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Autumn Light: Japan's Season of Fire and Farewells
by Pico Iyer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (580)
We cherish things, Japan has always known, precisely because they cannot last; it's their frailty that adds sweetness to their beauty.
Returning to his home in Japan after his father-in-law's sudden death, Pico Iyer soon picks up the steadying patterns of his everyday rites: going to the post office in the day and engaging in spirited games of ping-pong in the evenings. But in a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honouring the dead, he soon finds himself grappling with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love even though we know that they – and we – are dying.
As the maple leaves begin to turn and the heat starts to soften, Iyer shows us a Japan we have seldom seen before through the season that reminds us to take nothing for granted.
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Review
"[An] exquisite personal blend of philosophy and engagement, inner quiet and worldly life." --Los Angeles Times
"What holds everything together, besides Iyer's elegantly smooth prose style and gift for detailed observation, is a circling around the theme of autumn in Japan and this autumnal period in his life." --The New York Times Book Review
"A sensory feast alive with blaze-red maples, 'yuzu-colored' light, haunting temple bells, smoke from fires lighting the paths of the spirit world and the firefly-like winking of lantern-lit graveyards." --Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Exquisite. . . . Replete with a quiet assuredness." --The New Yorker
"[An] excellent book. . . . Iyer is an admirable example of a citizen of the world--an erudite, open-minded cosmopolitan." --New Statesman
"Profound . . . Iyer's writing is both simple and lyrical." --New York Journal of Books
"A strange emotional fragility arises after sinking into the book, a heightened sense of awareness of what is usually neglected. As I was reading, I often found myself staring out the window in reverie; catching sight of a falling leaf would inexplicably cause me to cry . . . It's not only a joy to read, it's helpful." -- Randy Rosenthal, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Luminous. . . . An homage to the Japanese culture of delicate manners, self-restraint, and acceptance that sadness lasts much longer than mere pleasure. The result is an engrossing narrative, a moving meditation on loss, and an evocative, lyrical portrait of Japanese society." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A tender meditation on both Japanese culture and the impermanence of life." --National Geographic Traveller
"When essayist and novelist Pico Iyer's father-in-law dies, he must return to Japan, where he lives part-time. . . . Iyer dives into the year that follows, when he is forced to come to terms with his loss. . . . [He] describes more than just his mourning process, also illuminating Japanese culture and history as he begins to understand the value of embracing impermanence." --Time
"[A] wistful and conscious memoir filled with musings about home, culture, family, and death. . . . With his trademark blend of amiability, lighthearted humor, and profound observations, Iyer celebrates emotional connection and personal expression, and he upholds death as an affirmation of life and all its seasons." --Booklist (starred review)
"A lucid writer with endless curiosity, and a secularist with a searcher's heart. . . . A tremendously wise book on the late fires of marriage, how moving toward old age, if you're lucky, as [Iyer] is, a burst of warmth emerges to push you forward into the final step, the journey no one's been able to write about." --LitHub
About the Author
PICO IYER is the author of more than a dozen books, translated into twenty-three languages. In recent years, he has given four talks for TED, and they have received more than nine million views so far.
Product details
ASIN : B07QNW91GK
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : 16 April 2019
Edition : 1st
Language : English
File size : 779 KB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 231 pages
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From Australia
Wilson J Heriot
5.0 out of 5 stars a rare work that is life enhancing by gentling revealing life’s riches in daily routines
Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2020
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Enchanting meditation on time’s passing reflected in the seasons and tradiational Japanese cultural practices. Life is enriched by immersion in nature’s cycles teaching us lessons to make to most of the one cycle we are given. But the interwoven human story of his family life bridges the abstract with the intimate while the loving portrait of his Japanese wife, the love of his life, is pure joy.
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Arnold Van Son
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story of Autumn.
Reviewed in Australia on 7 February 2021
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Beautifully told, a memorable story, you will want to read it twice. Exquisite and meditative. I enjoyed every minute of its gentle telling. Rose van Son.
