Thirst for Love by Yukio MishimaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This one is all about the ending. The preamble is ponderous, Mishima spending quite a long time establishing Etsuko's character and the strange obsessive and possessive tendencies she has. If feels like in the writing of the book Mishima learned how to build expectations and tension towards a climax. The finale is expertly teased – Etsuko setting up a confrontation with the gardener she lusts after and then stretching out the time towards it. We desperately want to know how the story resolves, and yet Mishima keeps pulling back and pulling back. The ending doesn't disappoint as well – there's a mutual incomprehensibility between Etsuko's sophisticated psychosexual hangups and the gardener's simple but brutal nature. This being Mishima, desire quickly turns to violence. Some readers may have preferred a longer denouement, but I quite like Mishima's tactic of leaving the reader in a state of shock and surprise.
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