Review - The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima


My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Mishima is clearly a brilliant writer--his prose (at least, the English translation of it), puts you right in the situation. Unfortunately, this is part of the problem for me, for as well as a brilliant writer he was a profoundly disturbed man (he eventually committed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide).

The book is, loosely, about a sailor who turns his back on dreams of glory on the sea to love a woman, and how that relationship and the world is seen by the woman's son, Noboru. Noboru is part of a gang of boys who see the world as useless, and killing, or rather the ability to end life, as the ultimate proof of their superiority over the world.

Disturbing stories used to not bother me like they do now, and I just couldn't finish this. It had an interesting concept and beautiful writing, but I had to draw the line at the kitten-killing.

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Review - Pickets and Dead Men: Seasons on Rainier

Pickets and Dead Men: Seasons on Rainier by Bree Loewen


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fascinating book about Bree Loewen's experiences over three years as a climbing ranger on Mt. Rainier. Those rangers face an incredibly tough life, and I don't blame her for quitting. Not the life for me, thanks, except maybe for the copious amounts of macaroni and cheese that Bree eats throughout the book.

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