Thirst for Love - [short] Book Review

One word to get you invested in this book: Mishima. You don’t have to think twice before you pick up one of his books because it’s guaranteed that they will end up as your favorite. This is the second time I’ve been introduced to Mishima’s wonderful writing — the first being Confessions of a Mask, which I highly recommend checking out.

Mishima’s Thirst for Love follows Etsuko, a widow, who moves in with her late husband’s family at their farm in Osaka, and her obsessive love for the farm boy, Saburo. This infatuation of hers eventually results in a horrific tragedy.

There might be a comparison I would have to make here: Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask was a rather difficult read with its descriptive writing, however I cannot say the same for Thirst for Love. He crafted his words so carefully that they flowed so consistently. It is one of the reasons why I loved this book a lot. The dialogues made it easier to recognize the other characters in the novella: Etsuko, irritated and jealous; Kensuke, her brother-in-law, cynic and sharp; Saburo, indifferent and judgmental; and Yakichi, her father-in-law, desperate and old.

Etsuko’s obsessive love for Saburo is not only horrifying but also disturbing. The book opens with her purchasing two pairs of socks, brown and blue, for Saburo. And it leads to a point where she scratches, unbeknownst to him, his back when he is competing in the festival, and sucks on his dried blood on her fingers. She realizes that she can never have him yet she stubbornly pursues him. Her love for him no longer remains hidden from the other members of the family, including her father-in-law, who visits and caresses her in the night, and is seen as an “open secret”.

I found Etsuko’s character so astonishing. She is constantly irritated at every little thing, for instance at her sister in law’s children’s laughter. Furthermore, she is the most vile character I’ve ever read, and all this hatred towards others for a single person who does not even think of her made it even more infuriating. Even Etsuko is surprised at herself when she violently dismisses Miyo, another one of the servants, who had been pregnant with Saburo’s child.

A character much worse than Etsuko is Saburo. Not only does he not seriously reflect on his responsibility after impregnating Miyo, but he also nearly assaults Etsuko. Certainly, he is a young boy who may not have a clear purpose in his life except to maintain the Sugimoto farm for the time being. However, his age is not a good enough excuse for the actions he has taken.

Now that we are on the topic of age, Yakichi, Etsuko’s father-in-law, a retired president of a shipping corporation, happens to love her. She would tolerate her father-in-law groping her and continue to receive his love but never reciprocated it for the aging man. Despite knowing of Etsuko’s affection towards Saburo, Yakichi keeps silent while burning with jealousy inside. Everyone in the novella is jealous — Etsuko of her late husband and Miyo; Yakichi of Saburo; Kensuke and the rest of the family of Etsuko.

Mishima’s Thirst for Love consists of hatred, jealousy and obsessiveness, hence deprived of love as the title suggests. Everyone does seek love — Etsuko from Saburo, Yakichi from Etsuko and Kensuke from his father — but no one receives it. It is a book that makes one question what really is the love that everyone is after. Is it like that of Etsuko’s obsessive love? Or is it like Yakichi’s desperate love? Or Kensuke’s cynical and Saburo’s indifferent love? These questions arise since they are all at a loss of what love is because they are surrounded by loathing, possessiveness and envy. And in order to gain love, one must simply exclude these hateful sentiments.

tw/ brief mention of assault