Take 12

This week's book is Thousand Cranes. It was a short but complex book on a young bachellor who examines closely the bodies of the four women who share the stage with him. Nothing more. He beds his father's second mistress and her daughter, he doesn't get married to the girl chosen by his father's first mistress. All is complicated in Japan it seems. The action takes place in an idilic natural background, nature is described in intricate detail and so are the pieces of sentimental value left by the dead behind. Some say the book contains a lot of symbolism like the thousand origami cranes pattern on one of the girls' clothing. That may be true but the book seemed more of a psychological novella to me. The Japanese have a way of hiding their real feelings and that comes across in this book. I wouldn't call it a literary gem and I gave it three stars on Goodreads. Just didn't seem to understand what the protagonist was going through. Not love apparently.