The rainbow A novel

Kawabata, Japan's first Nobelist in literature (1968), regularly chronicled halcyon scenery and transforming landscapes, featured ill-fated relationships, and touched on suicide, all in restrained, elegant prose. Originally serialized in 1950--51, The Rainbow gets an overdue English translation by Australian Trowell. Set in post-WWII Japan, a period of tumultuous reinvention after decimation, then occupation by foreign victors, Kawabata's narrative is surprisingly contemporary in its introduction of a widower father, Mizuhara, and his three daughters by three different women, the eldest, Momoko, whose mother committed suicide; Asako, whose late mother was Mizuhara's only wife; and the youngest, Wakako, who has never met these sisters. That Mizuhara is an architect working on various restoration projects, reads like a purposefully ironic choice, since his own household appears in such disarray. Momoko, after a devastating first love affair, has since initiated relationships with multiple men. Asako is determined to find their younger sister, with or without her family's help. A tidy ending would be antithetical in most Kawabata stories; here, he deftly inspires lingering engagement over the fate of the three sisters long after the final page.

Originally published in Japan in 1950 and appearing in English for the first time, this meandering family story from Nobel winner Kawabata (1899--1972; Snow Country) concerns a disjointed household in Tokyo. Mizuhara, an architect, is the patriarch. He has three daughters, born of three different mothers. The eldest, the rebellious Momoko, is taken in by Mizuhara after her mother died by suicide. Mizuhara raises Momoko alongside Asako, his daughter by marriage. He's met his third daughter, Wakako, only once; she still lives with her courtesan mother in Kyoto. The novel is driven chiefly by Asako's desire to find Wakako, whom she has never met, but learned about from her own mother, and by the scandalous behavior of Momoko, who allows herself to be seen in public with lovers and is distraught over the death of her former lover in WWII and her mother's suicide. The book feels like a product of its era; at times it's slow-moving and formal, punctuated by scenes of strong emotion almost theatrical in tone. This slim volume will be most appreciated by Kawabata completists. (Nov.)