Thoughts on Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

This morning I finished reading Snow Country by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata. The book was suggested to me by my cousin who, after our most recent dinner together where we talked at length about books, sent me a list of a dozen titles for me to read. When it comes to books that are suggested to me, I like to know as little as possible about them: I don’t research the author, I don’t read the blurb, I don’t seek reviews. I like to think that if someone suggested a book to me there might be a good reason for it and so I simply pick it up and read it. And that’s exactly what happened with this book. At the beginning of July I ordered 3 books from the list provided by my cousin: Neuromancer by William Gibson (already finished it), Kokoro by Natsume Soseki (started reading it today and I’m enjoying it a lot), and Snow Country. This morning, after I finished it, E. asked me if I liked it. And as I said to her, I’m not sure I know how to answer that question. It happens a lot with…