Kokoro (Kojiki Book 2)

I read this in Japanese when I was a child and re-reading it in English is quite an experience. This is a real classical literature and two friends who read this book agreed. I think I will re-read all Soseki's books now.

Really annoyed. Amazon have mixed two novels together. I was looking for the novel by Natsume Soseki. The reviews are about the book by Natsume Soseki. The 'About the Author' bit is too. But the downloaded book is a different book by another author by Keith Yatsuhashi. Poor cataloguing. I'm going to ask for a refund. Others beware.

Wonderful story that captures the human heart in its pages. Each chapter is 2-2.5 pages, making this amazing read even easier to pick up for another session.

Fresh,

This is a novel with flashes of inspiration and mystery. Written in 1914, it inhabits both an old and new Japan. The central relationship between student and teacher has finely written moments, but is ultimately unresolved. An older order of life infuses the novel and a modern one that verges on Existentialism: “You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves.” This felt like a novel of exquisite episodes that did not ultimately cohere.

This is a carefully structured work in three stages, that leads the reader on an unexpected journey. Avoid reading synopses in advance - the Merdeth McKinney translation contains an introduction to be avoided until you have read the book. What begins as the story of a young man's search for his way in the world, and friendship with the Sensei, shifts to become a story of reflection and haunted regret. Soseki uses different narrators whose errors of judgement and weaknesses we are confronted with even where the narrators fail to recognise it. The world Soseki presents to our view is one of a struggle between ideals and feelings looking for a place in the world - the emotional repression and social dislocation, reminded me at times of Henry James, or Thomas Mann. While the characters are not always sympathetic - we do not want to identify with these figures - the reader is nevertheless drawn in by the dilemmas that ensnare them and the progress of their stories is compelling. There is a deep pathos that builds especially in the final section as the tragedy builds. A word also to be said for this outstanding translation - the writing manages to be both lyrically expressive, and yet to depict the failings of the narrators' to fully grasp their predicament.

I don’t manage to finish many books, I recently bought a kindle to try to aid that and this book was the first I got. It had me hooked for some unknown reason similar to the catcher in the rye. Lots of awkward dialogues and zero closure at the end of the book... However the book really gets you thinking about the inner workings of the characters minds that aren’t ever really fully explained. The mystery and your own ideas drive you to read on and so have to say I enjoyed this book a lot. Well worth a read and I am going to be reading more sōseki next I imagine.

It's not perfect by any means, but its subtleties and complex nature make it a highly fascinating read. It is is also relatively short and oddly fast paced, making it very easy to read. I think its pace is due to extremely short chapters each of which will provoke some mild shock or reveal some complex intrigue which seems bizarrely endless.You might be put off by the plot in which the action is virtually non-existent and in which the real story only surfaces towards the end, cutting off the narator's lesser story unresolved at a crucial point, but if you can get past this, you may well find it to be a worthwhile experience. At any rate, it is an interesting insight into old-time, foreign forms of morality and manners in the process of irrevocable change.