I could have been a man sailing away forever. He had been fed up with all of it, glutted, and yet now, slowly, he was awakening again to the immensity of what he had abandoned. The dark passions of the tides, the shriek of a tidal wave, the avalanching break of surf upon a shoal...an unknown glory merged in death and in a woman, glory to fashion of his destiny something special, something rare. At twenty he had been passionately certain: in the depths of the world's darkness was a point of light which had provided for him alone and would draw near someday to irradiate him and no other.
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A very compact writing style allows this short novel to cover an overwhelming abundance of ideas, emotions, and themes. Mishima writes as an objective third party narrator with three main characters- a woman, her young son, and a sailor. The book centered on Japanese culture, but is universal in its themes. The sea plays an important, largely as a metaphor for a more adventurous life. The sailor must decide between life on land with a woman he loves and the sea which draws him. This book is very disturbing as it details discontent of teenage boys and the dark places that can lead. Sexy, terrifying, wistful, hopeful, intriguing, and filled with tales of adventure, relationships between lovers, fathers and sons, mothers and sons, and coming of age-- this book packs as much into a hundred plus pages as anything I have read. This book has been called a masterpiece by many and rightfully so.
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