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From other countries
Merrily Baird
5.0 out of 5 stars Autumn Light: A profound assessment of Japan's most important season
Reviewed in the United States on 25 April 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Pico Iyer's "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells" is both remarkable and unusual. On the one hand, it is a sublime meditation on autumn, Japan's quintessential season of perceived loss, longing, and loneliness. On the other, it is an unflinching autobiography of recent years as Iyer and his wife transition into late middle age at their home in Nara, Japan, and their parents into the debility of advanced age. Binding together these two themes are the parallels between the manner in which the Japanese view the autumn season of the year and of one's life.
On a first reading, some transitions in the book can seem abrupt. On pages 13-14, for example, two wonderful paragraphs introducing the cultural importance of autumn in Japan are presented amid a discussion about the death of Iyer's father-in-law. The book's narrative use of brief vignettes with frequently changing foci, when accompanied by the poetic imagery that is a major strength of Iyer's writing, characterize Japan's "zuihitsu" style of writing. This style is linked above all but not exclusively to diaries written by court ladies in the ancient Nara and Heian periods, and its use by Iyer reflects how much his 30-years-plus residence in Japan has influenced him.
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Ian J. Yates
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly poetic, though lacking in true depth of cultural understanding
Reviewed in Japan on 2 December 2019
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A immensely moving look at death, that is worth the read, though some will find it lacks in any real understanding of Japan
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N. E. M. Goulder
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitivity and charm
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2019
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This is the eighth of Iyer's books on my shelves, and in many ways I think it the best. He has ranged from pure travel writer to novelist, but at his best he muses on the truths of life with wholly endearing sensitivity and charm. Here we observe the autumn of life, brightened with unexpected energy at the ping pong table yet stretched with a range of touching emotional issues. His step-children have morphed into his children, his wife speaks her very own brand of Japenglish, we chat with the Dalai Lama … Iyer invites us into his particular world with disarming openness, yet it all carries a global set of truths. The prose is lucid and easy to read. Highly recommended.
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R RAM MOHAN
5.0 out of 5 stars A readable and insightful memoir about life in Japan
Reviewed in India on 9 June 2022
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Pico Iyer's memoir about his life in Japan is a delight to read and insightful. While in his late twenties , passing through Narita airport , he had taken an instant liking to Japan and in a moment of serendipity ,he decides to chuck his comfortable job in New York and stay on , in Nara , the ancient Japanese town. He now divides his time between Nara and California , where his aged mother lives alone. This book captures , in the lyrical prose we associate with Iyer , the contours of his physical and spiritual life in Japan. The center of his narrative is his wife , Hiroko , her immediate family and his own daily life in the friendly suburb where his residence is located in the picturesque town of Nara . Iyer captures unerringly one of the striking aspects of life in Japan - the preoccupation with the celebration of various festivals , in which he joins wholeheartedly. Another amazing aspect of the Japanese people is their polite behavior and capacity to mask extreme emotions like anger and hatred. Of course , there are exceptions , within the family itself , as he discovers that his brother-in-law has cut off all relations with the family , upset by his sister's divorce and remarriage to a foreigner. One great takeaway from the book is Iyer's brilliant descriptions of the change of seasons ( onset of autumn ) and its impact on the scenery and the mood of the people . But the book is also about old age ,disease and dying and how people cope , finding equanimity and joy in the simple pleasures available to them , including vigorous ping pong games at the local gymnasium. There is also the stoic teachings of the Buddhist priests of the local temples , not to forget the Dalai Lama himself , who appears in a few pages on a visit ,spreading sheer cheer and practical wisdom. The book is a celebration of Iyer's love of the Japanese way of life ( ' bounty of this life ' ) which he despairs in being able to convey to others. But , in my reckoning , he has done a masterful job at it in this book.
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William Jordan
4.0 out of 5 stars autumn in Japan, and in our lives...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 January 2020
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I enjoyed this account of autumn in Japan and autumn as a way of seeing our lives, or much of our lives. The author in his mid-50s is the autumn of life, but plays table tennis with Japanese people who are much older; his wife has just lost her father and her brother is estranged from the family, while the author's own mother lives alone in the US; and he reflects on the nature of Japan (always surprising), on the works of the film-maker Ozu (Tokyo Story and so on), while leading a quiet life and meeting the occasional friend...A rewarding reading experience.
