The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima

Publisher: Shinchosha Publishing

Date: 1954

This book takes place on a tiny island off Japan centering on the relationship of Shinji, a poor young fisherman just out of high school, and Hatsue, the young daughter of a successful business man.  The island population is small and the people know everyone else’s business.  Gossip ensues.

It is a wonderful story of young love that really captures what those first moments are like when you find yourself face to face with your own emotions on a uncontrollable level - lust, infatuation, desire, love, betrayal.  That moment when Shinji and Hatsue realize their feelings for each other, neither really knows what to do next.  How could they?  I remember that trepidation, that feeling of being completely vulnerable, self-conscious, confused, yet desirous, all at once.  And the amazing feeling when you know that the affection you have for that person is returned, by look, by word, by touch.  Mishima writes a beautiful story here and though I am not a sucker for love stories, this one felt true to the real, awkward, heart-numbing first moments in the experience of falling in love.