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valzhangOkay, finally getting around to doing this. I meant to but I always kept putting it off... I've just been falling off DW lately but I'm going to try to get back on.
First off I do want to say I'm impressed by the translation. Obviously I can't speak on how well it translated because I can't understand the original Japanese but if this is truly how beautiful Akutagawa's original writing was then I think Rubin did a good job at capturing it. Especially considering Japanese is a notoriously difficult language to translate into English.
I loved these stories! Wow. They were so interesting and they always hooked me from the beginning. It just flows in a way that makes you want to keep reading and reading, and it's easy to read while still being so vivid and detailed. I can't even properly explain it, he has such a lovely writing style... it's simultaneously mystical and fairytale-esque while still being grounded and real. That sounds so contradictory but it's true and I have no other words for it. A bit reminiscent of a children's tale, perhaps, but if it were more horrific and fucked-up.
The themes that he explores are very evocative too, I think a lot of them resonated with me. Rashomon with its interplay of survival and morality, In a Bamboo Grove and its take on perspective, The Story of a Head that Fell Off and the state of mind during war and death, Green Onions with its conflict between art and reality. They all just felt so fascinating and fresh.
There were also a bunch of stories that were more autobiographical. On the whole I liked these a bit less than the other ones, but I still enjoyed them! I particularly was fond of Akutagawa's self-insert Shinsuke and what seemed to be the telling of his childhood and feelings, especially his connection to books and literature. His mommy issues were also felt very keenly here. I loved it.
My favourites were probably... well, it's hard to pick favourites when so many of them were great but I was totally entranced by Hell Screen, Loyalty, The Story of a Head that Fell Off, Green Onions, and Daidoji Shinsuke: the Early Years. All very different, but which I totally loved equally.
Hell Screen was delightfully creepy and awful with a great unreliable narrator, it was as haunting as I thought it would be (though I honestly thought Yoshihide would be an eviller person than he was). Loyalty was a very effective tragedy about a guy, simply put, going bananas; I wonder if Akutagawa used it as a reflection of his own mental struggles? Though many of his stories are about unstable characters so maybe that's a stretch. TSoaHtFO was very reflective and I like that it lets you grapple with what its supposed moral would be, on trust and the nature of change and a person's will and promises. With Green Onions I'm not even sure exactly why I like it so much, but I felt endeared to the protagonist and thought the ending was rather funny while still being meaningful. And Daidoji Shinsuke, as I said before, I think it was fun to get into the author's mind and see his struggle with his own emotions and coming-of-age.
Adversely, my least favourite was probably Spinning Gears. I saw a lot of people hyping it up so perhaps I was expecting more, but it mostly just felt like a drag. I didn't hate it but eh, it's just one that I would not reread, meanwhile most of the others feel like they have infinite reread value.
Overall, though, I loved this book so much. With the exception of Spinning Gears, I enjoyed my time with every story. But the way they wrapped up was also perfect so I couldn't say that I was left disappointed or wanting more. It just is great, I couldn't imagine them any other way.
My apologies to Kafka but man I adored this short story collection far more than the last one I read. Honestly I think this gets a 9/10, maybe a 9.5.
First off I do want to say I'm impressed by the translation. Obviously I can't speak on how well it translated because I can't understand the original Japanese but if this is truly how beautiful Akutagawa's original writing was then I think Rubin did a good job at capturing it. Especially considering Japanese is a notoriously difficult language to translate into English.
I loved these stories! Wow. They were so interesting and they always hooked me from the beginning. It just flows in a way that makes you want to keep reading and reading, and it's easy to read while still being so vivid and detailed. I can't even properly explain it, he has such a lovely writing style... it's simultaneously mystical and fairytale-esque while still being grounded and real. That sounds so contradictory but it's true and I have no other words for it. A bit reminiscent of a children's tale, perhaps, but if it were more horrific and fucked-up.
I don't think she was wrong to do it. She did it to keep from starving to death. She couldn't help it. And I don't think what I'm doing is wrong, either. It's the same thing: I can't help it. If I don't do it, I'll starve to death. This woman knew what it was to do what you have to do. I think she'd understand what I'm doing to her.
The themes that he explores are very evocative too, I think a lot of them resonated with me. Rashomon with its interplay of survival and morality, In a Bamboo Grove and its take on perspective, The Story of a Head that Fell Off and the state of mind during war and death, Green Onions with its conflict between art and reality. They all just felt so fascinating and fresh.
There were also a bunch of stories that were more autobiographical. On the whole I liked these a bit less than the other ones, but I still enjoyed them! I particularly was fond of Akutagawa's self-insert Shinsuke and what seemed to be the telling of his childhood and feelings, especially his connection to books and literature. His mommy issues were also felt very keenly here. I loved it.
My favourites were probably... well, it's hard to pick favourites when so many of them were great but I was totally entranced by Hell Screen, Loyalty, The Story of a Head that Fell Off, Green Onions, and Daidoji Shinsuke: the Early Years. All very different, but which I totally loved equally.
Hell Screen was delightfully creepy and awful with a great unreliable narrator, it was as haunting as I thought it would be (though I honestly thought Yoshihide would be an eviller person than he was). Loyalty was a very effective tragedy about a guy, simply put, going bananas; I wonder if Akutagawa used it as a reflection of his own mental struggles? Though many of his stories are about unstable characters so maybe that's a stretch. TSoaHtFO was very reflective and I like that it lets you grapple with what its supposed moral would be, on trust and the nature of change and a person's will and promises. With Green Onions I'm not even sure exactly why I like it so much, but I felt endeared to the protagonist and thought the ending was rather funny while still being meaningful. And Daidoji Shinsuke, as I said before, I think it was fun to get into the author's mind and see his struggle with his own emotions and coming-of-age.
Doppo said he was in love with love. I am trying to hate hatred. I am trying to hate my hatred for poverty, for falsehood, for everything.
Adversely, my least favourite was probably Spinning Gears. I saw a lot of people hyping it up so perhaps I was expecting more, but it mostly just felt like a drag. I didn't hate it but eh, it's just one that I would not reread, meanwhile most of the others feel like they have infinite reread value.
Overall, though, I loved this book so much. With the exception of Spinning Gears, I enjoyed my time with every story. But the way they wrapped up was also perfect so I couldn't say that I was left disappointed or wanting more. It just is great, I couldn't imagine them any other way.
My apologies to Kafka but man I adored this short story collection far more than the last one I read. Honestly I think this gets a 9/10, maybe a 9.5.
All at once the Japanese cavalry troops with their red-striped caps charged in between his eyes and the sky, moving with far greater speed than any of the earlier images, and disappearing just as quickly. Ah yes, those cavalrymen must be feeling a loneliness as great as mine. Had they not been mere apparitions, he would have wanted to comfort them and be comforted by them, to forget this loneliness if only for a moment. But it was too late now.
Xiao-er's eyes overflowed with tears. And when, with those tear-moistened eyes, he looked back on his life, he recognized all too well the ugliness that had filled it. He wanted to apologize to everyone, and he also wanted to forgive everyone for what they had done to him.
If I escape death today, I swear that I will do whatever it takes to make up for my past.