This week we’re reading the second half of Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Shimamura, Kamako, and to a lesser extent Yoko reveal themselves as people in this second section. The tragic love of Kamako for Shimamura is heightened by Kamako’s erratic and desperate behavior - her frequent drunken visits, her scolding of Shimamura’s broken promises, her oscillation between rejecting Shimamura and seeking his approval. Shimamura remains aloof, but leaks out a degree of emotional vulnerability in his compliments of her and awe struck reaction to the Milky Way at the end of the novel. Yoko remains an angelic and elusive figure, from Shimamura’s first sighting on the train to her final demise by fire - the embodiment of fleeting and decaying youth.

Next week we're reading The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

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