Kokoro by Natsume Soseki (1996, Paperback)

I first found this book in our library and loved it from the very first sentence. It is a pretty deep book talking about heavy topics of life, such as love, betrayal, loneliness and guilt. I love the use of language because of its beautiful simplicity. The author is very honest when talking about people's greediness and confusion. And this books certainly brings its readers to a higher level of thinking. Living in a world of overwhelming chaos and fashion, I believe a lot of people have forgotten what life is truly about and what the issues we have to face rahter than to avoid.
I highly highly recommend this book. It deserves everyone's time and thoughts.

Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki is a must have in Japanese literature. In fact, Soseki is so highly esteemed, that his portrait was used on the 1000-yen note. Kokoro is the story of a man a young man in his final year of college who meets Sensei, a reclusive old man living in Tokyo with his wife. They become friends, yet Sensei's reluctance to tell about his past and hard-to-crack exterier makes it difficult for the young man to learn Sensei's lessons. After he graduates from college, he returns home to his dying father. While there, Sensei finally sends a long letter disclosing his past and telling him the reason why by the time the young man will have made it back to Tokyo, he will have killed himself. His letter tells of his friendship with K and that they both loved the same woman. However, Sensei's ambition at asking for her hand in marriage first caused K such angst that K killed himself. Sensei had been blaming himself for K's suicide his complete life and decided that the only way to avenge his suicide was the commit suicide himself.

Soseki's style of writing is also something of a renaissance in this deeply psychological novel. Soseki is sometimes thought to be the new voice of the changing literary style of the 20th century. At the time, his unassuming first-person narrative style was something fresh and somewhat unprecedented. However, Soseki laid the foundation for modern literature in Japan, and should be added to any collection of world literature.

I love this book. It really differs from the western literature of today in that it doesn't have build-up and a climax. Also, it talks of the isolationism that is caused by modernization. The interesting part is that it was written in 1914. Over all, and excellent read!!