all things were oblique in this novella.

I cared least of all for the main male character. THe whole of the story centers on his trips to the mountains to escape his wife, children and some sort of job, I think. Or perhaps he is just rich. Either way, we know nothing of his life, his family or his occupation. I think the writer impossibly tried to, and failed in my opinion, to render some type of tale and meaning by limiting the scope of the story to several compressed episodes of this characters existence at a resort with the same geisha.

It didnt work for me because for one reason, I am pretty lacking in my knowledge of geisha culture. Still, a work of fiction should contain all that a reader needs in order to "get it."

All i really got was an apprecation for Kawabastas style of language--and of course this is really the translator's doing, isn't it? More than once I found myself wishing I had multiple translations to compare with because I wasn't sure the one I had was getting it right.

I will read another book by this author sometime in the future. I have 1000 Cranes and Master of Go. One of these days I will pick one up.