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JA
4.0 out of 5 stars Book will leave you calm and gentle!
Reviewed in the United States on 18 November 2019
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Third book I have read by this author! Found him a long time ago on TED. He never disappoints with his fine writing and easygoing subjects. Reading his books are restful and calming. His writing is special! Very enjoyable and thought provoking!
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Nisha Agrawal
4.0 out of 5 stars An ode to loss and impermanence
Reviewed in India on 8 December 2020
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A writer whose travel books I enjoyed very much. This book is sort of a sequel to his book “The Lady and the Monk” that he wrote about 30 years ago when he first went to live in Kyoto and met his wife to be. This is written 30 years later and Pico Iyer has aged and Japan has aged and he now spends half his time in California (with his mother) and half his time in Japan. It’s written after his father in law has just passed away and is about loss and impermanence and autumn in Japan. As usual written beautifully.
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児玉 富美子
2.0 out of 5 stars 単語が難しいのと人物関係や場所が複雑ですらすら読めず中断した
Reviewed in Japan on 30 August 2022
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人物描写が分かりにくく興味を失った
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Chen George
5.0 out of 5 stars An understated masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on 21 May 2019
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When I chanced upon Iyer’s The Lady and the Monk some 27 years ago, I read it at least 10 times. His experiences, his voice, they were and still are what I wish I could utter but never so.
With this novel, returning to Kyoto and Nara, once again I have been transported by his poetry, involved in his relationships with the world, and unabashedly in love with his prose. I read it way too fast for the story, yearning to know more about his brother in law, if his step daughter would reveal her sadness... if autumn is really a seasons of farewells.
I will read this novel again, and again, and again.
Thank you!
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Subramanian Seshadri
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant read!
Reviewed in India on 26 May 2021
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The book is about moments and movements in life.Its about impermanence.Centred around real life characters around the author's life, the pace of the book is languid and so should be your reading.In many places it stops you in the tracks and force you to contemplate about your own life's journey.
I have never looked at the Trees to observe changes in a season.A simple and profound thing which we often miss and here is some one who has a written a book centred around it.
Richly reccommended.
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Jabberwocky
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazon's customer service is miserable.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 September 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
While Pico's book is wonderful, I can find no method, after hours of research, to claim a refund for the missing gift bag I paid for on this item. So I will state it here and urge the governments of Europe and the US to move against Amazon's monopoly power and failure to have any structure to address customer problems.
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Dim focus
Reviewed in Japan on 7 June 2019
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I tried to get into this book, but he
I tired to get into this book, but the story did not hold my interest. It attempts to discuss deep themes but the narrative seems fly
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boston shopper
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a contemplative book that gives us glimpses of the beauty and power of Autumn.
Reviewed in the United States on 1 January 2022
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I first bought this book because I love autumn and Pico Iyer's writing. This copy was a gift for friends who had also lived in Japan for a couple of years. This contemplative book summoned powerful, often inexplicable feelings from that most influential time in our lives. As we have grown older, our feelings about the seasons have changed. Pico Iyer stirs powerful memories, reminding us that we are not alone and of the joys of living in that culture.
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Christopher Sanderson
4.0 out of 5 stars How does the book end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2020
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
It is a beautiful book, thoroughly enjoyable, but the story does not end, are all the books the same or did I get a faulty copy?
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Mukesh H.
1.0 out of 5 stars Damaged book sold as new !
