The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea

It has been multiple hot minutes.

The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea was a very fairly short book to come to after reading Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, but apparently I was still on a train of reading some dark content. I was able to read through it within a week, but it took a little bit to digest.

Noboru Kuroda and his widowed mother live right by a large port, so naturally Noboru grows a love for ships and wanting to be a sailor when he grows up. A sailor, Ryuji Tsukazaki, arrives to town and meets Noboru’s mother. [Spoiler] They end up falling in love. Ryuji leaves to go on one more excursion before declaring that he wants to stay and marry her. Noboru, who had idolized Ryuji, and the wildness and freedom of his life, quickly grows a strong hatred for him.

Noboru belongs to a small group of friends that reminds me of Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, children from pretty wealthy families who are angry with the world and their families. The difference is that there is good in Holden and he is just lost and does not know what to do with the good. These kids take small animals like kittens and squirrels, find amusement in killing them, then open them up to explore the insides. The leader of the group clearly makes the decisions with no question and the others including Noboru just follow along. This caught me so off guard, that children of that age were doing this. This is supposed to be taking place in about the 50s in Japan, so I understand the atmosphere of where they live, but the fact that this escalates and the boys live and feed off of such intense negative and volatile emotions, and none of their parents do not bat an eye…

This was brilliantly written. Yukio Mishima was a part of great time for Japanese writers, having Yasunari Kawabata, someone whose book I have previously done a review of, as a mentor. If you were to go and research a little on Mishima’s life, I am not expanding on it here, you will find that his life reflects a lot in his writing. Based off of my guessing from research, The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea is an allegory of what Mishima believed Japan was going through post-World War II, where Noboru is Mishima himself, Ryuji is Japan, and Noboru’s mother representing western culture; Mishima was very traditional and believed that Japan should remain its own pure nation without falling for the influence of western commercialism. I also found through discussions that the book as a whole symbolizes the power struggle that Japan went through.

I love Japanese literature, so far I have not been disappointed in what I have read; The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea was admittedly a bit much for me. I was challenged morally, and it shows how safe I still live even with the things I see and encounter at my job. It shows how deep and buried someone can push their true feelings and intentions. It does not make me more paranoid, or result in overthinking everyone else’s intentions, because we all still have to find trust in someone/s, but it will make your awareness of others and your effect on others increase.

I would say if you are looking for shock and awe, or you have a strong will with more messed up situations, I would suggest reading The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea. This was a one and done for me, but it was definitely memorable. If you are interested in reading The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea, you will be able to find it here.

9/10