A review of The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima

First of all, I would like to say that Yukio Mishima was a far right nationalist and I don't agree with those beliefs at all, it should be painfully obvious that I am not right wing, I'm not a fascist, I'm not nationalist. Let's get that straight. I do think that his works still have literary value, it's not something you can really separate from his politics because they're so deeply embroiled in his exploration of the themes in he tackles. I guess I'm trying to say it's 100% worth reading this book and his other works but don't take him as some sort of a hero or role model. I don't want to talk about him too much as a person, I haven't read enough of his works, I just want to talk about The Sailor Who Fell From Grace. Maybe once I read Confessions of A Mask we can talk more about him or maybe someone who knows more can weigh in a bit, I really just wanna talk about some of this books themes and my experience reading it, my thoughts because I rarely ever see books discussed in a manner that doesn't really satiate me.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS:

The book follows three characters: a boy named Noboru, his mother (Fusako) and a sailor named Ryuji. As their relationship to one another changes in very significant ways over the course of the story, Noboru is only 13 so these changes affect him the most and he first takes note when through a peep hole peering into his mother's bedroom, he spies on the two making love. From there Ryuji pops up more and more in the boys life and more importantly in his mother's life. On the side noboru also hangs out with his friends and they're genuinely like evil, horrid children. The rest I won't spoil, I think the way that the relationships develop is something you need to see for yourself and I couldn't explain it better than mishima could've written it.

Yukio Mishima has some really beautiful prose, I urge you to look beyond the surface level but you very well could just read this book without looking into any subtext or symbolism and still enjoy it just because of the way it was written. The settings come alive on the pages. When I read I just imagine places I've been to that correspond with what I'm reading but they were so vivid I was dreaming up entirely original set pieces for this book. 

This does kind of count as a more technical aspect but it also serves a narrative purpose in the story but perspectives are used really well, Mishima switches between perspectives so seamlessly and the timeline of the story becomes so fluid as you go from one point of view to the next at a different time of day and it never really loses you either. Each character is given a suitable amount of time too. Perspective does play a huge roll in the story and that's why the constantly shifting point of view is effective. The inciting incident is caused by a change of perspective, the different characters have different perspectives of one another and of the world and as we switch we see their world views and how they clash against one another due to difference in maturity level or difference in life experience. It does add to this sense of growing up and coming of age which we'll get into a little bit later but I'll allude to it for now: Noboru is a child basically and this change in perspective through the peep hole to his mother's room, going from looking at a woman as a mother figure to someone more capable of romance and sex, it to me seems like being abruptly thrust into a more adult world and he is 13, on the cusp of teenagehood too.

Before we go beyond surface level one last point I want to make is that i did enjoy this book but at times it felt a bit childish, I mean the overall premise. I needed that pointed out to me, a lot of it is from the position of a child so I thought maybe that was intentional but we'll get into why I say so in the next segment.

THE SAILOR'S FALL FROM GRACE:

Let's talk a bit about the characters. We'll start with fusako because there's not a terrible lot going on with her compared to maybe Ryuji or Noboru it's mainly their dynamic that this story hangs on but Fusako is a very important part of it don't get me wrong. She represents westernization and here's where the story gets a bit fascy. Though she does also have elements of traditional Japan in her at points. i suppose she's more like an intersection between the two.

Noboru and Ryuji we can tackle together, he's a child, like I said he was thrust into teenagehood and it's scary so naturally he'd rather cling to his youth, he holds this aversion towards adulthood and growing old and his aversion manifests in a dark way but he sees Ryuji and he think here's a hero, here's a man who's not like the other adults... and he's kind of right? Ryuji likes to think he's different and he's special in a heroic sense. He has these childish ideas of what he will come to accomplish, he uses the word glory. So Ryuji strives to attain glory almost as a character from a classic Greek myth would, he sees a life for himself where he meets a woman, has a romantic bond with her that only death and glory can break. 

He starts to realize that that's unrealistic he's just a guy and Noboru also starts to realize this and his image of Ryuji shatters and the reason why I say it's childish and fascy we can discuss together. There's obvious symbolism happening here with Ryuji being seen as a man who can save Japan's men from being "castrated" by the west and Noboru realizes that ryuji ended up being one of those "castrated" men. By castrated I mean men who "lost their masculinity" you know those guys who equate being masculine with fighting in the war even though they themselves have probably dodged drafting? So basically I think that's how Mishima was thinking while writing this. He felt that the men of his nation were losing their masculinity or something. That's why I say it's childish and fascy but you don't realize it's childish Because Noboru is a child, it's relatively normal for him to hold beliefs like that. 

SMALL WARNING:

Last point I just want to make is to be aware while reading "im not gonna get swayed politically by one book!" that may be true but I don't like that line of thinking, I think it's dangerous and that belief that your political opinions can't be swayed opens you up to vulnerabilities so just be weary ad you read, focus on what's being said and if you do pick this up I hope you enjoyed it.

CONCLUSION

To conclude these I want to pick an album and film pairing for it, don't watch a movie and read at the same time but just something similar so you can curate. Sooo for the film pairing I want to recommend Birth of a nation! I'm kidding!!! Im kidding!!! don't watch birth of a nation and if you are, don't watch on my recommendation.

I rated this book an 8/10 and my ratings don't matter at all so disregard it, I just like the visual representation of them like the whole curve and everything. It had beautiful prose, Mishima is obviously an amazing writer and I think I'll read Confessions of A mask next but not much else, nothing else by him has captured my interest really. Maybe Star? I'm not too sure, if you're familiar with his works maybe weigh in, recommend something. I hope you pick it up! if not then maybe next time I'll have something more your speed (yes I will make more of these unfortunately).

FOOD PAIRINGS + CURRENT READS

Album Pairing: Flood by Boris (not on streaming)

Film Pairing: Early Summer dir. Yasojiru Ozu

I'm currently reading: Cyberia, Brothers Karamazov and have yet to start The Crying of Lot 49 (I started it last night but only like 2 pages) and I'll be tackling Cyberia next if I have anything to say on that.

hope you guys enjoy reading this!! what are yall busy reading? what did you think of this review? do you have anything you want to add?