Reviewed in Japan on 3 January 2021
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Pages were damaged - very poor quality
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Anirban Bhattacharyya
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful journey into the soul
Reviewed in India on 15 August 2019
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Poignant. Runs at its own languid pace. It feels like you are seated by a Japanese koi pond watching the seasons change. Pico’s age now reflects in his observations and writings - the maturity of a world weary traveler who wants to settle down and not move - the traveler who has found home and is at peace. The inevitability of changing seasons - an euphemism or symbolic of the cycle of life and death. As his parents now aged are at the autumn of their lives - pico is left helpless and yet in a strange Japanese way - accepts the inevitability. “Dying is the art that we have to master - not death; late love settles into us as spring romances never could”
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Lyrebk
3.0 out of 5 stars Read The Lady and the Monk instead
Reviewed in the United States on 18 August 2023
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I adore this writer, and his earlier book, the Lady and the Monk, in particular. He writes so gorgeously and evokes Japan, so brilliantly.
The same is true here, of course, but it lacks the energy and romance and wonder of the earlier book. It almost feels as if the author had gone into a dull sadness or fatigue. The sparkle has temporarily gone out of the prose —I’m sure it will be back in another book.
As the title might suggest, the autumnal book is overshadowed by aging, death, and dying. Not exactly cheerful subjects, nor are they lightened by joy, family life, or even playing ping pong with friends and neighbors – – which features surprisingly prominently in the book.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in India on 30 May 2019
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a good read if you like Iyer, or want to know a bit about Japan
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Ed
4.0 out of 5 stars An elegy to the passage of time and the passing of loved ones
Reviewed in the United States on 25 May 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Many writers who yearned to roam the world in our youths were inspired by Pico Iyer's "Video Nights in Kathmandu" and "The Lady and the Monk." The renowned travel journalist Iyer was living our dream job, and we read his work with envy and admiration. A generation later, we still can dream after reading "Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells," a memoir and coda that bring his brilliant career full circle.
"Autumn Light" is a moving elegy on the passage of time and the passing of loved ones, including Iyer's Japanese father-in-law. Iyer's wife, Hiroko, calls this book a "little no-action movie" with "nothing happening," but that is only partly true. Based in Japan, this memoir doesn't follow the usual narrative arc. Nor are there crimes, disasters, or superheroes. Not even a climax.
Instead, the tale unfolds in images, vignettes, and character sketches. Some are lyrical and poetic, others journalistic and novelistic. All build on Iyer's pilgrimage of sorts in the fall of his life. For reflective readers, Iyer's Basho-like moments of clarity, his powers of observation and description, his cultural insights into his family and life, are more compelling than any formulaic drama.
This book especially will move readers at the cusp of their next lives. Coincidentally, last October I visited Japan to see the temples and parks in Kyoto and Nara that Iyer writes about in "Autumn Light." If you flee the hordes of tourists, you can meander in these ancient cities on day-long strolls that come close to walking meditations. Japanese call this kind of journey "inochi no sentaku," or a "cleansing of life." Such travel and soul-searching cleanse the mind and spirit.
For those who cannot globe-trot Iyer-style to faraway lands, reading "Autumn Light" is the next best thing.
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Longtime customer
5.0 out of 5 stars wondful reflective writing
Reviewed in India on 2 June 2019
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This book is a wonderful reflection on Japan , aging and family. It is an amazing bit of writing and eventually fills one with a sense of optimism .
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Nicholas Alvares
5.0 out of 5 stars A Japanese Haiku.
Reviewed in India on 24 December 2019
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Pico thanks for enthralling me with your simplicity and magic. God bless you. May you write many many more of your accounts. Thanks and god bless.
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carol mcintyre
5.0 out of 5 stars A sensitive look at impermanence.
Reviewed in the United States on 13 November 2019
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His ability to write about difficult life issues, with feelings being revealed like bands of color, took me into my own losses and grief. Those losses have been defining turning points in my life, seeing Pico being accessible for his family and friends during their turning points gave me consolation and hope. Only when I finished the book did I realize that I was calling it August Moon. Both work for me.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars What a lovely, poetic book!
Reviewed in the United States on 6 June 2019
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I love Pico Iyer's precise observations, his poetic language, and learning about Japanese culture through the lense of his astute awareness. What a lovely book, and what a wonderful author!
