Though he hides it, Shingo is painfully aware that his secretary and son, Shuichi, constantly reminds him of forgotten tasks and helps him retrieve lost objects. The novel begins as Shingo enters elderly life, a phase which he marks with the realization that his mind and memories are beginning to fall apart. The novel is considered one of the most significant works of world literature of recent modernity for its insights into mortality and its entanglement with the process of retrospection on lived experience. Eventually, Shingo is forced to examine the impact of his life decisions on the failed relationships both his children have with their partners. Looking back on his experiences, he grows anxious about his personal legacy, bringing him into a complicated relationship with the memory of his wife’s sister, whom he once loved. The novel examines the life of Ogata Shingo, an older man transitioning into his sixties who begins to grapple with the finitude of life. Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata’s novel The Sound of the Mountain (1970), written in the immediate aftermath of World War II, reflects themes of war in its sparsity of language, which has been likened to the poetic form of the haiku.
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