3.5
The Temple of Dawn
ByPublisher Description
The third novel in the masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, in which a brilliant lawyer will go to nearly any length to discover whether a young Thai princess is in fact the reincarnated spirit of his childhood friend. • “Surpassingly chilling, subtle, and original.” —The New York Times
Here, Shigekuni Honda continues his pursuit of the successive reincarnations of Kiyoaki Matsugae, his childhood friend. Travelling in Thailand in the early 1940s, Shigekuni Honda, now a brilliant lawyer, is granted an audience with a young Thai princess—an encounter that radically alters the course of his life. In spite of all reason, he is convinced she is the reincarnated spirit of his friend Kiyoaki. As Honda goes to great lengths to discover for certain if his theory is correct, The Temple of Dawn becomes the story of one man’s obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally passionate search for enlightenment.
Here, Shigekuni Honda continues his pursuit of the successive reincarnations of Kiyoaki Matsugae, his childhood friend. Travelling in Thailand in the early 1940s, Shigekuni Honda, now a brilliant lawyer, is granted an audience with a young Thai princess—an encounter that radically alters the course of his life. In spite of all reason, he is convinced she is the reincarnated spirit of his friend Kiyoaki. As Honda goes to great lengths to discover for certain if his theory is correct, The Temple of Dawn becomes the story of one man’s obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally passionate search for enlightenment.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Temple of Dawn Reviews
3.5
“Honda’s arc is incredibly tragic. There’s something very gut wrenching about seeing a character I’ve spent a long time with, reading about him since he was a young boy, be overcome with such vile desires. I love how realistic it is though, the degrading process of aging and loneliness birthing Honda’s disgusting desires is nothing if not tragically real. Honda is past ever getting a romantic self destruction and he’s left to rot and wither entranced by everything he can’t have. I fear for what will happen in the finale of this tetralogy…let’s get into The Decay of the Angel…what a wonderfully fitting and foreboding title!”BelievableMemorableMultilayeredRelatableUnforgettable protagonistSteady pacingUnpredictableAncientAtmosphericBeautifulEnchantedEtherealEvocative imageryHistoricalIdyllicMagicalMajesticOpulentPicturesqueRealisticSetting fits the storyUnique locationVivid descriptionsBeautifully-writtenDescriptiveFlowery/lushOriginalChild abuseChild lossDeathExplicit sexual contentGriefSelf-harmWar violence
“This was a more difficult but still intriguing read. The story itself goes through highs and lows of enjoyment where I simply was not interested to people still in awe at how Mishima is able to write scenes or dialogues with such beautiful meanings behind them. I would say I actually did find the reincarnation section fascinating! But maybe the more in depth parts lost me, I found it really interesting with the perspective of Japan post war and its people thought in a way that hadn’t been considered by me yet especially about the Korean War which I liked as well! There’s basically a lot of this I enjoyed but others not so much and the love for the princess just felt perculiar for me and kinda lost me as well. Still I think I enjoyed and am glad I am now onto the final book of the Tetralogy!”
About Yukio Mishima
YUKIO MISHIMA was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, The Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of 45 and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.
Other books by Yukio Mishima
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