Winter Sleep

I was fascinated with this book, as I was with ASHES. Each took me into the life and thoughts of someone I would never expect to identify with, and I was completely absorbed. I appreciated sharing the most mundane moments in first person with the principal character, as well as his high and low moments. In a way that Takeshi Kitano did with his early gangster films, I felt that I had been given an important insight into what it could really be like to be an artist.The characters were very interesting and complex, each with a mysterious history, and their interactions were highly unexpected right to the end. The plot moved forward in a logical manner, and the ending was satisfying, something I can't say for many Japanese novels I have read.Kitaka seems to be known as a crime writer, but crime didn't seem to be the main emphasis here. A good book!

Want to know Van Gogh?Reach into the artistic heart of the Mad Ones?Mozart, Beethoven, Gauguin, those who lived and died for their art, caring little for the accepted ways of us all?Want to know Poe?Here they are. The book is called a "mystery". No! It is a great novel---noir, existential, deep---delving into the uncharted depths of those who are driven beyond mere existence---those for whom it can be said, " the Artist lives, the rest exist." There are other great artists created in fiction, Gulley Jimson of "The Horse's Mouth" comes to mind, not as destructive as Nakagi, not as reclusive quite, but a man just as far apart. What comes to mind is Don Marquis' "The Lesson of the Moth"---"i wish I wanted something as bad as that moth wanted to fry himself."

Good Read

Very disappointed by this novel. Seemed to be produced by a formula. No real substance to it. Not to be considered as a crime thriller.

well written but a little bit too dry for me; it's kind of difficult to get attached to the main character. But still, this remains a good read.