Kokoro (Dover Literature: Literary Fiction)

Oh, do I find myself liking this early 20th century Japanese fiction. Lovely. Great translation. Makes you crave more.

It takes a certain frame of mind to read and appreciate what Soseki brought to literature. There are times when the narrator or Sensei's actions will make very little sense to the western way of thinking and other times when you just feel like slapping Sensei, especially in the evolution of his love story and the obvious consequences of his actions. But there's a beauty in its simplicity that covers up so much meaning buried in the pages of this story, which at the heart is about loneliness and explores the reasons why no matter how hard we try we can never fully give ourselves to one another.

Soseki's work is new to me and having read "Kokoro" I will look for more of his work to enjoy.

The story is broken into 3 sections, with the narrator telling the story in 2 sections, and "Sensei" telling the last section in a letter sent to the narrator. The story itself is about Sensei, whom the narrator meets fatefully and from then visits regularly, looking up to Sensei. Sensei regularly tells him that he would be better off finding someone else to talk to, but acquiesces and visits with him. Its a very human story, and very emotional in its own way.

very interesting

Beautifully written, acquired taste

Nice! Still learning about Natsume Soseki, I'm really enjoying his work. I think this attractive little book was a great at starting point.

This was a good book except I did not particularly like the way it ended but I would recommend it.