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Book Review, © Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
Kawabata won the Nobel Prize for Literature and, four years later, committed suicide. This book is a fictionalization of an actual go game which Kawabata covered for a newspaper. Go is a really complicated board game (played mainly in Japan), with fairly simple rules.
The old go master is challenged to a marathon game of go, by a younger player. They make only a few moves a day. The pressure mounts to nearly unbearable levels as the game goes on, month after month. At one point, they are interrupted by a flood.
As the game goes on, we see that the go master may not survive. The tension of the game is destroying his health. He dies shortly after the game ends.
Very good story.
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