THE SOUND OF WAVES

by Yukio Mishima ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An engaging love story of a boy and girl whom the sea has fashioned, wise, beautiful and strong, occurs on the self-sufficient little world of a Japanese island, Uta-Jima. The hero, Shinji, a poor young fisherman of noble character, falls in love with Hatsue, beautiful and good daughter of the wealthy merchant marine Terukichi. Jealousy complicates their romance when the unhappy girl student, Chiyoko, home on holiday from Tokyo, whispers that Shinji has made Hatsue a ""cracked pitcher"". Yasue, an educated suitor of wealth and family as well as the town ""operator"", attempts to rape Hatsue as she goes at the appointed early morning time for water. Terukichi tests the suitors by putting them on the same ship, and it is Shinji who proves his shining worth by saving the ship in a typhoon, swimming in a dangerous sea to tie the ship safely, and thereafter wins his prize. The peripheral scenes are winning -- the competition of the women divers, Terukichi at the bath house, Shinji's brother writing from Kyoto on his school trip. There is an experiment in style which is almost a success. The whole, with its classic undercurrent, is intentionally unsophisticated.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 0679752684

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1956

Categories: FICTION