Thousand Cranes: A Review

I am a big fan of anything Japanese, being one of many westerners that struggle to resist the pull of something more exotic and different from our own life experience. This is why I picked up Thousand Cranes, I love Japanese literature having read through a number of Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami and Natsuo Kirino's novels I felt the need to travel further into a world laden with cultural fascination and enviable rigidity in tradition.

Kikuji has been recently orphaned due to the death of his adulterous father in post World War II Japan. He is invited to the tea ceremony of one of his father's meddling mistresses who intends to marry him off to one of her students, from here on in Kikuji begins to realise he may have inherited more than just his father's possessions.

Yasunari Kawabata penned this beautiful novel and has even earned the Nobel Prize for his contributions to literature, so I expected to be more than a little bit baffled by this novella as it sits rather far outside of my reading comfort zone. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this novel is incredibly readable and can be enjoyed on many levels, as I reader I found I could even enjoy it at face value without having to go too deep into the subtleties and metaphor rich prose with a fine toothed comb. This story reads incredibly well and I found myself getting swept into the plethora of extreme emotions put forward by the actions of the characters.

None of the people represented in this novel retain an air of innocence, even Kikuji himself is unable to tear himself away from his father's emotional legacy as he gets drawn into the unfinished drama between his father's mistresses. That these characters are driven more by their emotions than by logic is what makes this novel so beautiful, deserving of being re-read in order to delve further into this poetic world. If I was more informed about Japanese tradition I could offer a far more involved perspective on this novel, however, as I have already stated, you don't need to look too deep in order to enjoy it.

My favourite character by far was Chikako, just because I ended up hating her so much! She is a feisty forceful woman driven by envy, she spreads her spiteful poison exponentially as the plot develops. She has ties to every character in the novel and uses the tea ceremony to draw them into further levels of despair. It is because of her actions that decay, through hate, becomes a central theme to the novel, Kikuji allows for his father's tea house to fall into disrepair simply due to his dislike of Chikako. It becomes obvious very quickly that this woman is the reason behind Mrs. Ota's descent into depression and shame resulting in an action that can never be undone. Chikako forces Kikuji into his father's fate, as he continues the drama left by his father's death and to a degree becomes his father. She is an extraordinary character, no doubt about it.

The ending itself was perhaps the best part of the novel as it is left unresolved. I love ambiguous endings and as a reader I felt compelled to make my own mind up about Fumiko's mysterious fate. I shan't say any more, leastwise I ruin the journey of any reader wishing to give this story a crack.

A totally engrossing read that would suit just about anyone's taste, it's short and sweet so doesn't pose any sort of chore in reading. This novel was a true delight to read.