The Sound of Waves Book

The first couple of times I read Mishima, he left me feeling a little cold, and I wasn't in any rush to return to him. But return to him I did, after picking up this in a charity bookstore recently. And this simple tale of boy-meets-girl easily eclipsed the other Mishima books I'd read. It is, in all intents and purposes, a little work of art, that captures the purity of love and candor of youthful desire beautifully. He handles his story is a maturely and realistic conceived way, that never pushes the novel into soppy and melodramatic territory. The Sound of Waves takes place in a small Japanese coastline community, Uta-jima Island, that is rocky, wooded and agriculturally barren. The men are fishermen naturally, especially for octopus, and the women are skin divers after seaweed and marine snails. Shinji is a young chap, who is manly in his ways, and a hard worker on the fishing boats. He is also smitten with love for the young girl Hatsue, daughter of the island's wealthiest, most formidable man, Terukichi Miyata, a ship owner. Hatsue returns Shinji's love, but as gossip spreads, their meetings must be remain clandestine as her father has her lined up to marry Yasuo, a cocky so-and-so, who doesn't deserve her love. After Shinji proves his worth on a shipping voyage, which turns out to be a kind of test, Mishima dishes out a most satisfying finale that would warm even the coldest soul. Mishima has the craftsman's touch to evoke all the pictorial and dramatic ramifications of his setting, which is a character in itself throughout, and plays a key role in how this blossoming relationship prevails. The result is a work that carries us deeply into the lives and personalities of people who are as closely bonded to the sea as they are to each other. It was simply a wise, radiant, and lovely piece of storytelling.