The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

In my Mishima binge it's easy to adapt to the feeling that each chronologically subsequent novel will become my latest favorite. It's another thing altogether to feel, upon reading The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, that I've encountered my latest favorite, perfectly chiasmic novel of all. As much as I have come to appreciate with spontaneous astonishment the beauty and clarity of Mishima's descriptions, their integrity and definitive distillation of scene and psyche, it is the mastery and inevitability of the multi-various strands of narrative, intuitive and meditative counterpoint resultant in a skein of delusion, greatness in escalating factors of consummate cruelty,, solidity and innate hatred of it, trust in and betrayal by the best expectations of youth and innocence. This ricercare is woven of the interior and exterior voices of 13-year old Noboru, Ryuji, the eponymous Sailor, and finally, although we have seen her since the earliest pages, have indeed seen her first night with Ryuji through Noboru's Hitchcockean peephole into her room, Noboru's single mother, Fusako is finally named and eventually given voice to her dreams, doubts and equivocations. The overarching superego is horrifically, tragically cast as a prepubescent Animal Farm-like cult of nihilist pre-Incels. As frightening is their leader's, their disfigured Chief's anarchist manifestoes can be in their occasionally compelling moments of manipulation, there is a rite of passage involving cruelty to a stray kitten that will not only preclude my recommending this book to any of my fellow cat-lovers, but even more horrifyingly, serves as a mere appetizer of things to come, inexorably, inevitably.

More like an exquisite painting than a book.

**Title: Haunting and Provocative** **Review:** Yukio Mishima’s "The Man Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" masterfully explores youth, disillusionment, and the clash between tradition and modernity. The story of Noboru, a boy torn between admiration and resentment for naval officer Ryuji, delves into the darkness of human nature. Mishima’s poetic prose and stark themes create a chilling, thought-provoking narrative on the loss of innocence and the harsh truths of life. This is a compelling read for those who appreciate literary fiction that probes deeply into the human psyche. Highly recommend for those who appreciate literary fiction that delves into the darker recesses of human the experience!

Yukio Mishima was a true master of confronting themes, written with great style. His descriptions of place are wonderful, plucking out one small pine bathed in sunlight in the midst of the desolation of an industrial landscape. You soon sense the underlying tension of this book - steadily emerging from the beauty, you know that this is going to end badly, with an unavoidable horror that is coming ... Gripping stuff. Thankfully no splatter-fest - but the cold, sociopathic "chief" and his nihilistic accolytes are truly frightening. The inevitability of what will be done is left to haunt you. Sure, you can read it at a number of levels - a contemporary view of a post-war Japan, a treatise on charismatic but psychopathic leadership, whatever. Or maybe just take it as a beautifully written tale of suspense and horror. Either way, it is great literature. Not one for the faint hearted - the cold, hard suspense is difficult to bear.

Great to read Japanese authors as we prepare to visit Japan.

The book is beautifully written, in many places more like poetry than prose, however this detracted from the sensory experience of reading a book as I sometimes had to reread several paragraphs to understand the descriptions and get their complete meaning- at least at my modest reading level. This book will definitely benefit from multiple readings. The philosophies of the child Noboru and his motley crew are vile to say the least and made me feel quite uncomfortable. What is more disturbing and impressive, though, is Mishimas capacity to perfectly conceptualize and flesh out such outlandish ideas. This shouldn't come as a surprise given his life and maxims, which I encourage people look into before reading his work. I certainly hope no real children out in the world are burdened by such thoughts. In closing, this book is a well written and painstakingly thought out classic that people should read. However, it isn't something that I would go out of my way to wholeheartedly recommend either.

The book itself is short, but sweet. Well, sweet in a sickening sort of way. I love the characters, I love the way Mishima-san wrote descriptions, a lot of books fail to actually pull me into the moment. For better or worse, at certain parts of the story; I feel like I'm right there experiencing it as well. Either as a curious observer or unwilling participant. It's a great book that I think every man should read.

As a former sailor who gave up the ocean, and as a man who life in Japan… this novel hit very close to the heart. Mishima’s novel capture’s essence of the Japanese spirit. His words so vivid you can almost taste them. A splendid and btrutal work of literature.

A good read and a good start if you want to read more of Yukios work.

This is an absolutely beautiful novel, one of the best I have read so far from Mishima. A little gem in a wonderful translation

Love this edition! My order came within 2 days (even over the Christmas public holiday break). Packed with care and left in a sheltered area on my property so it’d be safe. Great experience.

Brilliant! What a gut wrenching tale of evil we bore in our heart. It is short and punches hard in our gut with the horror and evil of our life. This edition is a nice know although printing is little off putting.

it’s small, really small. you can get longer books for 11 euros and find this one elsewhere for 5ish