The Gate | 
pickOne of my first impressions of Soseki‘s The Gate is that it reminded me of an Ozu film. Like water boiling, there is so much happening, while seemingly nothing at all. It is a fantastic little novel. Soseki‘s prose is precise and non intrusive, allowing the reader to slowly move through the day to day mundanity of a married couple while enriching our imagination and propelling us to an at once profound and prosaic conclusion.
NYRB Classics Reading Society Singapore 💖 We read The Gate in July. One person read it in the original Japanese, another read the Chinese translation. It‘s interesting to find out the differences and what‘s lost in translation. I loved The Gate more after the lively discussion. Soseki left the readers with so many unsaid things, inviting different interpretations that make this an excellent bookclub pick
pick4⭐️ “He had come here expecting the gate to be opened for him. But when he knocked, the gatekeeper, wherever he stood behind the high portals, had not so much as showed his face. Only a disembodied voice could be heard: “It does no good to knock. Open the gate for yourself and enter.””
This pretty much summarises what one should do with one‘s life. Easy to say, quite tricky in reality 🧐 #nyrb #nyrbclassics
pickIt is a wonderful Japanese classic literature where you find beautiful language but no much happenings in the story, that is so common for Japanese novels. Written in 1906 the novel is considered as Soseki's best writing and feels so contemporary and fresh. It is about enigma of human nature and no taken chances life. It left more questions than answers and totally worth a re-reading for sure. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
