50bookchallenge #5/50: The Sound of Waves, Yukio Mishima
I’ve read this one a few times and keep on coming back to it. It’s nothing but a sweet, well-written love story. It holds no surprises and is frankly a bit predictable, but forgivable for so straightforwardly being exactly what it is.
The only thing that separates The Sound of Waves from any trashy romance novel is Mishima’s thoroughness as a writer. His descriptions both of physical surroundings and historical context are lush. He’ll spend endless pages putting the reader right in the world of the story so that we can really see what the characters see and experience what they smell, hear, and taste.
Further, there’s a bit of delicacy to Mishima’s writing. Sure, it’s an almost formulaic love story, but never does he wallow in passion or emotionalism. He weaves the story and builds characters that are nuanced and dimensional enough to draw the reader in. I cared about the outcome because I came to care about the characters, not because I was told what to feel.
Unlike most of my reading, I read The Sound of Waves aloud, a chapter at a time, to the woman I’ve been seeing lately. Some of it I read in person to her and some of it I read over the phone, since she travels for work. While I’ve been only here in San Francisco, I’ve read chapters of this book to Hawaii, Ireland, Japan, and Kuwait. I love reading aloud, but some books lend themselves to it better than others. This one went very well aloud.
