Natsume Soseki

I recently read two books by Natsume Soseki: Botchan and Kokoro.

Botchan-
Botchan is the main character in this story (obvious naming reason). At the beginning it tells about Botchan's childhood and how his family didn't really want anything to do with him. Botchan tells us that the only one who ever showed him any kindness was his old caretaker, Kiyo.

The story follows Botchan to when he graduates University in Tokyo and accepts a job teaching math in Matsuyama. Botchan teaches at an all boys school and he finds the boys devious and thinks of them as unrefined barbarians.

As Botchan works at the school, he discovers the character of each of his fellow teachers. (Porcupine, Redshirt, the Clown, Green Pumpkin, Raccoon Dog. Don't trust my names, I may have messed them up, it's been over a month sense I finished the book) Botchan discovers some things about Redshirt that he considers immoral and unacceptable. He and Porcupine work together to give Redshirt the punishment that they believe he deserves.

Kokoro-
This story is about a University student (I don't think it ever gives us his name... 0.o maybe I missed it) who befriends an older gentleman while he is at a resort on his holiday. He calls this man Sensei. The two become fast friends and the main character comes to admire Sensei very much. When he returns to Tokyo for the school year, he goes to visit Sensei and he visits often after that. He learns a lot from Sensei just about life.

In the second part of the book, the main character has graduated from University and goes to spend the summer with his mother and father. During this summer, the emperor dies. Shortly after the death of the emperor, the main characters father falls ill. (His father had been ill either one or two winters ago also, I think it was one but don't trust my memory on this too much.) The rest of the summer, the fathers condition worsens to the point where he is on his deathbed. A short time after General Nogi kills himself in order to regain his honor, the main character receives a letter from Sensei. The main character skims through the letter and is just about to put it away when he sees the words that say that Sensei may be dead by the time he reads this letter. The main character wastes no time, he gets on a train back to Tokyo sending a letter to his family that something important came up and that he had to leave. On the train, he reads Sensei's letter.

The third part of the book is Sensei's letter. In the letter, he tells of his past and how he was tricked out of his inheritance by his uncle and how he and K-san lived together with a widow and her daughter. He tells how living with there helped heal K-san and how they both fell in love with the widow's daughter. Sensei also tells in his letter how, after he asked for the widow's daughters hand in marriage, K-san found out and shortly after killed himself (even though he didn't say anything about it in the letter he left). Then Sensei wrote about how he had really wanted to tell his story before he died to that someone could benefit from his experiences.


I really liked both books, though there was some culture that I had a hard time relating to and understanding (considering that I'm not Japanese and I'm not entirely familiar with the traditional culture of the Japanese). Botchan was easier to read and slightly less depressing. :P

Ah, that's all for now! I still have a ton of books to read so I hope I can get some time to read them soon!!! Bai-bai nao!!!