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  • The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea

  • By: Yukio Mishima
  • Narrated by: Brian Nishii
  • Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (189 ratings)
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The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea cover art

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea

By: Yukio Mishima
Narrated by: Brian Nishii
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Summary

A band of savage 13-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disallusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.

©1965 Copyright 1965 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright renewed 1993 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Originally published in Japanese as Gogo No Eiko by Kodansha in 1963. (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"Mishima's greatest novel, and one of the greatest of the past century." ( The Times)
"Coolly exact with his characters and their honourable motives. His aim is to make the destruction of the sailor by his love seem as inevitable as the ocean." ( Guardian)
"Told with Mishima's fierce attention to naturalistic detail, the grisly tale becomes painfully convincing and yields a richness of psychological and mythic truth." ( Sunday Times)

What listeners say about The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Nasty...

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

People who like dark, grubby little books with episodes of animal cruelty. And newspaper critics.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Some of the language is quite good.

Any additional comments?

A nasty little book about nasty little boys being nasty. I tolerated the boy spying on his mother's naked body and then on her having sex. I put up with the pretentious, unrealistic conversation the boys have amongst themselves about the existential emptiness of life. But I abandoned it at the point when they were just about to kill a kitten for fun. Not for me.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Tragedy of Both Worlds

I have wandered through two long audiobooks, Dickens' "Bleak House" and Pynchon's "Against the Day", the latter in which I became lost so irretrievably that I needed a rescue team to get me out - I have no intentions to return in the foreseeable future, despite "Mason & Dixon" occupying the top spot in my books as my favourite piece of literature.

In short, I needed a change, preferably something modest in length. A Japanese friend of mine, a teacher of Japanese literature, recommended Mishima, and to my joy there are a few audiobooks available here on Audible.

I started with "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea", and I was thoroughly impressed. Not only is there some utterly beautiful language, which also means that the English translation is commendable, but the sheer energy of the narrative is superb. Sure, this is a dark place to descend to, but Mishima really knows how to take us there: despite the short length of the novel, he takes his time, sets up the pieces, and not only alludes to a violent climax, he makes it the obvious outcome by the time of the ruby heart in the boys' hands. Yet still, when we get to the inevitable, he is able to transcend mere brutality, angst and anarchism. It's a masterful ending to a masterfully narrated story, and I hope I'm not spoiling too much by pointing out how wonderful it really is.

The book is a modern tale of alienation, and, as the Chief states towards the end, "the world is empty." I think Mishima is able to describe that emptiness evocatively enough to make it plausible, but also do the nigh-impossible, that is, not severe his ties with the other world, which in the novel is the world of the adults, and parents. And because of the fluidity of his writing, it feels like he's guiding us on a boat through the river, whence we can see both shores, and the tragedy of both worlds.

Next, I'm going to listen to the sound of waves.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Food for thought.

Interesting development and delivers a surreal experience overall, worth my time! Will be interesting to find more novels from this author, I enjoyed every second.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

magnificent!

wonderfully exciting all senses. love Mishima. waiting for forgotten colours to come audio. make it happen!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

damn poetic piece of art

it is one damn poetic piece of art, will be rereading it again soon .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book.

I highly recommend this book and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Scary, japanese

Hypnotic, scary. The language is beautiful, the story sharply defined, the message unnerving. Probably worth a reread or two

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

for literary sickos

Now I understand why Paul Schrader mafde a Mishima biopic. This is a book for sickos and perverts, rife with the confused hormones of pre-adolescent boys. This is like an Ottessa Moshfegh narrative in a different time and culture. The narrative does a decent job of putting you into that heads of its three protagonists, cleverly allowing perspective to shift the tone of a scene.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Darkness in a period of change post war Japan!

It was a little confusing to begin with but becomes increasingly unnerving especially if you read about the author Mishima himself. A warped allegory of a nation not fully at piece told though the vision of a bunch of psychotic kids, an allegory not about psychopaths.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Confusing and without substance?

"The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea" is a novel that navigates through some complex philosophical themes with elegance and finesse. Mishima's prose often shines brightly, illuminating profound insights into the human condition and the nature of existence. The book's exploration of existentialism and the search for meaning provides moments of deep contemplation for the reader.

However, despite these flashes of brilliance, the overall experience can feel somewhat diluted. The narrative at times meanders into vague territories, leaving the reader adrift in a sea of ambiguity. The lack of concrete setting and direction can make it difficult to fully immerse oneself in the story, resulting in a somewhat disjointed reading experience.

In conclusion, "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea" offers moments of literary beauty and philosophical depth, but its overall impact is hindered by its wooly narrative and lack of substance. It may appeal to those who enjoy pondering existential questions, but for others, the lack of clarity may leave them feeling adrift.

Audio quality and performace was fine.

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