The Rainbow

Author Yasunari Kawabata
Narrator Ami Okumura Jones
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 9 November 2023
Run Time 5 hours and 55 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Classic fiction, Family life fiction, Fiction in translation, Narrative theme: Coming of age.

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

With the Second World War only a few years in the past, and Japan still reeling from its effects, two sisters - born to the same father but different mothers - struggle to make sense of the new world in which they are coming of age. Asako, the younger, has become obsessed with locating a third sibling, while also experiencing love for the first time. While Momoko, their father's first child - haunted by the loss of her kamikaze boyfriend and their final, disturbing days together - seeks comfort in a series of unhealthy romances. And both sisters find themselves unable to outrun the legacies of their late mothers. A thoughtful, probing novel about the enduring traumas of war, the unbreakable bonds of family and the inescapability of the past, The Rainbow is a searing, melancholy work from one of Japan's greatest writers.

©2023 Yasunari Kawabata (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

This elegant classic by a Nobel laureate portrays a more passionate side of post-war Kyoto u2026 From maple leave against a wide blue sky to black camellias standing in a bamboo vase, Kawabatau2019s prose gives pride of place to fleeting moments of natural beauty u2026 at once a well-told story and a loving portrait of a family in transition

Telegraph

This fine novel is full of surprises.. [Kawabata] was a minimalist, whose work embraces minimalismu2019s hopeful assumption that, in the right hands, a string of minute detailsu2014a phrase, an unspoken gesture, a linking of gazesu2014may unlock a multitude of meanings. Look closely, listen carefully, is the first tacit message of Kawabatau2019s novels. The second is, Let my story burrow inward. There is more here than meets the eye and ear

Wall Street Journal

In this masterpiece Kawabata, his brush dipped in silver, renders all the excruciating anguish and beauty of post-war Japan

Edmund White

It is impossible to understand the soul of Japan without reading Yasunari Kawabata. Snow Country is his greatest hit, a beautiful novel that both reflected and shaped Japanese culture, but The Rainbow - translated into English for the first time - is Kawabata's missing classic. The Rainbow is where modern Japan begins - a nation born again in the shadow of the nuclear mushroom cloud, and in its bitter-sweet tale of two sisters is also the story of a nation struggling to find a way to live in the rubble and ruins. As always with Japan's greatest novelist, his themes - the bonds of family, wounds that will never heal , love that endures and loser boyfriends - are painfully universal. A book for anyone who loves Japan, or great story-telling, or both. Dazzling, brilliant, unmissable.

Tony Parsons

Kawabata's novels are among the most affecting and original works of our time

The New York Times Book Review

Kawabata is a poet of the gentlest shades, of the evanescent, the imperceptible

Commonweal

More from the same

Narrator

About xigxag

Enjoy the best audiobooks on xigxag, an innovative, user-friendly audiobook platform that makes it easy to find, purchase, and enjoy your favorite books in audio format. xigxag’s flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less – affordable prices and the best audiobook deals with no subscription required. Give the perfect gift with our audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

xigxag’s commitment to sustainability and ethical practices ensures a guilt-free listening experience from an exceptional digital book platform – an exciting alternative to big tech. Enjoy audiobooks from the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service and a leader in audiobook innovation.

Search effortlessly, read honest audiobook reviews evaluating both the book and the narration, and discover hidden gems. Download or stream top audiobook titles anytime, anywhere and get the best possible listening experience on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Experience the future of audiobooks today.