Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Time for another work in translation, this time from a Japanese writer.
Throughout April our short story read is Death in Midsummer and Other Stories by Yukio Mishima.

A description of this edition from Goodreads:
Recognized throughout the world for his brilliance as a novelist and playwright, Yukio Mishima is also noted as a master of the short story in his native Japan, where the form is practiced as a major art. Nine of his finest stories were selected by Mishima himself for translation in this book; they represent his extraordinary ability to depict, with deftness and penetration, a wide variety of human beings in moments of significance. Often his characters are sophisticated modern Japanese who turn out to be not so liberated from the past as they had thought.

In the title story, "Death in Midsummer," which is set at a beach resort, a triple tragedy becomes a cloud of doom that requires exorcising. In another, "Patriotism," a young army officer and his wife choose a way of vindicating their belief in ancient values that is as violent as it is traditional; it prefigured his own death by seppuku in November 1970. There is a story in which the sad truth of the relationship between a businessman and his former mistress is revealed through a suggestion of the unknown, and another in which a working-class couple, touching in their simple love for each other, pursue financial security by rather shocking means.

Also included is one of Mishima's "modern Nō plays," remarkable for the impact which its brevity and uncanny intensity achieve. The English versions have been done by four outstanding translators: Donald Keene, Ivan Morris, Geoffrey Sargent, and Edward Seidensticker.

Who plans to read this with the group or soon?

If anyone has read this before, please share your (spoiler free) thoughts on it.

I’ll be joining in sometime this month.

I’ll be hoping to join, if i don’t get overwhelmed with all the reading I plan on doing this month

I read this a couple of months ago, brilliant.

I also read this about a year ago and I highly recommend it. I specially enjoyed "Patriotism" given how Mishima died.

Jesus wrote: "I also read this about a year ago and I highly recommend it. I specially enjoyed "Patriotism" given how Mishima died."
I don't know if 'enjoyed' is the word I'd use, but I couldn't put it down til I finished that story.

Well, I didn't get to this book. I had a copy from the library but just couldn't bring myself to read about death. It was that kind of month. Maybe in the future.

That's okay, Kathy! The group has so many great reads that we understand if you cannot read all those you would like to the same time as the scheduled group read. When you do read it, feel free to find the topic and comment.

I know I have plenty of classics on my TBR shelf that the group has likely already read. I'll try to comment on previous topics when I get to those books.

That's a good idea, Samantha, to go back through and comment on books the group has already read.

Commenting on past group reads is exactly why archived discussions are kept open for comment. :)