Blogging the Bookshelf

Synopsis: Teenage boy watches widowed mother sleep with handsome sailor through hole in bedroom wall. Boy becomes disillusioned with handsome sailor when he chooses his mother over life on the sea and begins plotting revenge. My Take: In a word, dark. Brett Easton Ellis dark. Reminded me a lot of the Catcher in the Rye [...]

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Synopsis: The (presumably auto-biographical) story of a young gay boy trying to fit into Japanese society. My Take: Mishima is one of those authors (like Solzenitzen or Hemmingway) whose work is made even richer by their his extraordinary personal life. A militant Japanese ultra-conservative (fascist really) martial arts aficionado, Mishima isn’t your usual suspect for [...]

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