Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham It has been quite a few years since I read this novel, but I thought it was absolutely terrific and I remember it vividly. The story opens when the main character Philip is a lonely young boy with a club foot being raised by his aunt and uncle. As soon as he...
One of the most famous works of Japanese literature, Kokoro is a masterpiece exploring themes of loneliness and the death of the Meiji era. It was also really depressing. So while intellectually I know it was a good book, it wasn't really all that enjoyable to read. That's just my own personal pre...
a J-lit classic that "everybody has read," considered foundational in some ways to modern Japanese identity, yet understandably has lost a little bit of its gleam in our more stimulus-focused, self-centered world. a character that embodied everything about pre-war values / egoism vs. group issue to ...
It's funny but I find myself returning to Japanese literature if I've been either feeling unsettled in my reading or life. It makes a great palate cleanser for me. This is also a return to this book. The first time I read it I was far from being in the right place to appreciate it and only read abou...
I found the first two parts of this book compellingly brilliant -- and had decided that the book was an allegory. The narrator of Parts I-II, who speaks in the first person, is not the author (note the ages/dates), but an exemplum of Japanese Modernity -- where Sensei is an exemplum of the Meiji per...
A wonderful excursion into the realm (and life) of loneliness.I'd happily give it 4.7 if Goodreads would let me. It's a bit dry here and there but still well worth reading.
"How can I escape,except through faith,madness or death?" Kokoro is an epic melodrama of isolation and self-inflicted guilt. A beautiful heartfelt experience from the exploring friendship between a young graduate student and his mentor(Sensei).Soseki brilliantly unveils an intricate web o...
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