(B) Thousand Cranes (Yasunari Kawabata, 1952) Grade: B+
Kawabata has an admirable writing style in that he is able to communicate so much by revealing very little. Small details hold a lot of symbolism to them (the redness of a tea bowl, the birthmark on a woman’s chest) that the casual reader might not understand how much depth there really is to his work.
“I don’t suppose Miss Kurimoto worries about it any more. The pain must have gone long ago.”
“Does pain go away and leave no trace, then?”
“You sometimes even feel sentimental for it.” She spoke as if still half in a dream.