However, I must admit that I found her character as the most dynamic in Snow Country. That would be a fair assumption on the surface level of the story. I could see current readers having a problem with Komako’s characterization as an emotionally unstable woman. Kawabata reveals the vicissitude of their relationship throughout the novel. It troubles Komako about the relationship with Shimamura. Shimamura is a married, wealthy Tokyo businessman that travels every so often to Western Japan because of his dalliance to a geisha named Komako. And I did not quite get that upon this second reading of Kawabata’s masterpiece. (Actually, I think the character relatability in fiction is oversold and can shortcut the enjoyment of reading.) But I need some kind of connection point on a basic human level. As a reader, I don’t need to relate to the characters. However, I need to find something interesting about the characters in the story alongside the setting.

I love a setting in fiction, especially when it becomes a character in the story as well. I will write it’s beautifully written and descriptions of Western Japan’s snowiest region are stunning. Snow Country falls into that understated, everything is between-the lines type of love. I understand the dance that can happen with love, but it can be exhausting on the page as it is in actual life. Love has its own challenges when you make that kind of connection with another human being, and I don’t have the patience to figure out if someone feels a certain way or not. However, as I’m getting older, I realize that doomed love affair stories don’t have the same appeal they once did for me as a reader. And for many reasons, I agree with that assessment. Snow Country is considered to being Kawabata’s masterpiece. This is the case for Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Sometimes in reading a novel for the second time, you will not get the same feeling when you read it previously.

Snow country kawabata