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Sonu
2.0 out of 5 stars Autobiographical
Reviewed in India on 6 February 2021
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The book is as if someone is writing their daily diary and sharing those experiences in search of something intangible
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Ramdas Iyer
4.0 out of 5 stars The petals of wisdom spreads as this book blooms through the pages
Reviewed in the United States on 21 July 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A fan of his prose and philosophical insights, I was not so enthralled with the progress of the first 50 pages until I suddenly realized that he has written about his deepest thoughts around mundane happenings within his Japanese family. In an otherwise busy life we lead, reading this book is bound to encourage us to slow our pace and to stop and reflect on the little things he writes about. An eye opener indeed.
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Nataša MV
4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I expected
Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2019
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The book gives some inside into Japanese culture but it also has some minor shortcomings. I had to reread some passages as I wasn't sure what the author's intention was and also due to the very poor English his wife is using. Some parts of the book are very nicely written while others are a bit boring (descriptions of events in the table tennis club he attended).
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Obs20
4.0 out of 5 stars Everything and nothing
Reviewed in the United States on 11 April 2021
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The author gives his thoughts on the seasons and off itself. Poco Iyer is the narrator and the story is really about him.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Written with such fleeting beauty
Reviewed in the United States on 25 October 2020
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Wonderfully written in a manner that conveys the fleeting moments of autumn and all that it represents. Heart tugging as it speaks about the everyday and ordinary.
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Hmm.
Reviewed in the United States on 15 November 2020
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Not sure how I feel about this book,living in Japan myself,I felt I was seeing it with strange eyes.Not Japanese and not a foreigner.Sometimes it really captured the moment,but other times I felt it is written to appeal to a certain audience.
We all see through different eyes and didn't find it so interesting.
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Jim28
3.0 out of 5 stars Dry
Reviewed in the United States on 2 July 2021
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A big big fan of this writer but this one doesn't cut it for me. The writing is dry and at times repetitive. There are bursts of fine and imaginative scenes but these are not sustained in most of the pages.
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S. Raygor
3.0 out of 5 stars Muh
Reviewed in the United States on 17 June 2019
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While this was a pleasant enough book to read, I failed to get the point of it. A reviewer who recommended it said that it made him feel better about getting old. Maybe it's just me but I kept waiting for some insight along those lines but it escaped me.
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Hugh Foster
5.0 out of 5 stars perfect zen book
Reviewed in the United States on 18 May 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
it didn't really seem to be about much, but when i was done with it, i felt more at peace with the world, in the world. than i have felt un a good long life. Iyer's work seems to be unceasingly genius.
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Joe M
4.0 out of 5 stars It deals with life in Japan afdter WW2
Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2021
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It gives insight on Japanese culture and more
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thghtcrim
2.0 out of 5 stars you can get vertigo reading this
Reviewed in the United States on 27 February 2024
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It's a fine book content-wise, but this edition is a hot mess. The spacing and lines are constantly off. It makes for an awkward reading experience.
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Jaz
5.0 out of 5 stars bookseller non pareil
Reviewed in the United States on 28 January 2023
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the book came promptly. description accurate
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Zeljko Z.
5.0 out of 5 stars In a Praise of......
Reviewed in the United States on 5 May 2019
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Highly recommended. An outstanding book. Spiritual, philosophical and artistic. A marriage of beauty, harmony and humility.....It can be read at many levels ......
This is Pico at his best.
Zeljko Zic
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Cheryl
5.0 out of 5 stars A Memoir to Savor
Reviewed in the United States on 23 April 2019
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Pico Iyer has written a beautiful, beautiful book, rich in insight and poignant with meaning. I loved its lyricism and grace, indeed its heartfulness.
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mitsuru yasuhara
5.0 out of 5 stars feeling of Japanese autumn seen by Indo-British
Reviewed in the United States on 14 July 2019
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A bit too much of the foreigner's view of 'delicate' Japanese autumn. But it is a lovely book.
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Hilary Tomczik
5.0 out of 5 stars A gentle and beautiful book
Reviewed in the United States on 15 December 2020
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The calmness in this time of difficulty
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